Re-Imagining Boston City Hall Plaza Using Second Life

[wntoply6]

i don't know what all the hubbub is about regarding city hall & the plaza surrounding it.

when the building was first built it won numerous design awards, in fact if you turn the jefferson memorial, on the back of a penny it upside down, you've an idea of what the building looks like. the plaza was modeled after that in the town of sienna italy. for years it's served as a gathering place for such celebrations as the celtics & patriots won their world championships, among other grand events.

[pete5668]

Get rid of that ugly City Hall building PLEASE.

[zfot66]

hi guys, I 'm zoi. I 'm writing a book about a 17 years old girl that lives in Boston. Since I am from Greece and I 've never visited Boston I 'm looking for a girl at that age to help me with the whereabouts of the city and give me some info about your school system. Can somebody help me? Thanks a lot Zoi

[mspadfoot]

If it were up to me, I'd give up on the plaza entirely. Restore the streets that were destroyed when they demolished Scollay Square, divide the space into individual parcels zoned for mixed use (that is, stores on the ground floor, apartments above), and replace the worst public space in the world with an actual neighborhood. Unfortunately, you'll probably never be rid of City Hall itself--apparently it's "very important"--but you can at least destroy that godawful plaza.

[bscottb8]

How do you revamp and renovate a bunker?

[Landdogger]

what an amazing building. needs to be totally revamped and renovated, though, so it doesn't feel like such a concrete fortress

[Superpig702]

5 stars for bringing attention to the horror that is the boston city hall plaza, but I think the building itself is the problem. It reeks of the paranoia of the 60's and is an inaccurate representation of boston.

A new city hall could be built like the new state house, in a pleasant colonial style. Whatever happens they shouldn't make another park like they did for the big dig. Instead, some restaurants and a fountain, or maybe even a movie theater could actually make the city hall plaza useful.

[narutoguypersonkid]

boston rules

[xkcroi]

Everyone's been dreaming for years how to fix this problem... and we can keep dreaming. Second Life comes up with a fine idea, but it will never be realized. Such a shame.

[Ethan02113]

rediculous. let the tax-paying citizens decide what they want. I like the idea to add a skateboard park, but keep the open space for festivals and fairs. And to the boob who says Boston is known for open and cold spaces, what planet are you on? That would be almost any city BUT Boston, which is dense and charming. We do not need an another massive construction project, but putting grass over brick only prevents protests, feasts, and pedestrian flow (have you seen the palce at rush hours!).

[pattykeough]

The grass is the thing. Nice job. The look created here warms up the entire space and makes it really welcoming - not an easy thing to do for the brick beach!

[Capburger]

Nothing says Boston like cold vacant spaces. Look at BankNorth Garden...

[markg713]

Great job, but those beautiful trees will have a tough time growing over the T.

Maybe they should tear down that eyesore and build a new city hall near the waterfront like Mumbles suggested.

[colinrhinesmith]

Not a bad idea, actually. Some other people in our class proposed a re-design that included a public graffiti wall. The point being that it could be a space set-aside for public expression and interaction rather than something that had to "cleaned up" all the time.

[cfilms2007]

so many people skateboard there it should just be turned into a skateboard plaza.