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Absolutely massive, but I like it. The curved end in particular.
Wonder what's to become of the yellow brick building next to it -- that is "Random Hall" ---- it was my middle brother's dorm when he was an undergrad at MIT back in the early 80's
Pretty sure it stays (I hope so anyways) with a tall residential behind it. The to be built residential building is the reason it steps down towards the east side.
Seamus -- I think that it should go -- despite its nice human-scale facade:
- it only houses 96 undergraduates and is MIT's smallest dorm
- one of the least-up-to-date functionally [such as HVAC]
- it takes up a good fraction of a key commercial-type of block on a major commercial street [Mass Ave]
- it is outside of the core campus [academic & some undergrad residence]
- it is not located along the residential strip [primarily undergrad] along Mem Drive
Since MIT owns all the land in the immediate vicinity --its just a matter of repurposing the land
I'd suggest another lab / R&D commercial building [4 to 6 stories with large floor plates] with some ground floor smaller retail / lower-priced restaurants
All future dorms should be set back a block or so from Mass Ave and be taller [8 to 10 stories and including elevators]
MIT owns so much buildable land with nothing currently on it. Looking at you (all those) parking lots along Vassar and Albany. Build those up as labs before knocking down a nice classic street hugger liked ht nice yellow brick row house adjacent to 300. Let's not turn Mass. Ave. into Main Street with a whole bunch of sterile big boxes. Keep the juxtaposition between old and new.
MIT needs to look back at what it has done to hurt the neighborhood as much as they have helped the area with the bio-biz that fills it. Lining all the main thoroughfares with labs is great for business, but does not a neighborhood make. Mix it up. Everyone doesn't want to commute from Lexington into the city anymore.
Seamus MIT planners are looking at such issues in the context of the Kendall Sq 2030 initiative
http://capitalprojects.mit.edu/projects/kendall-square-initiative
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However the issues associated with the long-term future of Random Hall are still there
It fails to comply with the standards of infrastructure for new MIT dormitory construction and due to its small capacity -- the necessary retrofit is very expensive on a per-student basis
While not unpleasant to walk past Random on the way to/from the Central Sq., etc. -- the Random Hall building does sit on prime real estate
Seamus -- I think that it should go -- despite its nice human-scale facade:
- it only houses 96 undergraduates and is MIT's smallest dorm
- one of the least-up-to-date functionally [such as HVAC]
- it takes up a good fraction of a key commercial-type of block on a major commercial street [Mass Ave]
- it is outside of the core campus [academic & some undergrad residence]
- it is not located along the residential strip [primarily undergrad] along Mem Drive
Since MIT owns all the land in the immediate vicinity --its just a matter of repurposing the land
I'd suggest another lab / R&D commercial building [4 to 6 stories with large floor plates] with some ground floor smaller retail / lower-priced restaurants
All future dorms should be set back a block or so from Mass Ave and be taller [8 to 10 stories and including elevators]