Edward M. Kennedy Institute | Columbia Point | Dorchester

That was a nice little write up though it would have been better if they talked to actual tenants (not via Yelp). Good to see it's stable but I hate that dated suburban-esque architecture.
 
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To a significant extent, it reminds me of the backside of attractions at Disneyworld.

In this case, most of the money was spent on the interior, particularly on a faithful, full-scale reproduction of the Senate chamber. The exterior facade could have been an exercise in neoclassical verisimilitude.
 
It's a shorter, duller, less charismatic version of its older brother next door....
 
Something just doesn't sit right with me about this building. I can't figure out quite what it is. I'm typically a minimalist/purist, but something is off. I think it's something to do with the scale and massing. It just doesn't work. I also think it damages the presence of the JFK Library quite significantly.
 
Is this the temporary building until they get the taxpayers to pay for a permanent building?
 
datadyne007 said:
"6th State"
"4th State"
"2 State"

-.-
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That was what I noticed. And it is emblematic of what I see here - I think what bothers me is it's something that makes it look cheaply done. I'll have to see it in person, but it's almost as if it's not quite minimalist/brutalist enough. I dont think I like the entrance. Too many sections of glass - they shouldve made it only 3 or even one glass wall. But still, I have to wait to see it in person. Exciting that this part of the harborwalk is getting done, though.
 
FK4 said:
That was what I noticed. And it is emblematic of what I see here - I think what bothers me is it's something that makes it look cheaply done. I'll have to see it in person, but it's almost as if it's not quite minimalist/brutalist enough. I dont think I like the entrance. Too many sections of glass - they shouldve made it only 3 or even one glass wall. But still, I have to wait to see it in person. Exciting that this part of the harborwalk is getting done, though.
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EMK is to JFK as La Defence is to Paris

or closer to home

EMK is to JFK as the Leverett Saltonstall Building is to the Bulfinch wing of the Statehouse
 
As an urbanista, I'm not a big fan of the EMKI's design or of Columbia Point for that matter. But I appreciate having a new cultural and educational institution added to the Umass system's Boston Harbor campus as a monument to one of the country's most notable senators (love him or hate him). As the core UMB campus is transformed into something more functional and less migraine-inducing, this new civic element is an additional enhancement.

When I visited the JFK Library a few years ago, I found the visitor experience to be really well thought out. If you haven't been there, it is a must see. Sure, it doesn't have a decommissioned Air Force One like the Reagan Library. But having the EMKI next door ups the JFKL's game.
 
Its a bummer that the most striking visual thing in these pictures is the bollards. I get what the designer (Vignoli: Same guy as the BCC) was trying to do. Use the geometry of the base of the JFK as a conceptual spring point, stay very very quiet so not to compete. These are good goals but ... it is too quiet. While I think calling this thing a construction trailer is unfair, I understand the sentiment.

It should not be all about the bollards.

cca
 
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