US2 Redevelopment | Union Square | Somerville

The Dunkies will some day no longer be a standalone Dunkies if the development plan is fully realized:

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Charlie_mta said:
Probably not. It's hard to widen a street for bike lanes when it's just one lot. I'm happy there isn't a plaza or some other suburban type feature. The building is right up against the sidewalk, and the ground floor appears to be set up for retail, at least in the render.
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There is a plaza planned... designed around the T station. And I think it's absolutely a positive / necessary feature. Why shouldn't there be an "open space" for people to exist / rest near the station?
 
ryblogs said:
There is a plaza planned... designed around the T station. And I think it's absolutely a positive / necessary feature. Why shouldn't there be an "open space" for people to exist / rest near the station?
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I agree at the station is a good location. However right in front of this particular building wouldn't be a good location for one, IMO, because it would punch a huge hole in the street wall.
 
Charlie_mta said:
I agree at the station is a good location. However right in front of this particular building wouldn't be a good location for one, IMO, because it would punch a huge hole in the street wall.
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Charlie -- People some times carry a metaphorical construct too far -- Metaphoria ad Extremis [probably crappy Latin]

Anyway -- the point is that a Street Wall comes from the concept of the Street as a room in a house. However, today its the rage to make holes in walls [or remove them entirely] to enable "open floor plan" houses. However sometimes a hybrid between a wall and an open floor is the most apropos [e.g. Cased Entrance from a Kitchen to a Dining Area of one big room] to separate functions while preserving an open view.
I think the Street Wall can have similar purposeful holes for instance to accentuate a background view. For example if you were building several structures in a line with the Customs House in the back -- you might leave a gap to accentuate and frame the view of a Landmark.

Therefore in the case a plaza located in immediate proximity to a T Stop might be a positive visually depending on what is across the plaza.
 
Equilibria said:
It includes lots of pedestrian improvements aimed at getting people down to the station. There's not much room between the bridge and Somerville ave, so there's not a ton that can be done for bikes beyond what the City already did with their separated bus/bike lane.
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Thanks for the info, I'm not super familiar with that area!
 
stick n move said:
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I don’t understand the triumphal arch. We as a society have lost the ability to believe in anything, so it is going to be rather hard to find something to celebrate. And this type of monument doesn’t lend itself well to the banal, tepid enthusiasm of the present.
 
FK4 said:
I don’t understand the triumphal arch. We as a society have lost the ability to believe in anything, so it is going to be rather hard to find something to celebrate. And this type of monument doesn’t lend itself well to the banal, tepid enthusiasm of the present.
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They should just carve the words"This is not an arch" in roman lettering on the top of it and call it post-modern
 
I have hope. It's more of a "something should go here" than an "install that marble arch we all want here." And Somerville has managed to sneak arches into completely new developments before without it looking dumb...
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CSTH said:
They should just carve the words"This is not an arch" in roman lettering on the top of it and call it post-modern
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Hahaha. Nice.

kjdonovan said:
I have hope. It's more of a "something should go here" than an "install that marble arch we all want here." And Somerville has managed to sneak arches into completely new developments before without it looking dumb...
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I was being facetious... I have nothing against triumphal stuff, and I'm jaded at the cynicism of the present that essentially throws acid on anything that attempts to be grand and bold. The attacks come from all sides. Regardless, I suspect that what we'll get will be some lukewarm abstraction that will be cool and aethetically pleasing at best, but obscure and uninspiring and certainly not grand at the level Somerville could be going for, with what otherwise could be a very grand vision for this area indeed... I suppose I can say the same about my hopes and expectations for the architecture.

Overall, the plans look good. If they can shatter the backs of the neighborhood and get those heights in here, that's a great victory for much-needed development. I hate to say it (sort of), since I love the small scale of Boston neighborhoods, but the only way to really fix the housing crisis is serious demo on large scales. Maybe not West End level, but I would get behind some New York Streets scale urban renewal. Sacrifices have to be made. We can't just preserve every goddam wooden building because it's old and we like old; if the city is to be prevented from being totally ruined and San Francisco-ized, there needs to be a serious effort, one that's not all that selective, about demolishing and rebuilding significantly higher across the region. Curtatone is the only local politician who seems to get this and he deserves applause for what can only be a controversial effort here. Let's see if the overall plan for Union succeeds...
 
FK4 said:
Hahaha. Nice.



I was being facetious... I have nothing against triumphal stuff, and I'm jaded at the cynicism of the present that essentially throws acid on anything that attempts to be grand and bold. The attacks come from all sides. Regardless, I suspect that what we'll get will be some lukewarm abstraction that will be cool and aethetically pleasing at best, but obscure and uninspiring and certainly not grand at the level Somerville could be going for, with what otherwise could be a very grand vision for this area indeed... I suppose I can say the same about my hopes and expectations for the architecture.

Overall, the plans look good. If they can shatter the backs of the neighborhood and get those heights in here, that's a great victory for much-needed development. I hate to say it (sort of), since I love the small scale of Boston neighborhoods, but the only way to really fix the housing crisis is serious demo on large scales. Maybe not West End level, but I would get behind some New York Streets scale urban renewal. Sacrifices have to be made. We can't just preserve every goddam wooden building because it's old and we like old; if the city is to be prevented from being totally ruined and San Francisco-ized, there needs to be a serious effort, one that's not all that selective, about demolishing and rebuilding significantly higher across the region. Curtatone is the only local politician who seems to get this and he deserves applause for what can only be a controversial effort here. Let's see if the overall plan for Union succeeds...
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If you look at all the plans, very few existing homes are making way for any of this stuff. There's a lot of out dated industrial space that's being redeveloped.
Hopefully they can do this without having the stark line between area 4 residential and new industry that closes at nights and weekends.
I know everyone wants to be the next Kendall but hopefully US2 and other lab developments in the area learn from what Kendall got wrong.
 
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