Kmart Housing: Concept Images Vs. Reality

Opinion PieceThe Townie is an opinion website. The views expressed in this piece belong solely to the author, and do not represent those held by The Townie.

Renderings are visual representations of future architectural designs for building projects. These images are used as a sales tool in architecture, allowing developers to secure consent and sell their projects to decision-makers, public officials, and the community at large. Using programs like Photoshop or AI, these images can be created with great detail and realism. However, this ability to manipulate the rendered image has often led to an unreality between what is rendered and what actually constitutes the finished building. At that point, it is too late to redo, as architecture is often called “frozen music.” The rendering practice has a significant implication to the most important urban development project in recent years here in Newburyport — The Kmart location known as Plaza Landing.

But first, let’s examine a recent example here in town, of what I term a false narrative — The Residences on the Ridge at 95 State Street. Take a look at the rendering hung from the construction fencing, and gaze upward to see the reality. Does the fanciful and almost bucolic representation match the building? First, the rendering is angled from a vantage point that isn’t possible in real life. Remember on TV Sitcom, Frazer, where his apartment building allows you to gaze over the skyline of downtown Seattle, where, actually, that vantage point doesn’t exist? A false reality.

Further examination reveals a building whose bulk is reduced, and that appears to set back further from the roadway, giving it a less hulking and threatening appearance. The secondary carriage house is portrayed in a different physical relationship to the main structure, which isn’t true. The next test of rendering to reality will be the cladding and landscaping when the construction fencing is removed. Will it match the image, or will it only vaguely resemble what was promised? But most of all, the rendering deceives regarding the scale relationship to the streetscape. And will we get that curing brick sidewalk wrapping around State and High Street and the classic New England stonewall?

This leads me to two other current examples in the infancy stage—the new proposed mixed-use development 49-57 Merrimac Street and Newburyport Landing luxury Townhouses. First, Scott Brown Architect’s rendering of 49-47 is an example of “reality rendering.” As envisioned, it presents an honest representation of what will most likely be built on the site, with sensitivity to a central, significant element – scale. It is rendered with individuals walking, which clearly indicates a sense of a building integrated into the environment, contextual in nature, and without appearing disproportionate to the surrounding structures.

The verdict is out on Newburyport Landing Luxury Townhouses. The site has been cleared and is being readied for laying foundations. The rendering banner shows an aerial view, as if a drone were called in to capture a completed site, in vaguely referential terms. When fully realized, what will be the visual impact of the complex at this most critical traffic junction—a central welcoming portal to the city—traversed by a hundred each day serving also as a major commuter artery.

Finally, and perhaps with the most significant implications, is Plaza Landing. An internet search has turned up only a single, extreme, very vague, and almost abstract distorted black-and-white. The city’s document from the developer issued in September of 2024 has two renderings – one from Low Street, the other from Shaw’s parking lot, along with other visuals on the project.

While helpful, there are hidden elements – or lack thereof, that don’t totally tell the entire story. From these images, a lot will be dependent on the surrounding landscaping and a true representation of to help mitigate the size and bulk as well as the uninspired façade treatment.

Slight adjustments have been made in visual renderings, but the project is a 40B permit referring to a comprehensive permit under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40B, which allows developers to bypass certain local zoning laws to build affordable housing, provided that a portion of the units are designated as affordable. According to Andy Port, Planning Director, all potential waiver requests by the developer haven’t been received. Let’s hope none are related to the exterior façade and material treatment.

Suppose architecture is truly “frozen music.” In that case, it’s imperative to watch closely what the developer could potentially present as a waiver, as it could determine whether the finished structure strikes a visually discordant chord. That would be a potentially unappealing, possibly even jarring element in the visual landscape that the community will have to live with for a very long time.