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Boston City Hall

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Article in the WSJ today about the mostly empty Boston City Hall. Seems that in an effort to attract a lunchtime crowd to Boston's very own Bastille the mayor has installed grass and Adirondack chairs on part of the plaza to make it more appealing. Both the grass and the chairs are plastic. Have we really come to this as a nation, seriously?

 
Aug 1, 15 8:56 am
chigurh

those plastic adirondack chairs are comfortable tho...

Aug 1, 15 9:21 am  · 
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Clueless. That plaza isn't supposed to be any more accommodating or comfortable than the government. I wouldn't be surprised if they astroturfed it.

Aug 1, 15 9:43 am  · 
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Whenever you have a dead space put a popup or some movable chairs in it.  Those two moves always work to make a place...

Aug 1, 15 11:51 am  · 
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toasteroven

People have been searching for a solution for that plaza for decades....

 

first off - I'm pretty sure Kallmann & McKinnell never intended the entire plaza to be hardscape - but there's a lot of stuff underneath that prevents planting over much of the plaza.  There's a fountain that was decked over sometime in the 80s due to cost of maintenance... (FYI, it's only been a few years since the city has found money to restore fountains around the city) plus there's that stupid curved building and the overly wide (and drag strip-like) cambridge street basically kill any hope for life on the plaza.  The city is finally just starting to get more aggressive about their complete streets program, and I think that once cars are eventually removed from more places downtown city hall plaza might end up seeing a little more life.

 

also - it's not like there's a dearth of open space in that section of the city - the greenway is close (and always packed with people), you're a short walk from post office square and the common... and quincy market is right across from city hall on the other side...

Aug 1, 15 12:21 pm  · 
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davvid

Poorly designed placemaking projects are everywhere these days. It isn't just happening to large and under programmed open spaces. They're installing these things in some of the most vibrant places in cities like New York or San Francisco. I think its more about the catharsis of organizing and implementing these projects than it is about actually improving cities. 

Aug 1, 15 5:04 pm  · 
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empea
I had lunch on one of those plastic chairs the other week. It was good.
Aug 1, 15 11:54 pm  · 
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