MIT East Campus - Kendall Square Gateway | Cambridge

stick n move said:
You can see the height that the new building will be in this render where they didnt remove the old tower but still rendered the new one thats replacing it. It looks like its behind it in this picture but in real life it will be replaced by this shorter building. Also note this render doesnt have the mxd 2 residential tower, which will be the tallest in Cambridge until Volpe, which isnt rendered either.


Volpe Tower will be the Cambridge Game Changer -- no render of the view from the Esplanade is anything but a "Placeholder" until it is included

From every Cambridge Picturesque View and some others as well -- It will say to visitors from all over -- just like Alexandria's Pharos*1 -- This is Kendall Square -- or as the KSA says
The Future Lives Here
Click to expand...
https://www.kendallsq.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Small-White-KSA-Logo.png
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...3000x2250.jpg/1280px-PHAROS2013-3000x2250.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Agreed. Unfortunately they only have aerial renders of the area once completed, Im dying to see what the new skyline will look like from across the Charles.

Volpe tower is the tallest, the mxd residential tower directly to the right of it is the 2nd tallest, then the MIT dorm at the top is 3rd tallest in Cambridge. Pretty cool that the 3 tallest buildings in Cambridge will all be newly completed towers. Once all of the buildings in this render are all realized Cambridge will be totally transformed. Cant wait! Its about time. This will set a precedent going forward too for hopefully more.
Volpe-Center-Parcel-Redevelopment-Kendall-Square-Cambridge-MIT-Elkus-Manfredi-Architects-Office-Residential-Retail-Educational-Laboratory-Entrepreneurship-Incubator.jpg


Edit: this render is missing the google tower at 325 main that will be above the Volpe site and across from the Boeing building. So there will be even more towers than shown here.
 
Last edited:
^^Not bad. Looks like the occupied floor height will be pushing ~400', like 135 Broadway? Wish one of the Garden towers got this fair treatment of actually flaunting height--as a spire so unapologetically does.... The setbacks don't look particularly inspired. Maybe a more Transamerica Tower narrowing, or possibly softening the setbacks might have been a cool way to go (something different than the per usual). Cambridge Crossing is kind of a lost opportunity, imo. But maybe this wave will set the stage for something like an Accordia Tower in Kendall.
 
Man, looking at that it really highlights how badly Kendall needs some attention in the upcoming bus network redesign. There is so much density there with no significant bus service at all.
 
The Volpe tower in any rendering is just a placeholder for now.
 
Java King said:
https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/14134-mits-building-boom-brings-new-slate-of-major-architects-to-campus

Nice and interesting article about the MIT Architecture
Click to expand...

“With so many new voices added to the architectural conversation on campus, the dean’s role seems more like that of conductor than impresario, striking just the right chords and finding harmony in architectural diversity. Or maybe just a good urban planner.”


Looking to see this shift in the city as a whole with people who are more interested in architecture and support the built environment to balance out the historically entrenched nimby crowd of Boston. It seems like people are pleased with many of the new towers going up and more engaged than before and even looking forward to new projects. The good part is that the ice has been broken in many places. Cambridge now can keep building even higher, now that theres a precedent.

Same with the area by north station, the faa limit for downtown is the highest over there. If you had just proposed an 800+ footer over there out of nowhere there was no chance in hell to get it built. Once the garden garage tower has been up for a while, north station tower, and the hub on causeway towers, these along with the longfellow towers, and even the govt ctr towers that are the furthest west of the downtown cluster, all of these make it much less of a big deal for something taller to come along some day in the future now that there will be a precedent here also.

Hopefully when people see the new tallest buildings going up in cities all over the world/country they will finally get behind doing something iconic in Boston. It will be the perfect chance next cycle after all of these huge additions are a part of the city like 1 dalton, mt, winthrop tower, govt ctr, hub, garden garage etc..
 
Each time I see this Ive been pleasantly surprised. Seeing this from Storrow today with the backdrop of the rest of Cambridge, I was in awe. This cluster looks phenominal now. It really is turning into its own skyline now, a great looking one at that.

Cambridge truely looks like a second city across the river now vs a couple sparse hotels lining the charles. I really hope this inspires Cambridge to keep going further and really go for something special. Having two wonderful skylines on either side of the Charles is going to be amazing and if Cambridge really steps its game up at Volpe its going to be absolutely badass.

Just as it is so far its 100x better than it ever was.
 
The building color really seems to morph depending on which angle you catch it from. I really like it!
 
Great shot! The taller tower looks magnificent from Back Bay.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top