Dorm Tower @ Berklee College of Music | 168 Mass Ave | Back Bay

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PaulC

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Berklee College of Music announces development plans for one of its latest real estate acquisitions, 168 Massachusetts Avenue. The college purchased the 13,355-square-foot parcel from the First Church of Christ, Scientist in 2009 for $6.25 million. The property is adjacent to the college's largest collection of buildings that includes most of its residence hall and classroom spaces as well as the Berklee Performance Center.

The existing, one-story structure at 168 Massachusetts Avenue will be razed to create a 16-story, 170,000 square-foot mixed-use building. The project architect is William Rawn Associates, Architects of Boston, which is responsible for a number of award-winning performing arts and campus buildings, including the Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, the Williams College '62 Center for Theater and Dance, the new Cambridge Public Library, and Northeastern University Buildings G and H. The project's construction cost is estimated at $65 million. Construction start is planned for fall 2011, and the building opening for the 2013 fall semester.

Upon completion, 168 Massachusetts Avenue will house new dorm rooms with 350 beds, increasing Berklee's on-campus housing capacity to approximately 1,200 students. A two-story dining hall will have seating for 400 and provide a new venue for student performances in the evening. A music technology center with recording studios will be developed below grade with an acoustically isolated environment for recording and post-production activities. Practice and ensemble rooms, a fitness center, and student lounges will occupy the upper residence hall floors. Along the street will be new retail space and possibly a restaurant with live music. Floor-to-ceiling windows on the lower floors will bring light and life from within the building out into the neighborhood.

This project will enable the college to adjust the height of another project that is to be included in the college's Institutional Master Plan. The Berklee Crossroads project is proposed for the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street, the site of the Berklee Performance Center and a former bank building that now houses academic and administrative spaces. In light of the 168 Massachusetts Avenue plan, Berklee has proposed to lower the height of the Crossroads proposal from 29 to 24 stories. This was done to respond to a request made by neighborhood groups at meetings of the community advisory committee appointed to comment on Berklee's development plans. The Crossroads development would include a new performance center, residence hall space, classrooms, and student life space.

Plans for the new project at 168 Mass Ave and the proposed changes to the Berklee Crossroads were shared with the City-appointed Berklee Community Task Force at a meeting on November 29 and are being reviewed with Fenway and Back Bay neighborhood groups now. Berklee plans to file its new Institutional Master Plan and more detailed plans for the 168 Massachusetts Avenue development with the BRA by February of 2011
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http://www.berklee.edu/news/2613/plans-announced-for-new-building-on-mass-ave
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

SEX!
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

Is the current building the one with what looks like a corrugated tin facade?

Render of the Berklee plan:

168MassAve.png
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

187 Mass Ave today:
168_mass_ave_google_streetview.jpg


The city should be encouraging Berklee and other colleges in the city to build as vertically as possible. For every few floors knocked off a new building, another site is gobbled up by the college and taken off the tax roll.
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

I have a great feeling about this project. Berklee IMHO , and granted I'm an alum (of -sorts), is the coolest school in Boston. The full potential of all its musical talent in Boston has yet to be fully realized. This will help increase its profile in the city, and also Boston's musical profile in general (although it's already pretty solid). The Beantown Jazz festival seems to only be gaining momentum and I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes one of the best festivals within 20 years. There have also been really cool small bands performing up and down Boylston and Newbury st lately, serenading the streets with good lively tunes. This project will only further put music on the streets of Boston and I?m all for that.
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

It's clear from everything Berklee intends to do that they see the city itself as an important constituent. Emerson too. Compare that to what MIT has done around Kendall to see the striking alternative.

(I'd say that Harvard, BU and NEU fall somewhere in the middle.)
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

Is the article suggesting that the Berklee Crossroads project will supplant the current Berklee Performance Center? I kinda like that building...:(
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

Berklee...is the coolest school in Boston
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Them's total fighting words; I hope there are no Emerson alums on here for your sake.

Compare that to what MIT has done around Kendall to see the striking alternative.
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MIT hasn't been directly responsible for most of Kendall. And what it "did" (by its mere presence/incubation) was transform the area from parking lots to one of the engines of the Boston area economy - and a relatively dense, transit accessible engine that easily competes with 128 office parks, at that. Given the way the Seaport is turning out, I'm kind of doubtful an urban area can be built from scratch today in Boston any better.
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

czsz said:
I hope there are no Emerson alums on here for your sake.
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MFA, 1996

I use it to write smart-assed memos to the director of my department.
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

It'll be nice to get rid of that one story building, but...
Losing restaurant space on Mass Ave :( sads
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

Emerson is cool, Harvard and MIT are also cool, really just about all Boston schools have cool aspects to them, but Berklee is sub-zero. B/c at the end of the day music trumps all other cool things on this planet. Of that I'm sure.
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

http://www.bostonherald.com/busines..._development_plan/srvc=business&position=also


Berklee announces new development plan
By Herald staff
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - Added 3 hours ago


Berklee College of Music announced plans to redevelop 168 Massachusetts Ave., which it purchased from the First Church of Christ, Scientist in 2009 for $6.25 million.

The existing, one-story structure at 168 Massachusetts Avenue will be razed to create a 16-story, 170,000 square-foot mixed-use building.

The project architect is William Rawn Associates, Architects of Boston, which is responsible for a number of award-winning performing arts and campus buildings, including the Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, the Williams College ?62 Center for Theater and Dance, the new Cambridge Public Library, and Northeastern University Buildings G and H.

The project?s construction cost is estimated at $65 million. Construction is planned to start next fall and the building could open for the 2013 fall semester.

Upon completion, 168 Massachusetts Ave. will house new dorm rooms with 350 beds, increasing Berklee?s on-campus housing capacity to approximately 1,200 students. A two-story dining hall will have seating for 400 and provide a new venue for student performances in the evening. A music technology center with recording studios will be developed below grade with an acoustically isolated environment for recording and post-production activities. Practice and ensemble rooms, a fitness center, and student lounges will occupy the upper dormitory floors. Along the street will be new retail space and possibly a restaurant with live music. Floor-to-ceiling windows on the lower floors will bring light and life from within the building out into the neighborhood.

This project will enable the college to adjust the height of another project that is to be included in the college?s Institutional Master Plan.

The Berklee Crossroads project is proposed for the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street, the site of the Berklee Performance Center and a former bank building that now houses academic and administrative spaces.

In light of the 168 Massachusetts Ave. plan, Berklee has proposed to lower the height of the Crossroads proposal from 29 to 24 stories. This was done to respond to a request made by neighborhood groups at meetings of the community advisory committee appointed to comment on Berklee?s development plans. The Crossroads development would include a new performance center, dorms, classrooms, and student life space.
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

GW2500 said:
Emerson is cool, Harvard and MIT are also cool, really just about all Boston schools have cool aspects to them, but Berklee is sub-zero. B/c at the end of the day music trumps all other cool things on this planet. Of that I'm sure.
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Wouldn't happen to be because you and half/all of GH went there, would it? LOL Though, that's good enough a reason for me.
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

Good, hopefully they can call a 187 on that crap building that has no place in an urban context
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

William Rawn is a damn good architect (currently my father's favorite contemporary architect, actually). This should be very interesting, in a good way.
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

Fitchburg State and Emerson have a rivalry... except that Emerson doesn't know about it.
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

I've seen the rendering of the new Berklee dorm in Boston.com. Unfortunately, IMO, it smacks of the ground level of the Boston W Hotel. IMO, that's not a good thing.
 
Re: New Berklee Dorm - 168 Mass Ave

GW2500 said:
Emerson is cool, Harvard and MIT are also cool, really just about all Boston schools have cool aspects to them, but Berklee is sub-zero.
Click to expand...


Sigh. I'm a Brandeis alum. Not cool. Nope. Not cool.
 
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