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

Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

This building wasn't even close to being topped at the end of October, and the tarpaulins themselves weren't torn until the end of January. I took the picture of it myself:

photo_jan_31__1_45_05_pm2.jpg


While I don't doubt these panels went up in lieu of the tarpaulins so that interior work could continue, it was certainly not as a result of Sandy.
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

Alright: I (really) like the cladding and glazing.
From yesterday.



 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

Unless this looks different in person I really hate this.
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

Nice shots! I forget, is there supposed to be ground-floor retail here?
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

tmac9wr said:
Nice shots! I forget, is there supposed to be ground-floor retail here?
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Yes. One or two retail establishments. Berklee will have practice/studio space underground, and then a multi-level dining hall/performance space above the retail.
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

I really really want to like this building - but for some reason I can't. The massing is just... awful. It looks like a corrugated cardboard box floating on a wave. I don't get it - holistically it just doesn't work. It's too bad, because I think the materials are great and the windows are unique. Sigh.
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

dshoost88 said:
Yes. One or two retail establishments. Berklee will have practice/studio space underground, and then a multi-level dining hall/performance space above the retail.
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Cool, thanks!
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

Shepard said:
I really really want to like this building - but for some reason I can't. The massing is just... awful. It looks like a corrugated cardboard box floating on a wave. I don't get it - holistically it just doesn't work. It's too bad, because I think the materials are great and the windows are unique. Sigh.
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Im with you. The concept seems to be an inversion of the expected. They made the sheer curtainwall part, which is usually the expression of the tower into the Base. And then, they took a typical light industrial aesthetic with the multi-pane window and corrugated siding, stacked it multiple times and called that the Tower. It is an interesting intellectual thought ... but to my eyes just looks awkward and puzzling.

It is also amazing that things like this and the W are from the same office that does things like Tata Hall. The approaches are so so different.

cca
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

The thing that keeps striking me is how insubstantial it all feels. It looks so lightweight in pictures and then you see it in person and it feels no different, which is so odd considering all the gritty references the tower makes. Like cca said, puzzling.
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

I'm hoping that the glass corner will tie it all together. Is the 'metal' shiny enough to reflect sunsets and such?
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

Everyone here seems to discharge over street level engagement. This thing should be firing on all cylinders in that regard.
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

Czervik.Construction said:
Jeez, it really looks like they took the bottom of one project and the top of another and put them together. :(
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While this is true, I have to say that they did an okay job transitioning the base to the tower as seen in that photo. You have the free-form glass base meeting the rigid tower at a decent row of floor-to-ceiling glass windows that takes the material language from the base and rigid massing of the tower. Could have been better (to the point where we wouldn't be saying it looks like two projects), but they tried.
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

This building is beautiful. Haters to the left.
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

Coulda' been a contender. No cigar.
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

From the Facebook "Mpealumni" page. (MPE = music production and engineering)

4fm9.jpg
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

^^^ From this angle, it looks okay. I guess it will work from certain angles and not others.
 
Re: Berklee Expansion Plans

In the car a few days ago and managed to get to quick snaps. (I wasn't driving!)



 
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