Hancock Place
From Archiplanet
 | Hancock Place |
| Designer | I. M. Pei |
| Location | Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
| Date | 1977 |
| Building Type | skyscraper, commercial office tower |
| Climate | temperate |
| Context | urban |
| Architectural Style | Corporate Modern |
| Street Address | 40 Trinity Place |
| Notes | With Henry N. Cobb. Reflective obelisk skyscraper. Famous glazing problems. |
| At Great Buildings | http://www.GreatBuildings.com/buildings/Hancock_Place.html |
Contents |
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[edit] Discussion
Commentary
"The building is unsettling up close at its base, but from afar it is icily magnificent, the surfaces changing as the day changes, each side rendered in the color of the sky it faces. The drama of the reflecting surface is heightened by the parallelogram shape of the prism, which provides unexpectedly differing reflections on adjoining surfaces. On the short ends a sharp incision in the walls, glazed on one side, picks up yet another shaft of reflection, often sharply contrasting: gold when the rest is gray, dark when the rest is gleaming bright. The building adds to the skyline not so much an object as a spectacle of changing light, an intensified comment on the qualities of the sky itself."— Donlyn Lyndon. The City Observed: Boston. New York: Vintage Books, 1982. p195.
"This 60-story office building, sheathed in reflective glass, has been roundly praised for fitting 2 million square feet of space into a small site while consorting agreeably with landmarks on a historic square. But when its glass panes—buffeted by high winds—started breaking by the dozens, lawsuits proliferated and a drastic program of reglazing had to be initiated."
— from Sylvia Hart Wright. Sourcebook of Contemporary North American Architecture: From Postwar to Postmodern. p94.
Details
The John Hancock Tower (1976), in Boston, MA, is one of the finest examples of juxtaposition between old and new buildings and styles. It presents a convincing case that minimalistic modernism can comfortably coexist with older structures. The challenge to the architect (Henry Cobb of I. M. Pei and Partners) was to build a very large (2,000,000 square foot) tower that would respond to and not interfere with Copley Square, a museum of great architecture that includes H. H. Richardson's famous Trinity Church.
Minimalism was decided upon - everything not necessary to the structure was stripped away. Reflective glass was used to make the bulk of the tower less apparent and to reflect the historic buildings at its base.
The tower is positioned right next to the church, yet because of the tower's reflective skin the church is not detracted from. The parallelogram footprint allows the building to look (from some angles) as if it has no third dimension. It also creates a new entry plaza across from Copley Square that allows even more views of Trinity Church and is one of the city's most pleasant public spaces.
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[edit] References
"When Bad Things Happen to Good Buildings", by Thomas A. Schwartz, ArchitectureWeek No. 44, 2001.0404, pB1.1.
Paul Heyer. American Architecture: Ideas and Ideologies in the Late Twentieth Century. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1993. ISBN 0-442-01328-0. LC 92-18415. NA2750.H48. exterior photo, p79. overview photo, p79.
Donlyn Lyndon. The City Observed: Boston. New York: Vintage Books, 1982. ISBN 0-394-74894-8. LC 81-40199. NA735.B7L96. discussion and a small context photo, p193-195.
Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture, from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1986. photo fig 870, p 546.— Available at Amazon.com
Carter Wiseman. I.M. Pei: A Profile in American Architecture. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Publishers, 1990. NA 737.P365 W57 1990. ISBN 0-8109-3709-3. LC 90-30727. site plan, p147.
[edit] External Links
Hancock Tower put up for sale - Boston Business Journal, 2006.0904
