Winthrop Center | 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

The crazy thing about the "Great Hall" grade change is that we always knew it was coming. This post is from 6+ years ago:
JumboBuc said:
Re: 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

I'm interested in how the "Great Hall" will deal with the change in elevation between Devonshire and Federal. 101 Federal St, the building immediately next door to this, also has a publicly-accessible lobby that cuts through between the two streets, and there are two small staircases that make up the roughly 6-8 foot (obvious from this angle on Franklin Street) difference.

The "Great Hall" renders show the floor being just below level with the top of the "dark granite" on the Federal side of 101 Federal next door, but I'm pretty sure this is below street-level on Devonshire. Devonshire and Federal both slope up from Franklin, so I doubt the Great Hall being south of 101 Federal will make any difference as far as east-west grade change is concerned.
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Is the purpose of the zig zagging part between the steps the wheelchair ramp?
 
stick n move said:
Is the purpose of the zig zagging part between the steps the wheelchair ramp?
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Don't think so...I think its just a mini-ampitheater type thing

EDIT: @stick n move , my bad, upon revisiting those ones you posted from S&F, I think you're exactly right. When I was there yesterday, the area was cordoned off to just about to where I was standing, so I didn't step up to it to peer over and my pics didn't capture.
 
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Lobby as of this morning, where most of it was roped-off for floor polishing/sealing (7/15)

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^My take (not that anyone's asking for it ; ) ) is that there is actually decent design and materials within here, but the elevation change portion of this takes up such a huge amount of space that even though the design at the flat portion is decent, the overall space fails as a "place"

The grade-change portion has those blank walls - which are actually finished in a high quality stone that doesn't come through in most photos, but has a nice quality-exuding effect in-person - nonetheless create an enormous blank tunnel. It confuses me why they didn't do anything more with this, especially since they didn't really cheap out on it. Maybe there will indeed be large-format artwork or murals or something - but if that's what they were doing, then why did they veneer the whole thing in nice stone if it were just going to get covered? Even some more transparent glass regions within those walls would have helped. There are lobbies on either side (residential at left, corporate at right); I get that they might have wanted some privacy, etc, but even some semi-translucent curtains or tinting or frosting would have made the space less cavernous than what's here now.

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I really do kind of like the "retail" end in the level portion - the issue is just that there's not enough of it. To have a "public market" sort of effect, that would have needed to be 2x - 3x as long. But some credit is due for how sunlight-filled this is. That window facing the prego building is 3x tall stories high; probably the equivalent for quadruple height in typical stories. Photos don't quite do it justice; it is grand enough to feel more special than the typical double-height office lobby. IF this space were level-grade, public engaging/retail for it's full length, and book-ended by windows of that size at both ends, it would have indeed had a special effect that no one would think was "just another lobby"; yet, all of that commentary is for naught, since such wasn't possible here and was never a reasonable expectation
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SO, we are back to the complaint of: why on earth are there those absolutely massive, 50-ft high monolithic stone walls caverning-off half of this thing. If they can do something about that, then this still fails as a "place," but at least is a perfectly pleasant enough pedestrian pass through with a few shops.
 
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bigpicture7 said:
Don't think so...I think its just a mini-ampitheater type thing
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I think it is. You can see the flat landing on the left is pushed back and then lines up perfectly with the diagonal ramp that goes up and to the right to meet the flat landing on the right, and so on and so on. The gaps in the hand rails also line up perfectly to someone wheel up.
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From the opposite side its even more clear.
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stick n move said:
I think it is. You can see the flat landing on the left is pushed back and then lines up perfectly with the diagonal ramp that goes up and to the right to meet the flat landing on the right, and so on and so on. The gaps in the hand rails also line up perfectly to someone wheel up.
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I agree; I made a correction edit to my prior post (see above) before I even saw this one, where you make it even more clear. It's a neat design for that purpose.
 
No biggie, its a pretty sleek way to integrate it. Im sure it could also be used as seating too if they ever do any of the fashion show type stuff they had talked about before.

One thing is for sure and thats that they didnt skimp out on the materials here. The bronze ceiling is definitely a nice touch also. Almost has an art deco vibe to it.
 
Is that a conference room that hangs over that space like a gondola? I want a boring 4 hour training session in there, if so.
 
stick n move said:
No biggie, its a pretty sleek way to integrate it. Im sure it could also be used as seating too if they ever do any of the fashion show type stuff they had talked about before.

One thing is for sure and thats that they didnt skimp out on the materials here. The bronze ceiling is definitely a nice touch also. Almost has an art deco vibe to it.
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Good call. I'm impressed whenever accessibility is included as part of a unique architecture--rather than throwing it in as an afterthought. These interior photos are stunning, and a little disorienting.
 
"Office Space is dead"

Deloitte, has signed a lease for 138,000 s/f of office space at Winthrop Center...the largest office lease signed in the city and the surrounding community this year. Deloitte is targeting to move into its new space at Winthrop Center in fall 2024.

With 812,000 s/f of office space built to Passive House standards, Winthrop Center models the most energy efficient solution for large-scale buildings and will soon earn certification as the largest Passive House office building in the world.

https://nerej.com/mp-boston-signs-138-000-s-f-office-lease-with-deloitte-at-winthrop-center
 
Patrick Winn said:
Good call. I'm impressed whenever accessibility is included as part of a unique architecture--rather than throwing it in as an afterthought. These interior photos are stunning, and a little disorienting.
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I’ve hesitated posting this but will anyway. I find the “wheelchair accessibility” architecture a bit inappropriate where an easier design for those in wheelchairs could have been incorporated, for instance, one of the two staircases that bookend it could have been a accessible incline. Also, the switchbacks just add another layer of effort to what can already be a challenging task. Not to mention, they made it the main feature of the entire hall, no doubt drawing attention to those who will require use of it.
I have a feeling it will be redesigned in a few years.
 
bdurden said:
I’ve hesitated posting this but will anyway. I find the “wheelchair accessibility” architecture a bit inappropriate where an easier design for those in wheelchairs could have been incorporated, for instance, one of the two staircases that bookend it could have been a accessible incline. Also, the switchbacks just add another layer of effort to what can already be a challenging task. Not to mention, they made it the main feature of the entire hall, no doubt drawing attention to those who will require use of it.
I have a feeling it will be redesigned in a few years.
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Yeah, that was my first thought some time ago when I saw the design. Yes, it works, yes, it's elegant in a way, but what it mostly seems to be, is a way for the architect to thump their chest and use accessibility for the sake of an extravagant display, rather than as the normal and expected element of all good designs that it should be.
 
There's at least 6' of height difference between the upper entry and main level. At the steepest allowed 1:12 ramp (which needs continuous handrails on each side) the ramp would be 72' long plus the need for 2 intermediate landings (needed every 30" of level change), so a minimum of 82'. The stair-ramp as is looks around 30-something feet deep.

This is a much better design approach. The ramps running perpendicular to the hall take up significantly less space than if they were run parallel - would either run into the open hall space or require a switchback, which at that point should be two switchbacks to get the ramp to spill forward into the hall, and then you're eating up at least 14' of depth, all of pure ramp without any other integrated elements like the benches or stairs here and with all the junky extra railing hardware.
 
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