Edward M. Kennedy Institute | Columbia Point | Dorchester

Maybe its the lack of windows or the stark white facade but to me it looks like a mausoleum.
 
Floor plan.

kennedy_floor_plan__1280330635_6053-1.jpg
 
Waaait a sec... so those giant wings are entirely non-functional?

The square plan of the usable portion of the building is actually quite beautiful. I kind of wish they had expressed that "box in a box" form on the exterior.
 
Data, it's just a case of the arms (tentacles) of the Federal Government embracing the 50 states. What a loving gesture. (!?)
 
datadyne007 said:
Waaait a sec... so those giant wings are entirely non-functional?

The square plan of the usable portion of the building is actually quite beautiful. I kind of wish they had expressed that "box in a box" form on the exterior.
Click to expand...

If you look at an overhead, the "wings" aren't actually giant - they just look that way from the front. The vast majority of the building is a square footprint. At least one of the triangular forms appears to conceal the loading dock.
 
Equilibria said:
If you look at an overhead, the "wings" aren't actually giant - they just look that way from the front. The vast majority of the building is a square footprint. At least one of the triangular forms appears to conceal the loading dock.
Click to expand...

Equilib:

Back when it was just a tax payers nightmare -- I proposed a triumphant arch in front of the entrance

On the way in you would see the inscription : Sic Transit Goria Mundi

On the way out you would see the inscription: It's the Peoples Seat with a list of all the people who have been Massachusetts Senator including such luminaries as John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, and Charles Sumner
 
I think the 'wings' house curatorial back office / storage / paper documents space.

EMK%20Tour%20Photo%20Boston%20Globe.jpg


interior construction of the Senate chamber
 
stellarfun said:
I think the 'wings' house curatorial back office / storage / paper documents space.

EMK%20Tour%20Photo%20Boston%20Globe.jpg


interior construction of the Senate chamber
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Wouldn't a Hologram of the real Senate Chamber be:
  • cheaper
  • more authentic
  • more impressive for the technology capital of the world
 
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whighlander said:
Wouldn't a Hologram of the real Senate Chamber be:
  • cheaper
  • more authentic
  • more impressive for the technology capital of the world
Click to expand...

Can tourists sit in a hologram?

Anyway, from the Campbell review, technology is used quite extensively and intelligently in this institute:

".........Most of the walls double as projection screens, offering an ever-changing and rich history of the Senate.

As a visitor, you’ll be armed with a computer pad, so you can control the images on the wall, pointing and clicking to explore at your own pace. School groups will be able to work together to play politics, pretending they are senators debating issues — often genuine issues of the day — and voting. The interactive image system came from well-known exhibit designer — and Kennedy family member — Edwin Schlossberg.

It’s an old trick: By keeping the architectural temperature low, the designers are setting you up to be dazzled by two exhibits that break out of the world of gray. One is a full-scale replica of Kennedy’s Senate office, and the other is a replica — again, full size — of the entire Senate chamber at the US Capitol in Washington. The mysterious black box in the center of the Institute, it turns out, contains the chamber......"


.
 
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shmessy said:
Can tourists sit in a hologram?

Anyway, from the Campbell review, technology is used quite extensively and intelligently in this institute:

".........Most of the walls double as projection screens, offering an ever-changing and rich history of the Senate.

As a visitor, you’ll be armed with a computer pad, so you can control the images on the wall, pointing and clicking to explore at your own pace. School groups will be able to work together to play politics, pretending they are senators debating issues — often genuine issues of the day — and voting. The interactive image system came from well-known exhibit designer — and Kennedy family member — Edwin Schlossberg.

It’s an old trick: By keeping the architectural temperature low, the designers are setting you up to be dazzled by two exhibits that break out of the world of gray. One is a full-scale replica of Kennedy’s Senate office, and the other is a replica — again, full size — of the entire Senate chamber at the US Capitol in Washington. The mysterious black box in the center of the Institute, it turns out, contains the chamber......"


.
Click to expand...

Could be great with some holographic video of some of the great senate comments such as

Howell Heflin of Alabama [you have to imagine the thick southern accent] -- anyway -- Heflin was commenting on someone who had circulated a photo of Sen. Kennedy and some unnamed female intern alone on a sail boat off Hyannis

Senator Helflin to colleague -- "I see that Sen. Kennedy has changed his position on Off-Shore Drillin" :)

Now -- I'd pay money for a holographic representation of that
 
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