What’s the Big Idea?
A skyscraper, that’s what!
I know I’m a bit late in throwing my 2-cents in on this subject considering it was announced a week ago…but I’m thrilled that Boston’s mayor is selling off a nasty two-floor parking garage in downtown Boston and opening it up for bidding to build Boston’s tallest skyscraper (70 – 80 floors with spires on top). It could potentially reach the 1,000 foot range.
Of course, that will in no way make this a contender for the world (or country’s) tallest since the Empire State Building, built nearly 70 years ago is already taller. But it would be the tallest building in New England and, in my opinion it is a great way – post Big Dig – to show off the new Boston. Plus, the downtown has been sorely lacking in stand-out buildings since the city has been enforcing a roughly 40-story cap on new towers over the past 4 decades. Consequently, the whole dowtown kind of has a flat mass too it: not so much a skyline as a plateau.
And, unlike the Hancock Tower or NYC’s former World Trade Center, this building wouldn’t be sticking out all by itself because it will be mixed into the center of the tall buildings. It will be taller than the others, but it wouldn’t be isolated. YAY – a focal point to the downtown skyline!
There was a Boston Globe article about it last week where people bitched about the proposal. People in Boston seem so intent on keeping Boston “the way it was”. And while I’m all for preserving the past, I’m also about looking toward the future. Boston can do both. Plus, the idiots the Globe interviewed all bitched that there are already too many tall buildings blocking their light. Then the article indicated that these people live in Eason (a suburb) and Essex (small rural town!!!!). Sorry folks – there’s no way a tall building can cast a shadow 30 miles away. Why didn’t the Globe ask city-dwellers? To make matters worse, one sadly misguided fellow who was interviewed said he preferred suburban sprawl! The exact thing that planners and politicians around the country are trying to prevent is precisely what this man wants. ugh.
Anyway, that’s my blog for the day. HMMM – I think this is the first time this week I wasn’t too personal. Must be some sort of defense mechanism. Maybe therapy last night helped?
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The light’s already effectively blocked off downtown by the existing buildings combined with the narrowness and curving nature of the street layout.. In New York with its wide, arrow-straight avenues on a Roman grid plan, you can have brilliant sunlight raking the length of Manhattan Island. That never happened here with this city’s late medieval plan that wandered to follow the topography and the whims of the landowners. A new tower will have little or no impact.
Now let’s hope that when they build this one the windows don’t start popping out!
I don’t know. Your therapist might contend that your entire blog was about erecting a giant phallus in the center of your beloved city. WHOLE other therapy session there. 😉
Kill all suburbanites.