The Hub on Causeway (née TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

^Thanks for those Rick.

From those renders, I think I'm happy with the look of the office tower. The residential, on the other hand, is not so great: the tower construction may be okay, the materials are nice, I like the pleasantly angled facades and depth, but it is not tall enough. There's a graphic in there that shows that these "towers" wouldn't even exceed the height of the Hancock/Berkeley Building. I'm not arguing for more height out of the classic taller-is-always-better mindset. I'm arguing for it because, at these heights, the residential tower does not look impressive, does not look right, and is simply not good enough. It blends in when it really ought to stand out.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

The bra renders do show that the first tower will be slightly above 150meters at 496 feet which is awesome. Here's hoping for a crisp redesign and quick approval without losing height.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Rick said:
more renders here;

http://www.bostonredevelopmentautho...on-garden-phase-ii-iii-bcdc-presentation-2015
Click to expand...

I notice it lists Atlantic Wharf as 436'. Can that be right?!

Anyways, both of these towers look decent but a bit too short, although taller than I thought at 495' for the residential and 486' for the office. In particular, I like the new top of the office building. They should cut down the middle hotel a few floors and put them into the residential tower.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Why not integrate the hotel into the residential tower instead of throwing it to the side?

I'm not a height fetishist, but with all the developer went through to get the original 600' figure allowed, why not make use it?
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Downburst said:
Why not integrate the hotel into the residential tower instead of throwing it to the side?

I'm not a height fetishist, but with all the developer went through to get the original 600' figure allowed, why not make use it?
Click to expand...

The low & high rise apartment elevator banks eat up a lot of square footage (note they would be express through the hotel levels) in addition to the dedicated hotel elevators you'd need to have. You can't get the desired hotel program/room count into that tower footprint with all of the space that will be eaten up by vertical transportation & other mechanical systems.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Oh my god the new office tower design is going to singlehandedly ruin Bostons skyline when viewed from the north. That is horrendous. That crown makes the R2d2 crown look like the Chrysler building. Then those renders at the bottom showing the new extremely short residential tower just top it off. This is a disaster above the base. These piles of hot garbage plus the precast deluxe avalon north station tower are going to be one of the ugliest clusters probably in the united states. Its one thing to be generic and blend in its another to be flashy over the top but generic anywhere usa. This is michael jackson bad. If these designs get approved I will gladly welcome nimbys to shut this thing down above the base.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Wish the "crown" on the office building had a reference to the art deco massing and flagpoles that were on the corners of the old Garden. Putting one in each corner might give the top a little more lift, and make the developer look less like a chubby chaser.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

I actually really like the crown on the office tower. I love the industrial/technical look on buildings and wish Boston had a few examples of it. That said, as a person who isn't usually interested in height at all... the office tower is short and squat and IMO improperly balanced. The massing just seems off and I wish it were taller to make it look "right".
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

We're always clamoring for more height on just about everything, but of all the projects proposed or under construction in Boston I think that this residential tower is the one that needs it the most. I hate that the three new buildings here (Garden residential, Garden office, and Avalon) will all be about the same height. We already have the Seaport, there's no need for another monolithic plateaued cluster. If the residential component here were to rise another 10-15 stories it would make all three towers look better. The developers got this approved for 600 feet; why not use it?

The crown on the office component isn't my favorite, but I'm okay with it. The lighting could be cool. I also love the idea of flag poles at the corners (makes me think of PPG Place). It would block out a bit of the solar, but 7,500 sf of solar panels on a downtown tower is pretty much only a gimmick anyway...
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

The thing that gets me is that in a city thats home to some of the smartest, most passionate people on earth, we get junk like this. Why do we accept nothing but greatness from our sports teams, colleges, and medical professionals, but architecture is just hey whatever. Aside from height you would think that we would get some of the best architecture here. Instead our neighbor NYC is building things that will never even be seen unless you are at its base that we would not even get close to in 100 years of construction. I like the skyline but why not make what we have even better with some quality instead of throwing up 10 new white precast towers in every corner of the city with blue glass boxes sprinkled in between. We have to demand better architecture in the same way we demand better everywhere else.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

I'm going to agree that these towers are incredibly bland and uninspiring. What are they teaching architects in schools these days? That the only shapes that towers can be are either squares or rectangles? At least include some setbacks.

Honestly, I feel like the only time a tower is not a square or a rectangle in Boston is because of the shape of the plot it's being built on.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

The thing that gets me is that in a city thats home to some of the smartest, most passionate people on earth, we get junk like this. Why do we accept nothing but greatness from our sports teams, colleges, and medical professionals, but architecture is just hey whatever. Aside from height you would think that we would get some of the best architecture here. Instead our neighbor NYC is building things that will never even be seen unless you are at its base that we would not even get close to in 100 years of construction. I like the skyline but why not make what we have even better with some quality instead of throwing up 10 new white precast towers in every corner of the city with blue glass boxes sprinkled in between. We have to demand better architecture in the same way we demand better everywhere else.
Click to expand...

Money.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Most of the crap we have gotten so far has been short and mostly hidden. Also most of the quality we have built and that is under construction is in prominent locations. This has worked out very well so far. This is about to flip that on its head and make crap the new gateway from the north. Sooner or later we were going to get a very prominent skyline changing piece of crap and it looks like that time is now. I hope not.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

I like the office tower overall but it is too squat and either needs to get thinner or taller to look the best it could. The residential tower isn't bad it definitely isn't the best or most thoughtful design unfortunately and imo it would look better if it were taller.

I wish they would bring back one of the earlier residential tower designs and keep the office tower design they have now but make it taller.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

I wish they had just built this decades ago or this Ive never seen a project go thru so many changes and still never get built but that's Boston for you :/
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Boston02124,

Great find, but you have got to be joking. Those are some really ugly buildings. I picture tall versions of 75 State Street.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

The PoMo can stay at home plz & thx.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Boston02124 said:
Ive never seen a project go thru so many changes and still never get built but that's Boston for you :/
Click to expand...

It's your 2nd Ave Subway. Be patient, it'll come.
 
Re: The Boston Garden (TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Don't really have a problem with the residential tower, maybe not exciting but it's well proportioned and has no precast. The office building...yikes. Love industrial chic but this just doesn't work. Squat, bloated, awkward. And the height equivalency of both towers makes the girth of the office tower seem really oppressive.
 
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