Viola | Mass DOT Parcel 13 | Boylston & Mass Ave | Back Bay

[RandomWalk]

On its side it looks like the old Middlesex County Courthouse and jail.

 

[Vagabond]

Are they looking at the same facade as in the render?

 

[393b40]

I hate it... the street level looks dead and totally unactivated.

I expect this will sail through approval because affordable housing and lab space checks a lot of boxes for everyone involved from Mayor to developer. Ugh.

 

[HelloBostonHi]

I hate it... the street level looks dead and totally unactivated.

I expect this will sail through approval because affordable housing and lab space checks a lot of boxes for everyone involved from Mayor to developer. Ugh.

It's in the Back Bay Architectural District (barely) so it has to go before the Back Bay Architectural Commission, I don't think they'll let it pass through looking like this

 

[Equilibria]

I hate it... the street level looks dead and totally unactivated.

I expect this will sail through approval because affordable housing and lab space checks a lot of boxes for everyone involved from Mayor to developer. Ugh.

It won't sail through looking like this, because this is not a finished design.

 

[Vivanna]

PEEBLES: I want to keep this development parcel but I don’t actually want to develop it. How I keep this hackey sack in the air?
ARCHITECT: What if I come up with the most fucking stupid looking shit anyone has ever seen... without spending any actual time or money on it

Exactly, Peebles is a complete joke.

 

[Czervik.Construction]

I was going to be generous and say Vancouver or Mississauga, Canada.

What's with that Miami Beach Cambridge skyline in the background?

 

[Life Coach Mike]

WHOOPS....literally. This would take a lot of getting used to, if it's possible.

 

[bakgwailo]

I have said many, many times that I don't care what goes on air rights parcels as long as they get built, but, well, at a loss for words on this one. I give it a zero chance of every being built, but, if it does it might make me go back on my thoughts. Can we get a petition to just give all air rights to Samuels & Associates?

 

[stefal]

This comes from the same design firm that has designed this:

And this:

What's the end goal for Peebles? They were already really stretching it with their plea for infrastructure bill funding for the affordable housing units, and now they've presented a pretty unloveable design. They get to hold onto a failed (public) proposal that will only get more expensive to build on with every day that passes?

That elevation posted upthread is really, really disorienting - high school intern level rendering - what the hell is going on with the ground plane?

Everything about it suggests this was rushed from beginning to end.

 

[shawn]

I was going to be generous and say Vancouver or Mississauga, Canada.

Ding ding, it's North Vancouver.

This looks like something Beijing barfed up for the 2008 Olympics.

 

[Equilibria]

This comes from the same design firm that has designed this:
View attachment 28404

And this:
View attachment 28405

What's the end goal for Peebles? They were already really stretching it with their plea for infrastructure bill funding for the affordable housing units, and now they've presented a pretty unlovable design. They get to hold onto a failed (public) proposal that will only get more expensive to build on with every day that passes?

That elevation posted upthread is really, really disorienting - high school intern level rendering - what the hell is going on with the ground plane?

Everything about it suggests this was rushed from beginning to end.

My impression is that they don't really have a design, and this was rushed. We'll get a different version later.

 

[dshoost88]

What happened to the Utile design?

 

[Equilibria]

What happened to the Utile design?

I think the best single word is "cancelled". That project is dead, and this is a fresh PNF from the same owner.

 

[atlantaden]

Peebles needs to go, and a new bid put out! This ain’t ‘happening with Peebles, enough time’s already been wasted with these clowns!

 

[resisttheist]

What happened to the Utile design?

What was the Utile design? Wasn't the previously-approved by Handel? Did Utile have something before or more recently?

 

[dshoost88]

What was the Utile design? Wasn't the previously-approved by Handel? Did Utile have something before or more recently?

It was both. From Nov. 2015:

The Peebles team is committed to providing maximum air rights coverage to link the Back Bay and Fenway neighborhoods with its planned lifestyle hotel, 170 residences, retail and parking with two public plazas. Peebles is working with Handel Architects of New York and Boston-based urban design think-tank, Utile Inc., to design the building.

 

[gac108]

In the news today: https://www.boston.com/real-estate/...development-peebles-hynes-affordable-housing/

 

[king_vibe]

Might as well write an article about Ernie and Bert’s planned pillow fort.

 

[W-4]

Either commit to some wacky geometry all over, or go for some repeating rectangles. This is a horrible compromise between the two.

Peebles continues to be a running joke.