Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research | MIT | Cambridge

[Beton Brut]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

That reminds me of an updated version of UMass Dartmouth.

And UMass Dartmouth was inspired in part by Florida Southern College, a masterplan I'm sure Santiago Calatrava knows well.

 

[Suffolk 83]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

USF is in North Tampa so they're avoiding NIMBY's by moving out to Lakeland (hickville and place where people go to die). It'd be like MIT building out in Framingham. This plan is like the University version of Disneyworld. and it's never going to happen. I've been on USF a few times but it was always at night so I didn't get that great a feel for it, but there's plenty of room for building right on it's current campus which is much closer to downtown Tampa

 

[bdurden]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

^USF was looking for land at various locations and had intended to build a campus that was convenient to both Tampa and Orlando for a Polytechnic campus. Orlando is particularly attractive for Polytech with it's burgeoning computer science, medical, and space industries. They want to capitalize on it. Lakeland seemed like the natural choice, it is halfway between Tampa and Orlando, and it already home to four colleges and universities (including the already mentioned, Florida Southern College campus ala Frank L Wright).

 

[Ron Newman]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

I've never understood how a school in Tampa got the name 'University of South Florida' .

 

[stellarfun]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

I've never understood how a school in Tampa got the name 'University of South Florida' .

Because UCF, the University of Central Florida, is in Orlando.

The Florida university system is in deep doo because the state is making big cuts in the higher ed budget. The state budget was premised on a continuing real estate and development boom in FL. Well, that isn't panning out this decade.

IMO, the new Polytechnic campus in Lakeland is at the top of any list for cuts, now and in the future, because its new and unbuilt, and the other universities in the state are trying to hold on, as best they can, to their existing programs, faculty, etc., etc.

 

[czsz]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

Olin is quite nice, architecturally. There are an unfortunate number of parking pods, though. You can forgive them at Wellesley but not there.

The USF design looks more like a gimmicky World's Fair than a university campus. My guess is they only build a portion of it or else build it cheaply. At best it will look like a horribly dated relic in thirty years.

 

[Ron Newman]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

Not sure what a 'parking pod' is, but Olin needs parking because it is not near any public transportation.

 

[bdurden]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

Because UCF, the University of Central Florida, is in Orlando.

No, because at the time, it was the Southern most public University in the state of Florida. It was founded about 10 years prior to the University of Central Florida.

 

[singbat]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

Olin is the Boston area's only totally new campus. Anyone know how it is turning out? (I've never been there.)

Hult? not much of a campus, but maybe some day...

 

[kz1000ps]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

Because the area is so short on plazas

 

[kz1000ps]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

Remember this one? Neither do I.

 

[czsz]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

Downtown DC wants its lost office building back.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

What a depressing area. I imagine this is what we'll end up with on the Seaport at full build... :\

 

[czsz]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

Not quite. Don't forget that the Seaport's buildings are a lot less elegantly proportioned and the streets are even less intimate there.

 

[whighlander]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

What a depressing area. I imagine this is what we'll end up with on the Seaport at full build... :\

Urb -- I think you need to see with more than your eyes

If you stand in the Nook betwen Koch I (aka Bio) and Koch II (MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research) facing Main you are at the equivalent of St. Pete's Sq. for modern biology, just as the banks of the Monongahela in Pittsburgh was for steel in the late 19th, early 20th Century

even though Bio is not my field of study -- I find that spot to be positively exciting as well as the intersection of Vasser and Main

MIT wants that space beteen the to trucks to be the new Northern nexus -- the entry to the courtyard between Stata and Koch II with McGoverrn just accross Vasser and Broad just across Main

This corner of Kendall couldn't be further from the dull, stultifying bureaKraptcy of DC

 

[czsz]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

Is it too much to ask for good urbanism to go along with the cool things going on inside the buildings? Because, yeah, there are a lot of interesting companies based in office parks along 128...I guess this is a good setup, given that they do cool things?

 

[bdurden]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

Does this building include any groundfloor retail?

 

[czsz]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

LOL ground floor retail...in Kendall...but that would mean less space for swooping atria with waterfalls!

(I know MIT is trying to be a better citizen about this, but I don't think this building comports with its efforts...)

 

[whighlander]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

Does this building include any groundfloor retail?

Koch -- is part of the MIT campus

Outside of student centers -- how many university buildings have ground floor retail

Let's see there'sthe Target in the basement of the Weidner (just under the steps) and the Old Navy inside BU's Morse building

 

[bdurden]

Re: MIT - Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

Koch -- is part of the MIT campus

Outside of student centers -- how many university buildings have ground floor retail

Let's see there'sthe Target in the basement of the Weidner (just under the steps) and the Old Navy inside BU's Morse building

First of all, this is much more a part of Kendall Square than the MIT campus. A corner store, a coffee shop, etc., could have ignited the pedestrian experience greatly along this stretch of Kendall Square.

And there are plenty of university buildings with ground floor retail -- see Harvard Square.