Forest City/MIT Project @ University Park | 300 Massachusetts Ave | Cambridge

Funny. I got to work on both, and can watch them both through the windows of our new office space now too.
 
Absolutely massive, but I like it. The curved end in particular.
 
Downburst said:
Absolutely massive, but I like it. The curved end in particular.
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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
 
whighlander said:
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
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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.
 
is that resi bldg something that is formally planned?
 
SeamusMcFly said:
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.
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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]
 
whighlander said:
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]
Click to expand...

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.
 
SeamusMcFly said:
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.
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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
KSI_PB7.jpg


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
 
Re: Random Hall

A facadectomy may be in order. Gut it, add 3-4 floors of glass above the yellow brick facade and invigorate the ground floor with retail. Sell it as condos or if MIT wants to keep it, they can make it apartments for young faculty and/or visiting scholars.

It could also be renovated on the cheap into (relatively) low-rent office space for non-profits or a start-up share space.

Please, no more lab space in that vicinity. The NIMBYs overstate the issue, but there is a limit to how many world-leading science labs you can pack into an area and maintain any sense of culture and vibrancy.
 
whighlander said:
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
KSI_PB7.jpg


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
Click to expand...

Westy, as you should know by now, I am very much in tune and involved in many of the ongoing projects in the MIT area. You can post things all the time, but know I am fully aware of them before you are. The east campus update is a step in the right direction, but still falls very much short when it comes to housing in the area. Particularly when they are knocking down a large housing building in the process.

MIT is finally getting it, and needs to be more sensitive to those issues going forward. What you advocate on Mass Ave. is the same old same old that got us here. Nothing wrong with the building, and there is something to be said for having a small number of students in a building. They don't all need to be huge. But, by all means, build more and bigger ones plus keep this. Or, as Fattony says, repurpose or even add onto the existing building.

Being pleasant to walk by is paramount in this area, because so few are. This one being handsome, makes 300 seem that much better. Also, if they dropped a lab in here, we'd lose the tight streetwall, as we can be certain there would need to be a separation at that point.

Stop chopping down to build new, when there is so much open already. Fill those in first. Not a difficult concept. It's also cheaper.

Why is it 'necessary' to retrofit the building just because it doesn't meet the standard for new dorm construction? It's not new construction. Upgrades can easily be made to certain systems. Turn it into graduate housing. Any number of options exist before demolition.
 
whighlander said:
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]
Click to expand...

It's almost impossible to financially quantify the value of balancing the preservation of these old buildings in Central with the building of the new. If MIT raises all of these old buildings, however, Central will cease to be an interesting place, which would be a loss to the institution.

While Kendall is exciting from the standpoint of potential opportunities (as a major tech center and having many buildable lots), I don't think people outside of Cambridge fully grasp what an utter failure Kendall is from the standpoint of being a place where people actually want to spend time outside of work. As a Cambridge resident, while I'd like to see progress in Central Square, I would hate to see Central become more like Kendall.

Continuing to knock down buildings like that yellow brick dorm, and building completely nondescript building like this new university park building will take Central in that direction.

This is not a knock on all new construction in Central: the new Novartis building is great. But if we are going to tear down good existing urban buildings, I hope they are replaced with something half decent.
 
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