Two Financial Center

The first picture shows the problems with post-modern Contextualist design is that it never looks as nice as the real thing. A boring glass box would have been ugly but at least honest.

That isn't to say you can't do NeoClassicist or Contextualist and be modern, but you pay more for an architect who can, and glass boxes are cheap.
 
you pay more for an architect who can
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An underexamined idea among those who believe we can resurrect Victoriana through sheer force of will.
 
czsz said:
An underexamined idea among those who believe we can resurrect Victoriana through sheer force of will.
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Correct, although at least Victorian/Queen Anne were styles where you made a nicer building by throwing more crap (i.e. decorations) on the side (gross generalization, I know). When modernism did away with this it didn't leave much to work with unless you were the most talented architect (and could then command the highest rates.)

We need to create a style that any idiot can use to make something that fits in. Take the Boston Wharf Co. buildings for example, it's not like they have gargoyles or mansard roofs, but simple and elegant brick work (also a Cornice, but I just have a thing for cornices). Where is the brick work on 2FC? Do buildings use brick anymore or is it just painted pre-cast concrete? And if it is pre-cast, one could argue that you could do simple and elegant inlays that are much cheaper... though to think of it we would probably get something like the Hotel Commonwealth again.
 
today while driving
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Van,
Maybe this is a lame thought, but the old warehouse buildings have a texture and intensity of material imperfection and subtle tonal variety that precast hasn't yet managed to replicate. (Rereading that sentence, it sounds like fuzzy crap.) Maybe precast needs to get less "perfect"! You pros probably already know all this!
 
tobyjug said:
Van,
Maybe this is a lame thought, but the old warehouse buildings have a texture and intensity of material imperfection and subtle tonal variety that precast hasn't yet managed to replicate. (Rereading that sentence, it sounds like fuzzy crap.) Maybe precast needs to get less "perfect"! You pros probably already know all this!
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You are absolutely right. There is an apartment building in NY where they had these special bricks which each had a different color because of the uneven cooking in old kilns. The new kilns cook with gas and are totally even, thus the bricks all look the same. The architects who were working on the renovation had to go to the brick maker and have them mess with the temperature of each bake to get the same effect.
 
Personally not a fan of this building...it's boring. It does nothing for me. I guess that's fine, it hides in the shadows of One Financial. I know that many people here like when a building can blend right into the urban fabric unnoticed, and that's exactly what this building achieves. I walk by this building and don't even bother to take a second look. It evokes no curiosity as to who is in it, or who developed. LPC snooze-fest. I would not be interested in office space here.

Does anyone have any idea if it is leased up?
 
I'm not sure of any other tenants but KPMG is down for around 100,000 square feet.
 
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u see that Boston is the GREATEST!!! See the torists enjoying are HISTORY and tall buildings!!!
 
I dont know sctick but if you mean Schick this is Gillette town. You should KNOW BOSTON HISTORY!!!
 
i think cincinnati is now gillette town. You should KNOW BOSTON HISTORY!!
either way, your posts amuse me, shtick or not, keep up the good work!
 
The droll talking dog vs. The wisecracking illiterate masshole...

WHO WILL WIN!?!?
 
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