21 Boston – 26 – Emerging

For most of the past year, the 21 Boston project has been wrapped in a protective layer of scaffolding and screen mesh.

This has enabled the workers to assemble the finished materials and windows of the façade while standing on stable platforms, protected from the weather. Recently, almost with the flourish of a cape, the scaffolding has come down, revealing the almost finished building.

There’s still plenty to do; but now, for the first time, the scale and materials can be appreciated – and compared with the original design intent. At the south end of the project, seen from the corner of Queen Anne Avenue and Crockett streets, the various steps in the “unwrapping” of the building are on full display.

And here some of the variations have also become visible.

For the first time it’s possible to see how the dark paneling ‘sets off’ the large scale brick ‘frames’ that work to divide the building into large elements. The ‘base’ of the building (where the Safeway store will be) has yet to be clad in the red brick that will define it in contrast to the housing above. As a reminder, here’s the original design presentation of the Queen Anne elevation showing that red brick.

This is an interesting façade in that it mixes actual articulation with implied articulation of the various elements of the building. For example, the red brick ‘base’ is made out of concrete that also creates the large (5 acre) platform on which all of the housing sits. This is a major demarcation line in the project and is expressed as such. Above that platform, the housing has been built of multiple prefabricated wood panels and floor joists into one large structure. To alleviate the impact that one large structure would have on Queen Anne Avenue, that structure has been visually modulated by the large tan brick ‘frames’ into three elements that are more in scale with other relatively recent apartment developments nearby. Setbacks at the top two levels also help to reduce the overall impact.

Just for fun, I photographed some of the Queen Anne Ave elements separately and then combined them into an elevation. This is a photo construction but it gives a good impression of the final effect to come.

A few other views give a sense of how the overall project is coming together.

This is a close-up of the corner set-back at Queen Anne and Crockett streets, where a plaza will provide outdoor space for seating, gathering, and access to the Safeway deli-cafe. If you look closely, you can see the struts projecting from the building that will support a canopy along the face of the building. Other details include the location of the Safeway entrance,

and above the Safeway, some of the apartment balconies.

Stepping down the street, it becomes apparent that the building is settling in to its context.

At the Towne apartments to the south, a similar theme had been introduced of brick at street level for retail with housing above and set back in places, as is being done at 21 Boston (or as it is now being renamed, Gables Queen Anne). And even from a more distant vantage point, a couple of blocks to the west, the building is settling in to the larger neighborhood framework.

Take a good look at the tower crane, though. ‘Calvin’, as it was nick-named after a retired local mailman, is about to leave us. We’ll take a look at some of that process in the next chapter.