Why Is Boston So Ugly?

Monuments to Mediocrity

30 Dalton Street, Cambridge Seven Associates

Pop Quiz: Will this upcoming 26-story tower house: a) luxury condos; b) computer servers; or c) insurance offices? Difficult to tell, since life clearly wasn’t part of the design equation.

InterContinental Boston, Elkus Manfredi Architects

Biggest Offense: This pile of glass conceals two ventilation towers for the Central Artery. The architects dealt with its ungainly ­proportions by adding a few facets to its otherwise blank face.

Nine Zero Hotel, Tsoi/Kobus & Associates

Biggest Offense: Overlooking the Granary Burial Ground, this brick block with punch windows features an undersize canopy, just so you know where the door is.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Global Headquarters, Tsoi/Kobus & Associates

Biggest Offense: Wait—haven’t we seen that blue glass somewhere before? This time, the architects tried to save their building’s anonymity by slightly angling one of the façades.

The Colonnade Residences, Elkus Manfredi Architects

Biggest Offense: A relentless cast-stone grid in the saddest of all gray hues leaves little for the architecture aficionado to ponder. Not every building has to be great, but why not try?

photographs courtesy of Pritzker Realty Group (30 dalton); by toan trinh (intercontinental, Vertex); colin jaworski (colonnade); robert benson photography (nine zero)

Boston’s Got Talent

Exciting architecture is all around us, built by local firms in foreign climes and in Boston by new developers willing to take risks on small projects that, incidentally, aren’t reviewed by the Boston Civic Design Commission.

Marginal Street Lofts, Merge Architects

Biggest Success: A mix of industrial materials, warm red cedar, and bright yellow accents ­activates this nine-unit East Boston residence.

Emporium Towers, Höweler + Yoon Architecture

Biggest Success: The principals of this Boston firm teach at Harvard and MIT, respectively, and created a mesmerizing residential tower (one of two) in Shanghai.

Bishan Residential Development, Safdie Architects

Biggest Success: Somerville-based architect Moshe Safdie designed this lively (and very green) residential complex in Singapore.

Songpa Micro-Housing, SSD Architecture + Urbanism

Biggest Success: Thanks to smart built-ins, ­passive cooling, and shared spaces, this micro-housing block in Seoul is a big winner.

photographs courtesy of merge architects/john horner (marginal Lofts); Höweler + Yoon architecture (emporium towers); safdie architects (Bishan); ssd architecture + urbanism (songpa)