Hall of Shame (CHOOSE 3)

[briv]

REMEMBER TO CHOOSE 3!

Polls close 11:59pm on Feb 28.

A list of all previous winners can be found here: http://www.archboston.org/awards/

In no particular order:


1. 1-2-3 Center Plaza



2. Fort Point Channel



3. Green Line



4. Four Seasons Hotel



5. Harbor Garage



6. Madison Park High School



7. BUMC Yawkey Ambulatory Building


8. MGH 243 Charles



9. Charlesgate Overpass



10. Orchard Gardens School



11. Sheraton Boston



12. BPL Johnson Building



13. South Bay Interchange



14. Copley Place Complex



15. One Exeter Plaza (Darth Vader Building)



16. Storrow Drive



17. South Bay Center

[Justin7]

1, 5, 16

[datadyne007]

5, 10, 16

And can we please call Copley Place by its proper name for once? Yeah, I can let some obscure UK review slip-up and call it Copley Plaza, but it's inexcusable for a local.

[BostonUrbEx]

5, 13, 16.

Such a tossup, I want to vote Charlesgate, too...

[found5dollar]

5, 8, 13. there can be no other winners.

[Corey]

I voted 5, 8, & 13 also. Looks like 5 is getting plenty of votes.

[Shepard]

South Bay interchange is terrible, but is it worse than the spaghetti mess around the north side (Leverett "circle", etc?) Ot the Allston exits?

[DZH22]

1, 5, and 9 even though I don't even know where that one is. I have always kind of liked the angry, hulking mass of #8, and who doesn't relish an opportunity to cruise down Storrow?

[datadyne007]

Originally Posted by DZH22

1, 5, and 9 even though I don't even know where that one is. I have always kind of liked the angry, hulking mass of #8, and who doesn't relish an opportunity to cruise down Storrow?

I kind of like #8 (Mass Eye and Ear) too in a quirky way. It definitely makes a statement for the bolded reasons.

[czsz]

Originally Posted by Shepard

South Bay interchange is terrible, but is it worse than the spaghetti mess around the north side (Leverett "circle", etc?) Ot the Allston exits?

Yes. Think of the potential if South Bay interchange weren't there. It's adjacent to hyperdense Chinatown, which badly needs spillover housing, as well as the major transit node of South Station, and would link together the Seaport, South Boston, South End, and downtown. Plus it's probably larger than the Leverett Circle mess and the Allston ramps put together.

[briv]

Comparing some of these projects, it's amazing how destructive works of infrastructure can be--particularly highways. A really terrible building can be an eyesore, or ruin a block--or, if i'ts a really big building, ruin a few blocks; a poorly planned and implemented piece of infrastructure can decimate a city.

[bdurden]

Frankly I find it controversial to include the BPL Johnson Building in the Hall of Shame category. I recommend removing it.

[briv]

I think it's a contemptuous dump.

[Beton Brut]

^ The cheap finishes certainly make it seem so, briv. Can we say that in its current state, the Johnson wing fails to live up to its promise? The exterior and interior need to be humanized. I prefer its austere design to the foolishness Johnson brought to our skyline ten years later.

[Ron Newman]

I like the Johnson wing. I don't like it as much as the original BPL next door, but it serves its purpose well -- a clean and well-lighted place for books.

[found5dollar]

Originally Posted by datadyne007

I kind of like #8 (Mass Eye and Ear) too in a quirky way. It definitely makes a statement for the bolded reasons.

I absolutely despise this building. It is one of only about three buildings i have ever seen and have it actually make me angry (others being horrible small pieces of postmodernism in towns i have lived in). The way they "integrated" the old building into the tower is absolutely ludicrous. It appeas as if the tower is eating the historic structure. Add the huge blank, concrete walls with no delineation what so ever.

Grrrrrrr. Me angry....

[czsz]

I think it's cool. The "historic structure" isn't that old or special, and would be easily overlooked without the attention drawn by being "eaten" by Mass Eye.

[blade_bltz]

Hmm, now that I think of it, I'm surprised no one nominated Trinity Place. Next year...

[unterbau]

johnson bpl addition should not be on here. sheesh.
and I like that eye and ear building a lot. the facade reminds me of swiss grid layouts

[dbhstockton]

I voted 1, 3 & 12.

1-2-3 has simply got to go.

The Green Line, especially the B-line, is a crying disgrace, all the worse because I have this nagging sense that it could be vastly improved with some better management and a minimum of additional resources.

It will be interesting to see how many votes Johnson's BPL addition gets. Needless to say, I think it's terrible.

1) The skylight of the atrium will never be repaired (look up next time you're there)
2) The bathrooms are disgusting (I know it's a public library, but use the bathrooms in the McKim building and you'll notice the difference) and extremely remote from anywhere you might be when you require them.
3) The connection to the second level of the McKim building is barely there, where it should have been the main element of the layout.
4) It's a brooding fascist hulk without any of the sexiness of its actual Italian precedents.