Natalia,
Check out this book:
“Massachusetts: Off the Beaten Path. A Guide to Unique Places” by Patricia
Mandell.
I am from the Boston area
too. I live in Newton, but frequent Boston and the neighboring towns. Each town
in such a small radius has it’s own character. Boston does have a lot of brick
and is known for the brown stones in the South End and Back Bay. The brown
stone buildings were mainly built only 100 years ago. I have to say that I do
think these buildings and older historical landmarks (like John Adams house)
are sustainable. This is because they do not require elevators like so many
modern buildings in the city do and it is much cheaper to re-insulate and
install newer windows, than it is to knock them down and build new ones. If we
loose the historic buildings and brown stone architecture, we loose not only so
much of Boston and it’s own uniqueness, but also so much of history. I think
these are valuable to preserve and can become LEED certified and more
sustainable buildings.
There is a lot of very
modern architecture mixed in to the historic buildings. Most of them do not
address the “street-scape” (meaning they are on angles to the street or sidewalks)
where people walk. West End and Longwood Medical Area are just “super-blocks”
that no one on foot or bicycle can safely access. Boston City Hall is called
“brutilist” architecture…the plaza itself is not even to human scale…take a
look: http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/kallmann/kallmann.html
Compare it to the Old City
Hall: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debbeling1/6440990579/
Another example is Mokely
Federal Couthouse, that has one front door and no windows on the ground level.
From far away, it does not look so hideous, but this is not to human scale up
close.
From this aerial photo you
can see how there is no reason for it to be to human scale because it is
surrounded by a pitiful enormous parking lot…that could be designed for other
public space and use!
The Darth Vadar Building,
as you can imagine, also does not fit in:
If you want to see some
neat historical architecture, check out Charles Bulfinch: http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Charles_Bulfinch.html
I found this great
resource to look up Modern, Leed Certified
Projects in the US: http://www.usgbc.org/LEED/Project/CertifiedProjectList.aspx.
Some are gorgeous! Here is an example of one in Boston:
ADD 311 Office Project:
Here is a list of 4 in
Newton: http://www.usgbc.org/LEED/Project/CertifiedProjectList.aspx
The Chapman Office has
earned Platinum:
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