Metropolitan Storage Warehouse Redevelopment/Renovation (MIT) | 134 Mass. Ave | Cambridge

This thing is slow rolling. Still not sure I like the clashing of old windows with new ones on the street side (they don’t follow the same grid pattern/rhythm) but it does look high quality and it’s probably very interesting details on the inside. Haven’t seen this at night yet with those big glass boxes glowing.

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Yea I still dont understand what the hell this is about either and how they couldnt have done a better job integrating these windows. Then the massive blue glass boxes just chopped into the facade, it all looks slapdash.

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Overall I’m glad they kept the building, but this is kind of a hack job.
 
No doubt they cheeped out with their window solution. Maybe a window renovation company like this would have blown up the budget, but there had to have been a middle ground. Instead, someone decided to use see-through, white storage-bin lids for windows. And they made sure the lids were less dimensional than the ones pictured.

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cooper said:
No doubt they cheeped out with their window solution. Maybe a window renovation company like this would have blown up the budget, but there had to have been a middle ground. Instead, someone decided to use see-through, white storage-bin lids for windows. And they made sure the lids were less dimensional than the ones pictured.

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There is nothing cheap about this mildly insane cut in window on window detail. You might not like it, but it isn't cheap.
 
cooper said:
No doubt they cheeped out with their window solution. Maybe a window renovation company like this would have blown up the budget, but there had to have been a middle ground. Instead, someone decided to use see-through, white storage-bin lids for windows. And they made sure the lids were less dimensional than the ones pictured.

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Absolutely nothing about this project is “cheap.” And the windows look great imo.
 
I like the new windows' pattern overlapping the old windows' different pattern. To me it's MIT nerdy in a good way, an overlay of the modern over the old, a quantum physics kind of dynamic wherein two things can be in the same place at the same time; a science fiction-y vibe that fits MIT and that whole part of Cambridge really well. Very creative, and I don't think I've seen anything like it done anywhere else.
 
JS38 said:
Some interior images from DS+R website dont recall seeing, this should be one of most interesting academic buildings in Boston when opens...
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MIT Metropolitan Warehouse

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Wonderful! My favorite part in that:

".....The Met’s prominent location at the heart of the expanding university campus allows for a symbolic extension of MIT’s Infinite Corridor from east to west, engaging the city and inviting the community to pass through the building...."

THIS. (y)(y)(y)(y)

One of the great joys to me, as a member of the public, is to be able to stroll through the "infinite corridor" and see the incredible work that is being done each day in one of the greatest academic beehives on earth. The fact that MIT "gets it" and has decided to allow the public that very same opportunity in this nex "extension" of the corridor is GREAT news to those who are curious about their world. Really another great living museum that is commonly overlooked.
 
Longfellow said:
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This is a decent project, but it is funny that they made this image for the website, because it resembles every architect's dream: To drop glass boxes on top of neighborhoods they don't live in.
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Yes, but at least it provides window transparency and is nicely interspersed within the architecture of a much larger building........as opposed to the stand-alone, almost windowless fortress abominable snowman white cube Holocaust Museum going across from Boston Common/Park Street - - tragically ironic in a locatio nthat should CELEBRATE the pedestrian.

The Met Storage building actually treats the pedestrians with welcome and respect.

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Longfellow said:
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This is a decent project, but it is funny that they made this image for the website, because it resembles every architect's dream: To drop glass boxes on top of neighborhoods they don't live in.
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Nothing is perfect in this world, but I give major kudos to MIT for this great project, and all the other fantastic work they've done on old buildings in this part of Cambridge. Nerds rule!
 
This is my favorite development right now.
 
type001 said:
This is my favorite development right now.
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I love it too. But there are surprisingly several other really great urbanizing projects under or just about to come online - -

- this Met Warehouse is one (with the tremendous PUBLIC benefits of the transparent window sections and the open ivite to the public to access the academic corridors)
- the soaring residential tower Lyra with the spectacular first 2 floors donated to drastically enlargening next door neighbor's Huntington theatre lobby into a spectacular (and very visible) placemaker
- the Vega tower in Cambridge - - bursting through the height ceiling limits from the past to be the catalyst to the future taller Cambridge skyline
- 10 World Trade/BGI office tower - which while spectacular, currently and sadly, sits quite empty. However, the elevated pedestrian garden and paths that lead in two directions down to street level are a gift to urban Boston.
- the Commonwealth Pier (Seaport WTC) remake and integration with the Harborwalk - - this will take the already spectacular Harborwalk to a new level - - this summer will see an urban dynamic acceleration there

The Metropolitan Wharehouse is great urban planning along with its primary purpose. It benefits the neighborhood and its citizens. Too often, buildings are self-centered fortress "takers" not "makers". We need to support the spirit of buildings that nourish urbanization and fight against the ones that diminish it (like the Holocaust Museum and 34-40 Hampshire St Cambridge https://archboston.com/community/th...hire-34-40-hampshire-st-cambridge.6605/page-6 )
 
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shmessy said:
I love it too. But there are surprisingly several other really great urbanizing projects under or just about to come online - -

- this Met Warehouse is one (with the tremendous PUBLIC benefits of the transparent window sections and the open ivite to the public to access the academic corridors)
- the soaring residential tower Lyra with the spectacular first 2 floors donated to drastically enlargening next door neighbor's Huntington theatre lobby into a spectacular (and very visible) placemaker
- the Vega tower in Cambridge - - bursting through the height ceiling limits from the past to be the catalyst to the future taller Cambridge skyline
- 10 World Trade/BGI office tower - which while spectacular, currently and sadly, sits quite empty. However, the elevated pedestrian garden and paths that lead in two directions down to street level are a gift to urban Boston.
- the Commonwealth Pier (Seaport WTC) remake and integration with the Harborwalk - - this will take the already spectacular Harborwalk to a new level - - this summer will see an urban dynamic acceleration there

The Metropolitan Wharehouse is great urban planning along with its primary purpose. It benefits the neighborhood and its citizens. Too often, buildings are self-centered fortress "takers" not "makers". We need to support the spirit of buildings that nourish urbanization and fight against the ones that diminish it (like the Holocaust Museum and 34-40 Hampshire St Cambridge https://archboston.com/community/threads/lab-building-née-hotel-hampshire-34-40-hampshire-st-cambridge.6605/page-6 )
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I don't understand your seeming hatred of the Holocaust Museum. It looks like it has a regular museum lobby that anyone off the street can walk into. It will hold events and attract visitors.
 
Jeremi said:
I don't understand your seeming hatred of the Holocaust Museum. It looks like it has a regular museum lobby that anyone off the street can walk into. It will hold events and attract visitors.
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Hatred for the museum???? It's the unfortunate ARCHITECTURE and placement that are the problem, not the MUSEUM itself..

See the pic in post #95.

-There is one small entranceway at the corner vertex. The rest is a continued fortress wall with no windows. Above the ground level - - no windows whatsoever except for one 'open mouth/corniche' midway up.
-Then the materials, style and color have no relationship/interaction with any of it's neighbors. No need to be uniform, but at least CONVERSE architecturally with neighbors, instead of folding arms and stubbornly squat.
-We are talking about one of the most heavily pedestrianized corners in the entire city - - one that tourists and travelers from all over the world are drawn to. And it completely deadens that corner. Why are there no windows' at least, MARKETING/COMMUNICATING the exhibits and excellent educational intentions of what is inside? The entire building's architecture says "stay away". Honestly, it is far more akin to the Volpe Transport building in Cambridge than to its neighbors on Tremont and Boston Common across the street.

It doesn't ADD to the location. Despite the tremendous educational/social/cultural of what is inside. The architecture squashes dynamic urbanization.

Compare THAT to the transparency and welcoming aspect to the pedestrians of the Metropolitan Warehouse which will greatly enliven a sidewalk that used to be a fortressed off dead zone. This Met Warehouse starts with a direct opposite street situation and does the exact opposite of the Holocaust Museum - - it IMPROVES the streetscape and neighborhood.
 
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