Rendering of a re-lit CIty Hall.
Mayor Walsh's office today announced a plan to bathe the exterior of City Hall with a new generation of light fixtures that will supposedly make it look more attractive even as they save on energy costs.
The lighting will highlight the original tripartite design of City Hall, which organized the building into three parts - the public spaces: the lower levels that house public transaction areas; the symbolic spaces: the middle sections that house the governmental offices of the Mayor and the City Council; and the administrative spaces, the crown of the building, that house the administrative functions of government.
New high-efficiency LED fixtures will replace the original exterior recessed lighting fixtures to illuminate the lower levels and highlight the entrances. Other fixtures, intended to wash the building with light, will be hidden behind existing structures and attached to new light poles, which will be coordinated with the new MBTA light poles.
The new fixtures will wash the building in a warm white light, and also have the capability of projecting a wide-range of color options which will allow the City to light the building to acknowledge a variety of civic and celebratory events.
City officials hope to begin work in April, aided in part by a $76,000 grant from Eversource. The lights use less energy than the current bulbs and only have to be replaced every 20 years, rather than every 4 years.
Before any work is done, the plans will be reviewed by the Boston Landmarks Commission because of a pending application to designate the building as an official landmark because of its "heroic" design, which is what architects now call it, having apparently finally realized that insisting on calling it "brutalist" only made non-architects think of Orwell's line about a boot stamping on a human face forever.
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Comments
An alternative design
By adamg
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 1:02pm
David Bernstein has a proposal.
City Hall Needs Lighting on the INSIDE
By anon
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 4:03pm
Try to imagine working inside the New England Aquarium 12 months a year: dark halls, blank concrete walls, no windows, no natural light, a few dimly lit bulbs, strange looking creatures floating by all the time. That's what it's like to work inside City Hall. Someone should call OSHA about the risk of mental health injuries in this workplace. Seriously.
^^This.
By bastiat
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 6:30pm
^^This.
And air wouldn't be such a bad idea either.
"Strange-looking creatures floating by all the time"
By M
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 6:46pm
I just snorted my beer, thank you. Worked for a neighboring municipality and dreaded our meetings with our Boston counterparts. So dreary an atmosphere! You summed it up beautifully, thank you for the chuckle.
Lipstick on a Pig
By Markk02474
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 1:16pm
Its still an ugly building. Bar lighting helps only slightly.
I cant believe that I actually agree with ..
By anon
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 1:25pm
...MarKKK, but I do.
me neither
By cybah
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 1:37pm
I was gonna post that, but saw Markkk already did.
City Hall: bringing everyone
By bgl
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 1:45pm
City Hall: bringing everyone together.
I showed restraint this time
By Markk02474
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 5:04pm
I was on the fence on continuing the bar light analogy with needing many drinks to find the building attractive (enough), but figured many people would think it without me writing it.
Love The Building — Hate The Plaza
By Elmer
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 1:48pm
Paint it.
By sammy
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 4:43pm
Paint it.
Open all those grey blank surfaces to artists.
my plan:
By Scumquistador
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 1:26pm
they should get a bunch of red and orange colored lighting and go whole hog on the evil lair thing that building has going on for it
Nice picture
By Michael
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 1:27pm
I must not have seen City Hall Plaza from this angle, but I'm impressed that it's not covered in pedestrian barricades and flying hats and umbrellas from the constant 50-mph wind. I should check out that side of the building.
That's standing on the Fanuil
By anon
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 1:49pm
That's standing on the Fanuil side looking up and across the street. They've apparently completely removed the road and all the traffic in this lighting plan as well.
Well, it probably looks better
By whyaduck
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 1:30pm
in the nighttime anyway. Nothing they can do to it during the day will help it look more inviting.
Exactly
By Sources Say
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 1:40pm
Still fugly during the day, maybe semi-attractive at night.
Promises, promises
By johnmcboston
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 1:50pm
Didn't Marty promise to bulldoze the building as part of his campaign for Mayor??
Shhhhh
By Goosen
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 7:55pm
Mahty's hoping everyone kinda just forgets he said that. Campaign promises... Oh well
It's weird that Walsh
By anon
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 2:06pm
It's weird that Walsh mentions the "tripartite design" because the entire 4th floor of Boston City Hall was designed to be open space, but it has been completely barricaded from public access for the past 15 years. The 1st and 3rd floor entrances have metal detectors, which are very efficient at keeping out contractors who seek permits while carrying Swiss army knives in their pocketses. And the 2nd floor entrance on the north side is blocked off by Jersey barriers.
What Walsh got right in his announcement is referring to the 9th floor, the spacious digs occupied by the BRA, as the "crown of the building."
Most contractors are half
By Section77
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 3:27pm
Most contractors are half-bright enough to know public buildings have metal detectors. Although I agree some have culture shock when they leave the job site.
Also
By Waquiot
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 7:14pm
Most contractors, if they apply for the permits in person, do not go to City Hall. They go to 1010 Mass Ave.
There was a time
By anon
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 2:13pm
There was a time people were more accepting of this type of architecture. I don't recall the real hate for the building and plaza beginning in earnest until the 80s. In the 70s when the fountain was there and working I recall people actually used to congregate on the plaza, eat lunch, etc. It somehow seemed more inviting back then.
Some photos of when it was nicer there
By anon
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 9:29pm
www.flickr.com/search/?w=35740357@N03&q=boston%20city%20hall
Wow.
By MostlyHarmless
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 2:36pm
The tripartite design organized the building into three parts? In which of these three parts is the Department of Redundancy Department located?
Bureau of Buracracy
By cybah
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 3:05pm
Every time I put one of these in my SIMcity, I think of Boston City Hall.
[img] http://www.wiki.sc4devotion.com/images/thumb/e/ea/... [/img]
Of course, I can add my own Boston City Hall as a tile.. but it's considered a landmark and has a positive effect. not a negative one
[img] http://www.simtropolis.com/repository/screens/mont... [/img]
inb4 first year design
By anon
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 3:30pm
inb4 first year design student says "brutalist" as a pejorative.
The ADA House of Horror
By Felicity
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 7:01pm
The ADA House of Horror
Floor By Floor Building Directory for City Hall.
By theszak
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 8:45pm
A Floor By Floor Building Directory is needed for Boston City Hall. The usual alphabetical directory fails for many visitors.
a new generation of light
By anon
Mon, 01/25/2016 - 11:20pm
a new generation of light fixtures that will supposedly make it look more attractive
The only way that a light fixture could make that building look more attractive would be if they were so bright that no one could look at it. As opposed to now when no one can stand to look at it.
Bring back...
By Fixing it
Tue, 01/26/2016 - 11:00pm
Get rid of the food trucks. Bring back Buzzy's! LOL!
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