Kendall Common ( née Volpe Redevelopment) | Kendall Sq | Cambridge

[bigpicture7]

This morning (4/11):

 

[#bancars]

4.13.25

 

[#bancars]

The cherry blossoms on the Volpe site are back and look better than ever. Love the touch of planting cherry blossoms on federal property as a nod to DC!

 

[bigpicture7]

April 23:

 

[jjdemello123@gmail.com]

From this morning 4/25/25

 

[RandomWalk]

 

[stick n move]

Are they going to dismantle this or implode it? It looks like theres plenty of room around it if they choose to implode. This would be the tallest building imploded in the boston metro since the travelers building no?

 

[RandomWalk]

Alas, there will br no earth shattering kaboom. It will be jackhammered floor by floor.

 

[JeffDowntown]

Alas, there will br no earth shattering kaboom. It will be jackhammered floor by floor.

I believe they are dealing with asbestos throughout the structure, which is driving the floor-by-floor dismantlement.

 

[stick n move]

Ah ok, its prob gonna be a while then until this thing is gone.

 

[type001]

I really wish this wasn't getting demolished.

 

[RandomWalk]

The tower in a park layout makes proper urban reuse very difficult.

 

[bigpicture7]

I really wish this wasn't getting demolished.

The tower in a park layout makes proper urban reuse very difficult.

I kind of like the old tower's aesthetic as well, but I am willing to sacrifice it because I am a fan of the present plans of re-inserting the East Cambridge street grid here, as they are doing. Note the original 5th Street will be blasted back through this site, pretty much directly through where this tower presently sits, re-connecting with Broadway. This will create a new pedestrianized intersection affront the Marriott, with crosswalks that align with the cut-through corridor in the Marriott (which is being redesigned/enhanced with new auto door entryway alignments lined up with the crosswalk).

From other thread (here: http://archboston.com/community/thr...way-kendall-square-cambridge.6914/post-489852)

 

[Longfellow]

The fact that they fixed a superblock is amazing. I would have almost expected them to have one 2 story building across the whole property lol.

 

[wenz]

View attachment IMG_1600.jpeg

 

[bigpicture7]

Yesterday (4/30) - Demo has now begun on the northeast side lowrise building:

 

[RandomWalk]

 

[DZH22]

IMG_0315 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_0320 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_0329 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_0350 by David Z, on Flickr

 

[RandomWalk]

Were the low-rise wings of the old Volpe a later addition? With them demolished the design idea of the tower feels clearer.

 

[bigpicture7]

Were the low-rise wings of the old Volpe a later addition? With them demolished the design idea of the tower feels clearer.

Not according to this:

NASA's Electronics Research Center - NASA

The Electronics Research Center (ERC) was established at Cambridge, Massachusetts in September 1964 to improve NASA's electronics research capabilities for

www.nasa.gov

However, a very early concept was this:

Electronics Research Center - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org