Constellation Center | 43 Thorndike St | East Cambridge

Wow, this will really help Kendal Sq. become more lively. Now that they are building, and have built condo's, this will help give the new residents something to do. It still needs a few more restaurant/bars. But its a start. Aslo they got an ice skating rink right next to Genzyme which is real cheap, and I its not crowded like frog pond. Who knows maybe in a little bit Kendal Sq. will be a place to go besides mon-fri 9-5.
 
Though Arup is named as every kind of engineering consultant, I can't find mention of an architect.

Is it legit to use photos of another venue?

Is this real or is this pipedream?

A little flaky?
 
The fact that they have already purchased one organ and have started building another and have started building a library and film library makes me think this is going to happen.
 
^they use pictures of other halls because they have traveled around the world to visit them and study their strengths and weaknesses. this is going to happen, they already have the land!
 
I'm not aware of any condos in the neighborhood, or at least, not anything of any substantial size.
 
this picture is from october. the drilling rig looks to have been doing doing subsurface soil testing.

P1020748.jpg
 
Plenty of new condos around Third and Binney. Or are they apartments? Anyway, they're residences.
 
Plenty of new condos around Third and Binney. Or are they apartments? Anyway, they're residences.

These will be condos (perhaps some apartments?) A major investor is a group of MIT alumni who were looking to build a psuedo-retirement community for MIT and Harvard alumns near the campuses.

From The Tech, MIT's student newspaper
Official site


Also, the new tower on 3rd st. is all apartments.

Is this (Constellation Center) real or is this pipedream?

A little flaky?

Seems to me definitely a little flaky. I will honestly be surprised if it ever gets off the ground. On the other hand, the idea and the organization have been around for a number of years and are still alive, so who knows.

Boston could use some Carnegies (Carnegie Hall) or Rockefellers (Lincoln Center) to help get these kinds of projects going (see also all the Greenway cultural projects). Wouldn't it be a kick in the pants to see Tom Brady Hall and Randy Moss Theater in the Constellation Center or the Manny-being-Manny Boston History Museum (reworked by Safdie with some representation of baggy pants and dirty batting helmet)? Competition in philanthropy did some great things for cultural institutions in this country ... it could again.

Maybe I'm being flaky.
 
It's funny we mention Manny and Tom Brady when discussing who could be the next wave of Boston philanthropists; down here in New York people ask, "Oh, you're from Boston? Great sports teams. ... But what else is up there?"

It's unfortunate, if you ask me, that all people know about the city is that the Patriots are undefeated and the Red Sox finally won the Fall Classic ... and now don't stop winning.

Who are the banner companies these days? We've still got lots of shoes, from Reebok and New Balance to Stride Rite and Clarks, but the insurance firms, banks, ocean-faring trade and industry that made Boston wealthy and powerful have taken a hit due to mergers in the last decade: big arts and nonprofits patrons Fleet, Shawmut, Bank of Boston and BayBank are now ... nothing; John Hancock was bought by a Toronto-based insurer; and Gillette is now owned by some (very rich and globally dominant) hucksters in southern Ohio.

There's still lots of life sciences (Biogen, Genzyme, Charles River, Boston Scientific, Millennium, Quest, not to mention healthcare management firms), insurance (Liberty Mutual, Sun Life), tech and software (EMC, Akamai, Analog Devices, Bose, MathWorks, Teradyne), private equity (Bain, Thomas H. Lee) and other financial (State Street, Fidelity, Putnam Investments, Boston Capital, Wellington, BCG, Bain), not to mention major hospitals and universities, publishing (Houghton Mifflin), engineering (Arthur D. Little, Raytheon), retail (Staples, Shaw's, TJX) and law firms.

So ... even though marquee names like the once philanthropically generous four banks, John Hancock and Gillette have packed up, there's still a huge corporate base in the Boston area. But who has picked up the philanthropic slack? State Street seems good and often talks about how they want clients to come to Boston and feel they're in a world-class city; other than that, I can't even tell you. Maybe firms are giving with less fanfare -- I don't want to suggest they aren't -- but we should be able to look to the area's corporate base for philanthropy.

Right now, there's big cultural projects ranging from this one (which would certainly be prime for biotech investment, given its location) to the MFA to the Gardner to the MoS Boston Museum, Greenway cultural center, YMCA and botanic garden. There's also a huge mess of university expansion projects, all dependent on private giving. The city's in the middle of an arts (and nonprofit science and hospital) boom, and the companies who know how important a thriving arts, cultural and education scene is for attracting employees should be investing for their own enlightened self-interest.

Re. Manny -- I'm afraid all the Sox' home games will sell out in February whether or not there's a Constellation Center. And judging by his personal tastes, I think Manny would be more likely to invest in an R&B club than an opera/organ/silent film venue. Not that that's a bad thing -- I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the Constellation Center, but I'd probably make just as much use of the R&B club.
 
Well something is definatley going on there. I work at Genzyme and the lot is now fenced off, and there is some backhoes and some materials, sorry but I don't have a dig. cam. So I think they are building it. Also to the east of Genzyme Center, a construction company has been excavating this foot print that has been there for a while. A crane was recently set up there. I heard it might become Genzyme Center 2, but I'm not sure how true that was.
 
Well something is definatley going on there. I work at Genzyme and the lot is now fenced off, and there is some backhoes and some materials, sorry but I don't have a dig. cam. So I think they are building it. Also to the east of Genzyme Center, a construction company has been excavating this foot print that has been there for a while. A crane was recently set up there. I heard it might become Genzyme Center 2, but I'm not sure how true that was.

from the Constellation web site:

"On our actual site, we have completed soil boring studies: four shallow and four deep borings were drilled for the purpose of characterizing the soils. This testing allows for the next phase of structural and civil design work. Soon we will conduct further soil boring to analyze the acoustic properties of the site beyond the teams? past work"
 
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^^^^ I have never before heard of doing soil testing to determine acoustic properties (of a building yet to be built).
 
It's funny we mention Manny and Tom Brady when discussing who could be the next wave of Boston philanthropists; down here in New York people ask, "Oh, you're from Boston? Great sports teams. ... But what else is up there?"

It's unfortunate, if you ask me, that all people know about the city is that the Patriots are undefeated and the Red Sox finally won the Fall Classic ... and now don't stop winning.

Who are the banner companies these days? We've still got lots of shoes, from Reebok and New Balance to Stride Rite and Clarks, but the insurance firms, banks, ocean-faring trade and industry that made Boston wealthy and powerful have taken a hit due to mergers in the last decade: big arts and nonprofits patrons Fleet, Shawmut, Bank of Boston and BayBank are now ... nothing; John Hancock was bought by a Toronto-based insurer; and Gillette is now owned by some (very rich and globally dominant) hucksters in southern Ohio.

There's still lots of life sciences (Biogen, Genzyme, Charles River, Boston Scientific, Millennium, Quest, not to mention healthcare management firms), insurance (Liberty Mutual, Sun Life), tech and software (EMC, Akamai, Analog Devices, Bose, MathWorks, Teradyne), private equity (Bain, Thomas H. Lee) and other financial (State Street, Fidelity, Putnam Investments, Boston Capital, Wellington, BCG, Bain), not to mention major hospitals and universities, publishing (Houghton Mifflin), engineering (Arthur D. Little, Raytheon), retail (Staples, Shaw's, TJX) and law firms.

So ... even though marquee names like the once philanthropically generous four banks, John Hancock and Gillette have packed up, there's still a huge corporate base in the Boston area. But who has picked up the philanthropic slack? State Street seems good and often talks about how they want clients to come to Boston and feel they're in a world-class city; other than that, I can't even tell you. Maybe firms are giving with less fanfare -- I don't want to suggest they aren't -- but we should be able to look to the area's corporate base for philanthropy.

Right now, there's big cultural projects ranging from this one (which would certainly be prime for biotech investment, given its location) to the MFA to the Gardner to the MoS Boston Museum, Greenway cultural center, YMCA and botanic garden. There's also a huge mess of university expansion projects, all dependent on private giving. The city's in the middle of an arts (and nonprofit science and hospital) boom, and the companies who know how important a thriving arts, cultural and education scene is for attracting employees should be investing for their own enlightened self-interest.

Re. Manny -- I'm afraid all the Sox' home games will sell out in February whether or not there's a Constellation Center. And judging by his personal tastes, I think Manny would be more likely to invest in an R&B club than an opera/organ/silent film venue. Not that that's a bad thing -- I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the Constellation Center, but I'd probably make just as much use of the R&B club.

Sorry for including the whole quote ... but I wanted to touch on all of it.

While you're right that there are a lot of corporations remaining in Boston, there are very few personalities besides our sports heroes. And that's what the Carnegie's and the Rockefeller's were: personalities. Even more specifically, they were competitive personalities, and this competitive nature brought them into the philanthropic arena with a gusto that is relatively unseen today, especially in Boston.

You're probably right, that performing arts in a European tradition probably don't make sense with most Boston sports personalities ... but we don't see splashy philantrophic work from them in other areas, either (I'm thinking education, public health, even a popular music venue (at one point Opera was a kind of Pop Music)).

Maybe in today's world, personalities who are patrons of fine arts aren't as big as the Carnegie's and the Rockefeller's. Or maybe, as the biotechnology industry continues to emerge, related personalities with their own philanthropic personalities will emerge as well.
 
I'm not sure if this is new info:

Current Use of Future Site for ConstellationCenter


Berry Construction and BioMed Realty Trust are currently using the ConstellationCenter project site (Parcel C) as lay-down space for their building on Parcel B, the site bordered by Athenaeum Street, Second Street, and Linskey Way. Berry and BioMed have an agreement
with ConstellationCenter to use our site until May 2009.
ConstellationCenter has retained the right to do soil testing, acoustic testing and construction mock ups on the site as needed during this time. The May 2009 date was selected because that is when we will need full access to our site to begin preparation and planning for the construction of ConstellationCenter

http://www.constellationcenter.org//news/news_recentnews.htm
 
From the latest new letter:

Historic Wisdom and Modern Creativity:
the Design of a New Performance Center
Thursday, June 1, 2:30 pm
The Boston Early Music Festival Exhibition
City Room, Radisson Hotel, Boston

To develop a new performance space for Cambridge, Massachusetts, the ConstellationCenter team and Cambridge architect Peter Rose created a design process that interweaves historic precedents with cutting edge techniques and insights. In conducting our research, we were reminded of the magnificence of many of these historical performance spaces. These structures offer superior acoustics, provide greater intimacy of experience, and support more cost-effective productions than their modern counterparts. The best of these historical venues, interpreted in terms of 21st century building materials, safety and comfort, are critical reference points for the design of ConstellationCenter.

The Center?s founder Glenn KnicKrehm and Project Architect Peter Rose will discuss this process, with an open forum to follow.
 
That can't be from this year's newsletter, since June 1 was a Monday.
 
I sent them an email, I'l post the correct date when I get it. They have the wrong date on boh the email and the printed flyer.
 

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