(11-22-2023, 11:38 AM)westwardloo Wrote: Again I would give this project less then a 10% chance of being built with its current proposal. This is what I see being built in 2030's at some point.
On a positive note I think the design of the podium and simplicity of the towers will help sway things in its favour for potential approval. There is an elegance to the design that really works. The towers have variation that lets them be interesting to the eye, but the way in which it achieves that is simple. A design like that can remain unobtrusive, but if one takes a moment to look then they become intrigued. But it's the arches in the podium I think really suit this by virtue of being in Cambridge.
Cambridge takes a lot of pride in its historical past and that is especially reflected in its architecture. Throughout the city but particularly in the cores, you find countless examples of historic architecture - everything from preserved ruins, functional buildings retaining their original design but also examples of historic buildings that underwent adaptive reuses with new additions. A couple good examples would be the Old Post Office redone by RDHA and the University of Waterloo School of Architecture which was done by Levitt Goodman Architects.
My first impressions of this is that use of arches and the vertical lines on the towers imply respect to historicism, setting the building on equal level with those that came before it and which sit next to it. It has a unique contemporary identity, but has architecture that borrows from the past without being kitsch. The fact it isn't white/grey/black is great too. It doesn't even use a large colour palette - it's basically just a lot of brown - but again it's simplicity of it.
I would hope that the City of Cambridge approves this more or less as-is, or at least doesn't pressure the developer to make drastic changes, because it is a really nice looking project. I know there will be the usual comments from the public and no doubt council members as well on the usual nonsense - traffic, parking, shadows etc - but that aside, I see no reason to not approve this. Cambridge rarely gets it right but they do sort of have a good track record when it comes to saying yes to good projects. The previous examples of the post office and campus are some examples and so is the rather surprising fact they approved the really nice Cambridge Mill project given its size, so maybe they'll bag another one if they approve this. It would balance out the Gaslight District monstrosity at least. :'P