Cambridge Infill and Small Developments

cca said:
I walked around this site this weekend.

I don't get it. Someone bought a very expensive unitized curtainwall system that until you are about 20 feet away from it looks like a cheap strip window facade that one would expect from a route 128 spec office building. The "crack" in the facade is also very confusing as an expression for what this organization does.

Someone want to help clarify the intentions here?

cca
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I don't know, but it has some nice touches. I like that you can see the columns through the glass. I hope they are going to keep them thin like that. There's a panel that interrupts the windows in an awkward place on the Tobin loop ramp side though. I will try and get a picture of it. It pisses me off so much.
 
gooseberry said:
There's a panel that interrupts the windows in an awkward place on the Tobin loop ramp side though. I will try and get a picture of it. It pisses me off so much.
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I like the facade, too, but I agree about that pattern interruption. Saw it passing by on the train today- totally out of place. I think it has something to do with the auditorium in that part of the building but there's still no reason for the mismatch.

I have a picture from a distance of what you're talking about:
 
I like the ribbon pattern disruptions. They're a small gesture that keeps the non-front sides from being too much of a monolithic cube.
 
If you are talking about the panels that go down at an angle that's where the stadium seating is.
 
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I knew about the angled panels- I think gooseberry (and I) are talking about the one white panel in the clear glass row in the picture I posted, right above the highway ramp. I don't mind the other pattern disruptions, for the same reason Brad posted.
 
Ya, that's the one I am talking about. It lines up with the column, but I don't see any logic for putting the panel there otherwise.
 
The Maple Leaf building interior demolition is under way. Notice the big hole in the building on the right side, and some sections of glass block have been removed.

DLM7ETH.jpg
 
For those of you asking about the 'waterfall' feature on the front of the building, here is the design concept. You can also just barely see the pattern break that has been discussed on the right side.

rzjcj15.jpg
 
Ron Newman said:
Will this actually be used to drain rainwater from the roof?
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Nah, it will just have conventional roof drains. My guess is that the roof will actually be pitched away from that glass wall (toward the center, as we usually do with roof drains) in order to minimize the amount of water that comes crashing down it.
 
Still think it shoulda won Worst New Development 2012.

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The ground level is decent enough...

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But then check out the back side...architects FTW

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That backside is something utterly Second World. It looks like the crappy tiles the Moscow city government slaps onto Krushchev- / Brezhnev-era commie blocks these days in order to dupe foreigners into thinking that Moscow is full of new buildings.
 
Ah yes, I remember you mentioning that re: one of those green projects in Allston. I get the picture, and I ain't liking it.
 
^ Did they yell at you and make you sign their photography disclosure and intent forms?
 
datadyne007 said:
^ Did they yell at you and make you sign their photography disclosure and intent forms?
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I know the routine by now and went straight to the desk. Of course that doesn't mean they'll stop bugging you--I was stopped and had to explain twice that I filled out the form. But no big deal...they're all nice enough.
 
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