Assembly Innovation Park | 5 Middlesex Ave | Somerville

Those aren't the current design. The revised version is the 1960s office park Stick posted on the prior page.

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No surface parking.
Programmable green space.
Activated ground floor that knit the urban fabric.
Transit-accessible.

Please show me a single 1960's office park that looks like this.
 
No surface parking.
Programmable green space.
Activated ground floor that knit the urban fabric.
Transit-accessible.

Please show me a single 1960's office park that looks like this.

I was speaking architecturally. Urbanistically, you're right. Either way, it's a big downgrade from the prior version.

Also, "knit the urban fabric"? In Assembly? What fabric?
 
I was speaking architecturally. Urbanistically, you're right. Either way, it's a big downgrade from the prior version.

Also, "knit the urban fabric"? In Assembly? What fabric?
well, 93 is in the way but this will definitely fill the gap between East Somerville and the Assembly T station.
Just because everything in Assembly row is new and not the most cutting edge, doesn't mean it's not urban fabric that needs to be better connected to neighboring urban areas.
For what it's worth, I don't overly mind the new version, it's hardly like the old version was some mind blowing example of world class architecture.
I'm still having trouble getting my head around the name "XMBLY"🤮
 
To be fair the top 3 renders are old and Ive posted them before, but the bottom 2 are ones Ive never seen before and appear to fit the new layout of the site. Not sure why they would mix old and new but it appears they did.

2 angled mid ride buildings blocking the highway with the large green space at the base. It matches up. Plus theyre new and dont fit the old site plan.

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Compared to the known accurate render it lines up.
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To be fair the top 3 renders are old and Ive posted them before, but the bottom 2 are ones Ive never seen before and appear to fit the new layout of the site. Not sure why they would mix old and new but it appears they did.

2 angled mid ride buildings blocking the highway with the large green space at the base. It matches up. Plus theyre new and dont fit the old site plan.

Yeah, those two look like they're new.
 
Didn’t know Partners health building is now mass General Brigham
 
Read un Article about MGH and Brigham Hospital joined together as Partners Healthcare 25 years Ago. Now they changed name to Mass General Brigham spending up to $100 Million
 
Hmm... it seems that Mass General Brigham has come up with a blah logo to match its blah name. I get that it's a representation of the MGH Bulfinch Building, but no one thinks of that building when they think of MGH. It looks more like a pictographic label: "this is a building".
 
Hmm... it seems that Mass General Brigham has come up with a blah logo to match its blah name. I get that it's a representation of the MGH Bulfinch Building, but no one thinks of that building when they think of MGH. It looks more like a pictographic label: "this is a building".

Building... or Burger?
Where's our XMBLY guy @Mike02125 for some advertising strategy commentary?
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If XMBLY hurries up, it could be close to opening right around when the Puma HQ building opens up - guessing Spring 2021?
 
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Where's our XMBLY guy @Mike02125 for some advertising strategy commentary?

Haha, well you asked and now you'll be sorry. The rebrand of "Partners HealthCare" to "Mass General Brigham" was very smart. The dumb brand was "Partners" in the first place. I meet people in the life science clusters in San Diego or Toronto who know (and have always known) "Mass General" but don't know anything about "Partners HealthCare". Partners was a generic name for political purposes. Mass General Brigham is a smart name for business purposes.

Generic or forgettable brand names like Partners Health Care, Related Companies, Consolidated Energy etc. do not add any value, they are simply labels. They don't necessarily hurt - but they certainly don't help. They don't actually *add* value. A good brand name actually creates value - even in real estate. Especially luxury real estate.

Think about it this way: the developers of Ink Block could actually sell or license their valuable "Ink Block" brand to the neighboring and competing 345 Harrison. Just like the bricks and mortar, National Development also own a valuable asset in the brand that they created and invested in. One of my best friends currently lives at 345 Harrison and proudly tells people that he lives "at Ink Block". Imagine buying a BMW and bragging to everyone that you bought a Mercedes? That's literally how archaic and fractured the world of local real estate branding is today. I content that 345 Harrison would be a more valuable asset (not in touchy-feely-hypothetical-goodwill, but in actual, measurable increase in PSF rents) if they had invested some money in creating a luxury destination brand.

What were we talking about? My mug is fake-smiling on zoom right now pretending to be listening to some webinar I was forced into while I type all this drivel.

Meanwhile, the huge, brightly-lit, toothpaste-neon, Mass General Brigham sign on I-93 is basically screaming across the river at Encore "Oh yeah? Well I can be vulgar too!"
 

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