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BPL says new East Boston branch coming along nicely
By adamg on Thu, 08/01/2013 - 11:10pm
The Boston Public Library said today that the new East Boston branch at Bremen and Prescott streets is slated to open Nov. 2.
The BPL said the tiny Orient Heights branch will close Sept. 6 and the Meridian Street branch on Oct. 4.
Books, CDs, and DVDs will be moved from the existing East Boston branches and blended in with thousands of new items purchased specifically for the new Bremen Street location. Library staff will work in the new facility throughout the month of October in preparation for the November 2 public opening.
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Comments
Those glass walls may end up
Those glass walls may end up as striking as they appear in the image above, but I'm very interested to see how they deal with the unrelenting summer sun seeing as they face a very southerly south-east. Unless there is something that will block the sun, that place is going to be a solar oven.
Wood Island T Stop
Let's hope the designers of this building paid more attention to the effect of the elements than did the clueless people who designed the nearby Wood Island T stop. No consideration to the elements were given at all. There is little shelter from rain, snow, wind or glaring sunlight. The cold stone benches are placed directly where they will get drenched from rain, so they are frequently wet. It is mazelike to get in and out. It is clear that whoever designed it is not a T Rider and not a Boston resident.
I love Wood Island!
But I love it as someone who appreciates the design and architecture, not as someone who actually utilizes the station.
Pretty typical for the MBTA to go with something bold and new, but ultimately useless. I can't wait for the pigeons to bless our new glass box at Government Center. The sun should bake the shit on real well, whilst heating up the box to nice boiling point.
Confusing Wood Island with Wonderland?
Are you confusing Wood Island with the Airport Station or Wonderland? The Airport Station is rather interesting to look at and Wonderland is absolutely fabulous. Wood Island isn't the ugliest, but it's certainly one of the most non-descript stations on the Blue Line. I just can't imagine anything about the design of Wood Island Station being thought of as "bold and new".
Well,
Bold and new? Certainly not. But I enjoy the subtle artistic feel it has. The random porthole window or two, etc. I should say: "the MBTA loves being artsy above utilitarian."
Blue Line is a Boogie Wonderland
Wood Island is mostly just an open platform. The only artwork I've ever noticed are a couple of plain spheric / conical "things" sitting around.
I agree with you about the T wanting to have their stations look more artistic than they are useful, or as they would say: "make an architectural statement". The Charles/MGH Station is a typical example of such a design; it looks very dramatic when driving by, but it's not so pleasant for the people it's actually supposed to be serving.
As a rider of the Blue Line as it passes through Wood Island, the station is not impressive at all, so it's exterior must be offering a much better visual experience to people driving by.
One thing I LOVE is the spinning sculpture between Wood Island and the Airport. I always watch for it right before the train enters the tunnel. When the sun hits it just right, it makes lots of pretty colors and reminds me of spinning lights on a Disco dance floor! Traveling through Beachmont Station, with it's shiny glass-block walls, makes me feel like I'm inside a giant Disco mirror ball. There are so many aspects of the Blue Line that make me want to dance, I just can't help but start to boogie at Wonderland!
Let's not forget the seats on the Red Line platform at DTX
Interesting to look at, impossible to sit on without looking like the only reason you're sitting there is because you've just survived a ten-hour trek through the Gobi and your feet are killing you.
Haymarket and Silver Bus "Shelters"
At least you're out of the wind and rain inside DTX. The Haymarket Bus Station has a very elaborate steel and glass panel "thing" that provides little shelter from harsh weather. It's also a sad joke to call the wildly expensive structures built along Washington Street as Silver Bus stops "shelters".
That Haymarket "Thing"
It is pathetic. It faces northeast, yet it is designed to let sunlight down from the northeast. Like... what?!
And then the flanks are wide open to wind and for rain to drift in.
Just one of the reasons I can't wait for the garage to be gone is because nothing could be worse than the current bus "shelter." Dark, damp, filthy, and unattractive. Although I'd much rather the 111, 426, etc terminated at North Station. That'd be ideal. Same connections, but with the added bonus of the Garden and commuter rail connections.
ew no
Not North station. Too much traffic and no real way for the bus to turn around (there's no loop there). it would have to loop around several blocks to go back to the Tobin. During rush 2,3,4 buses pull up, there's just no space at North Station for this (and no place for a real layover). Then of course imagine during a Bruins or a Celtics game? uh yeah no.. it's already maddening enough from Haymarket.
You can do a 30 second walk from the 111 (inbound) stop at Commercial/N. Washington to N Station.
And after Key Bus Routes are done, the last inbound stop will be moved to the corner, so it will be less than a 30 second walk to the Garden.
but I agree. I've been at the Haymarket bus loop during all weather and it is a joke. It provides ZERO shelter. Rain/Wind/Snow.. doesn't matter. You get wet or freeze. It sucks. I hope something more fitting is built if the garage comes down.
Those bizarre seats
Those bizarre seats on the Red Line platform at DTX do not even look like they were designed for humans to sit on. Just how out of touch with reality are the people who design these things? They are certainly not T riders.
You've discovered the design
You've discovered the design goal: a bench useful in a pinch for a person to perch on momentarily but useless for someone to set up housekeeping on. If you make public furniture comfortable someone will sleep on it.
These things, right?
Yeah, they're pretty weird.
(h/t Jeremiah Cox)
The 'new' Charles/MGH station is a *huge* improvement
over the decrepit, non-accessible station that it replaced. I enjoy using it. What do you not like about it?
The old Charles Station
A thing about the old Charles/MGH (or just "Charles", as it was known then), is, if you were sitting on one of the benches on the outbound side and looked up, the ceiling area all along the wall was covered with thick, hanging spider webs full of spiders. I wonder how many people ever noticed. I only noticed because someone else there noticed one time when I was there, and was vocal about it. Every time after that I looked up and they were always there.
Wood Island
I use wood island daily
and I can attest that the seats at the bus loop are not covered by the walkway. It seems like they were added after they designed the bus way. Bad design.
Stone is cold (and an old wives tail says you get hemorrhoids from sitting on them). metal isn't much better. Wood doesn't last (and becomes a place for graffiti.
But Wood Island fits most of the stations that were remodeled about the same time (late 1990s). Suffolk Downs station is almost identical to Wood Island. Even has the same "maze" to get from the southern 'unpaid' entrance to the gates on the otherside. BUT I see why there's no gates on one side, its *rare* I see anyone on the southern side of the station trying to get in (since it abut's the airport pretty much)
Other side of Wood Island
I know what you mean about that mysterious OTHER side of Wood Island Station. It is basically a vast wasteland of undeveloped land owned by the airport. I know the Sky Chef facility is there, but I'm not sure what else. I'm not sure there's even any real access to get to that area, or why anyone would want to. Years ago that was the Neptune Road region and was full of houses, all now long gone. I believe at one point in the long past the fabled Wood Island Park itself was actually there somewhere on that side.
Other side of Wood Island station
I think the original idea was that Massport would metastasize all the way over and that side of the station would provide access for workers. They are going to building over there -- green building (of course) for bus maintenance if I recall correctly. Locals raised enough of a stink to get a lb of flesh and the Greenway will be extended through there with access to the station I believe. The trail will eventually come out at Constitution Beach in theory.
If you ever pop out over there you can walk down the little bizarre dead end stub of Neptune Road and see the old sidewalks and huge street trees that are left from the neighborhood Massport shat on and destroyed. It's all in a little walled-in cul de sac right up against the airport. When the planes are using that runway it's pretty freaky to have them so close.
Cambridge Public Library
I wonder if it is being designed in a similar style to the main branch of the Cambridge Public Library. It has huge glass windows but even on 90+ degree days, the place is a fridge. (The building is LEED certified but I also wonder if they just haven't turned the air conditioning up to 11).
glass walls
The drawing shows large roof overhangs. If the drawing is true, the overhang would block the sun during the summer months and allow some sun to enter during the winter months when the sun is lower in the sky.
I work at the firm that designed the EB branch.
There are screens (louvres, I guess?) on most of that facade that keep the sun's rays from penetrating the interior directly.
Not Boston Public Library. An independent Chinatown Library!
Chinatown Library recent storefront at 640 Washington Street closed. Then the Chinatown reading room on Oak Street
http://www.chinatownlantern.org/
http://www.storefrontlibrary.org/
An independent administrative organization is needed for a Chinatown Library not under City Public Library Department failing in its mission to include Chinatown neighborhood !
See also
http://www.bpl.org/branches/chinatown_library_stud...
http://www.cpaboston.org/cyi/librarycampaign.html
http://ase.tufts.edu/uep/degrees/field_project_rep...
http://bostonbeats.wordpress.com/
http://colabradio.mit.edu/chinatown-boston-opens-c...
Dog whistles
Butthead: "Hey Beavis, he said 'Library'"
Beavis: "Yeah, that was awesome."
Beavis & Butthead: "heh heh heh heh heh"