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Hey, man, let's play Guess the Architect

By adamg on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 10:25am
Proposed AC Hotel in the South End

The rendering above shows the AC Hotel by Marriott planned for the former Boston Herald site now occupied by the Ink Block development of residential units and a Whole Foods. According to a press release from the developers, National Development:

With Ink Block’s themes of the South End’s art, music and food, the AC Hotel by Marriott is a perfect complement to what is becoming one of Boston’s fastest growing areas. With roots in Europe, select service AC Hotels are described by Marriott as, “stylish hotels for urban spirits.” The distinguishing characteristics are design-led, urban, cosmopolitan and tailor-made for modern travelers looking for a new way of experiencing and feeling the city. The hotel will include a European-inspired style that defines contemporary hospitality.

Indeed. Observers of recent trends in Boston development should have little trouble identifying the architectural firm that designed the structure, but here's a hint: Think pretty much every single building in the Innovation District.

Neighborhoods: 
South End
Topics: 
Business
Free tagging: 
Development
Ink Block


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Comments

By kvn on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 10:26am.

I M Pei? IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/131_Ponce_de_Leon_Ave.%2C_Atlanta_-_I.M._Pei_building.JPG/330px-131_Ponce_de_Leon_Ave.%2C_Atlanta_-_I.M._Pei_building.JPG)

By MC Slim JB on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 10:43am.

draw all those squares and rectangles, and then draw more squares and rectangles inside the squares and rectangles.

And to be fair to Pei, that was his first building, designed in 1949, back when that aesthetic was considered revolutionary.

By SwirlyGrrl on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 11:06am.

This building, designed by Sir Owen Williams and built 1930-1932, was a factory, but it set the stage for a generation of functional modernist buildings:

Here's another of his designs, built 1936-1939:

More about Sir Owen Williams starting here.

By MC Slim JB on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 11:27am.

a/k/a "Slides in the Afternoon", but I thought Pei was a Gropius disciple. Much easier to connect the dots with his work than Sir Owen's.

By datadyne007 on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 10:47am.

Elkus, baby!!

Btw, you should change the headline to "Hey, man, ..." to slip in a Manfredi pun.

By adamg on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 10:56am.

Because, yes, I should have!

Hmm:

Hey, man, Freddy here, down at the Elks, us guys are having a debate ...

By SwirlyGrrl on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 10:49am.

Except this one is a bit more interesting ala Saarinnen:
IMAGE(http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--p0NNBb_a--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/w2viii8sl5sypponj3bh.jpg)

That hotel looks like a classic downtown Travelodge (4-6 story box over parking) with the lower floor enclosed. There is a new building just like it, right on the Channel, where they encased the first floor last.

By Ron Newman on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 10:43am.

 

By SwirlyGrrl on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 10:54am.

Or will the DC hotel rectify the situation?

By MattyC on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 11:13am.

You're really not current on your electrical puns, are you? I hear Ed's son can give you watt you need.

By Scratchie on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 11:31am.

This thread has taken a shocking turn. I'm going ohm.

By anon on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 11:27am.

Matty was energized and rose to the charge.

By FlyingToaster on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 1:43pm.

Resistance is futile.

By MattyC on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 2:26pm.

But impedance is normal.

By Ron Newman on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 4:24pm.

 

By BlackKat on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 10:46am.

Reminds me of this place in L.A.
http://goo.gl/maps/PjWIw

By Anon on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 11:31am.

That is really ugly.

By Lanny Budd on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 11:52am.

Petr Baranovsky

By Andrew8-8000 on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 12:42pm.

This is stylish? Well I suppose a big box is a sort of "style". not my style that's for sure. I don't have a clue as to the architect, they all seem to be the same these days...

By MC Slim JB on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 1:06pm.

pioneered by Ian Schrager with his Morgans Hotel Group and taken mass-market by Starwood with the W Hotels chain. It's about what's inside, not the exterior: small rooms, more money spent on design, modern amenities (early adopters of in-room CD players when that was new, then free Wi-Fi well ahead of the curve), scene-y bar/restaurant. In the early days, it was about taking tired old hotels and making them trendy, like the Paramount in Manhattan. New construction is just as common these days, as at the Marlowe in Cambridge.

By Ah-Clem on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 4:10pm.

My wife and I have been referring to it from day one as the INK BLOT.

By anon on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 4:25pm.

This is great, and it doesn't need any of these massive subsidies the Mass Convention Center Authority keeps asking for to build more hotels there. This shows there is no need for taxpayers to build hotels, the market is building hotels.

By anon on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 4:48pm.

'pretentious' ? As soon as they invoke anything 'Euro', or 'European', my eyes glaze over.

By DrCheswick on Tue, 02/03/2015 - 6:32pm.

They must be using open source software to "design" these buildings.
I'd like to find out what it is so even I can approach the BRA!

By TNS on Thu, 08/13/2015 - 6:36pm.

I am very disappointed that the new and proposed buildings in that area are too short and too small. It is the perfect area for height and density. What a waste.