We all know that buildings don't always turn out like the renderings. Last-minute changes and real-life materials can all cause discrepancies between the vision and reality of a project. In our weekly Flash Forward Friday feature, we take a look at how different projects stack up.

Millennium Tower rendering, image via Handel Architects

Though Downtown Boston's aesthetic of historic brownstones and brick structures has been immortalized and romanticized in popular culture, the skyline has never seemed to reach that same regard. But it's hard to miss the Millennium Tower in Downtown Crossing. Its 60 levels amount to a 209-metre (685-foot) mass of reflective curtain wall skin that symbolizes the city's urban flair. With five storeys of retail anchoring the 442 condominiums above — a mixed-use configuration that's fitting for Boston's third tallest skyscraper — the building's contribution to the public realm is palpable. The development even managed to save and restore a section of Filene’s department store at Washington and Summer streets, with modern office space and shops now gracing the space.

The completed Millennium Tower, image by Adam Zawalich

Handel Architects envisioned a crystalline tower with a pleated facade and chamfered roof that emphasizes the structure's verticality. The podium's folded translucent glass panels provide visual connections to the interiors, which become part of Boston's lively streetscape. The skyscraper provides a more visually porous landmark for a skyline primarily composed of solid darker materials. The only discernible difference from the rendering is the prominence of the horizontal fins at the penthouse levels, which span nearly the full width of the building. Beyond that, Handel Architects brought their vision to life with painstaking detail paid to the scale, materiality, and geometry of the building.