Worst New Development of 2010

[briv]

All members are encouraged to nominate a Boston area project* completed in 2010 that they believe is deserving of special recognition for its negative impact on the built environment.

Previous winners:

2009
One Marina Park Drive

2008
Rose Kennedy Greenway

*includes all project types, i.e., building, park, infrastructure project, etc.

[czsz]

The Harvard Law School Northwest Corner building isn't officially open yet, but it's already pretty fascistically ugly.

[Beton Brut]

Ugly, clumsy, and dumb.

Proof that the most expensive ingredients in the hands of a fool belong in the trash, not on a plate.

[czsz]

The worst part is that everyone there thinks it's fantastic, since it's so new and spacious and yet built with those arches and "classical" stone. The place is like an academic McMansion.

[vanshnookenraggen]

The massive new science center in Kendall Sq (name escapes me right now).

[czsz]

The Koch Center? It's a bit boring, but I don't think it's offensive.

[Beton Brut]

Koch is an over-thought (and oversized) Richard Meier knockoff. I prefer it to Stata, that for damn sure.

[found5dollar]

My Nominee is the new MFA wing. I am not nominating it because it is "bad" per se, but because an institution like the MFA with all the money, all the art work, the best Curators, Exhibit Designers, and Architects, should have been able to easily come up some thing breathtaking, not this mediocre. I feel that at least deserves nomination. I mean, exiling sculptures into courtyards with no access, alone is a crime against art.

[Ron Newman]

Harvard Law building needs to wait for the 2011 awards since it is not yet finished and open. We need to evaluate the interior as well as exterior, and can't do that yet.

[czsz]

We don't normally do much "evaluating the interior" on this site, though...

[briv]

Joe Fallon may be a swell guy, so it's nothing personal when I say that no Boston developer has so consistently built such absolute garbage. His signature building style consists of cheap beige concrete paneled exteriors, and blank streetwalls. His take on the dreaded Boston Stump, One Marina Park Drive, introduced Bostonians to new never-before-imagined dimensions of stumpiness, which helped earn this project the title of Worst New Development of 2009. Additionally, forum members voted four of the ten worst projects of the decade (2000-2009) to Fallon developments (Park Lane Apartments, Renaissance Marriot Hotel, One Marina Park Drive, BCEC Westin Hotel).

In recognition of his contributions to Boston's built environment, I propose we name this award in his honor--the Joseph F. Fallon Award for the Worst New Development of the Year.

Seconded?

[kennedy]

Originally Posted by briv

Joe Fallon may be a swell guy, so it's nothing personal when I say that no Boston developer has so consistently built such absolute garbage. His signature building style consists of cheap beige concrete paneled exteriors, and blank streetwalls. His take on the dreaded Boston Stump, One Marina Park Drive, introduced Bostonians to new never-before-imagined dimensions of stumpiness, which helped earn this project the title of Worst New Development of 2009. Additionally, forum members voted four of the ten worst projects of the decade (2000-2009) to Fallon developments (Park Lane Apartments, Renaissance Marriot Hotel, One Marina Park Drive, BCEC Westin Hotel).

In recognition of his contributions to Boston's built environment, I propose we name this award in his honor--the Joseph F. Fallon Award for the Worst New Development of the Year.

Seconded?

Absolutely.

[kz1000ps]

Fallon sucks, but every Fallon project lies within the Southie Seaport, and that isn't exactly the most inspiring canvas to dream upon. So while I'm no apologist for the guy, I think he's not entirely to blame for putting up turds on turd-shaped sites. But oh those precast panels...

Point is, if we're going to name this award after anything, I think Seaport (or SBW or whatever) should be in the title as much as anything else. (Though I do admit Briv's proposed name has a nice ring to it!)

[unterbau]

Originally Posted by Ron Newman

Harvard Law building needs to wait for the 2011 awards since it is not yet finished and open. We need to evaluate the interior as well as exterior, and can't do that yet.

yeah, no need to jump the gun, i'm sure it will still be there next year

maybe nothing sucked this year! wouldn't that be novel

[NJBostonFan]

Originally Posted by kennedy

Absolutely.

Third!

[briv]

I cant think of anything that really struck me as that awful this year. I didn't like the new MBTA headhouses at Copley and Arlington stations, but I don't think they're worthy of special recognition for their badness.

Maybe no award this year? Maybe we should just vote as to whether or not we should change the award's name to the Joseph F. Fallon Award for the Worst New Development of the Year?