Education First (Phase III) | 10 North Point Blvd | Cambridge

I think, upon seeing the rendering, that this is somewhat salvageable. If the glass is reflective enough it'll appear pretty light during the day, reducing the contrast between it and the precast. The bronze trim will help too. It won't look so slitty in the end.
 
This crap program again??

On a turd box in east bum, Maina's coming into Town for the Sox are gonna say, "They put a new jail up. Crime must be getting worse."

"ayye uhh...."
 
Well, it's certainly not conventionally attractive, but it achieves its purpose of art: it really makes you think. It's offensive, really draws your eye, almost repulsive, a very provocative piece. I'm hoping that the street level is good and salvages it on the urban merits, probably won't in this location though.
 
BarbaricManchurian said:
Well, it's certainly not conventionally attractive, but it achieves its purpose of art: it really makes you think. It's offensive, really draws your eye, almost repulsive, a very provocative piece. I'm hoping that the street level is good and salvages it on the urban merits, probably won't in this location though.
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I never really got the school of architecture that feels it is their lot in life to inflict pain.
 
Someone shoved the Volpe Center in a Big Belly, and out popped this.
 
BarbaricManchurian said:
Well, it's certainly not conventionally attractive, but it achieves its purpose of art: it really makes you think. It's offensive, really draws your eye, almost repulsive, a very provocative piece. I'm hoping that the street level is good and salvages it on the urban merits, probably won't in this location though.
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"What we're going for here is something offensive, almost repulsive."

- The design team?
 
I really like this. It adds variety in a neighborhood full of many other contemporary buildings. And where the current EF building’s main aesthetic is horizontal lines, I think it’s cool that this one’s highlights vertical ones. It’s different, and contextually makes this corner of Cambridge more interesting.
 
Coyote137 said:
"What we're going for here is something offensive, almost repulsive."

- The design team?
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That's the motivation behind many works of art. Good art (by one definition at least) really makes you think why it makes you feel that way. I think it's ugly but it is in an out-of-the-way location and adds to the "collection" of Boston area architecture just like art subjectively rated both good and bad make up a modern art museum.
 
I've ridden past this thing on on the commuter rail a couple of times, and looked at the renderings and BeeLine's photos, all in an effort to not overtly hate this thing. cca is on point with his explaination of the herky-jerky windows and flat facade, but knows too well that economic necessity usually shreds aesthetics.

cca said:
If they were in a grid ... you would call it boring. Its a cheap and easy way to add texture to a building that cannot afford real texture. There is a demand for not boring ... but not budget for "really" not boring.
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Folks aren't wrong to call this neo-brutalism, but it evokes the soft, lazy corporate version of concrete-clad modernism that appeared across the landscape in the 70s. This has none of the depth or gravitas of Kahn, Corbu, or even sleepy Kevin Roche. This evokes the work of third-tier also-ran architects. The more I look at it, the more I realize that this is a 21st Century version of the shitty office building where I spent my daily toil for over a decade.
 
Beton Brut said:
I've ridden past this thing on on the commuter rail a couple of times, and looked at the renderings and BeeLine's photos, all in an effort to not overtly hate this thing. cca is on point with his explaination of the herky-jerky windows and flat facade, but knows too well that economic necessity usually shreds aesthetics.



Folks aren't wrong to call this neo-brutalism, but it evokes the soft, lazy corporate version of concrete-clad modernism that appeared across the landscape in the 70s. This has none of the depth or gravitas of Kahn, Corbu, or even sleepy Kevin Roche. This evokes the work of third-tier also-ran architects. The more I look at it, the more I realize that this is a 21st Century version of the shitty office building where I spent my daily toil for over a decade.
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At least your shitty office building brings in natural light. Or appears to at least. Who knows what the fine folks at EF will be cooking up for the kids as they toil in that dungeon.
 
Driving home on 93 on Sunday, I pointed to this building and asked my girlfriend what she thought it was. Parking garage, no hesitation.
 
It is a terrible terrible shame that this is the last building that will bear the Wilson Architects mark. They have been a great firm over a long period of time and this is a stumble and fall just before they got bought out. I am sad for this. Feels bad man.

cca
 
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