MIT East Campus - Kendall Square Gateway | Cambridge

Looking at that last picture, it would be good to make Carleton St pedestrian only.

Edit: Nevermind looks like that was already part of the plan. Not sure it was approved though?
 
The ground floor of the existing One Broadway highrise has now been completely gutted (the portion under the highrise).

Here's a design review submission from earlier this year that covers this:
https://www.cambridgema.gov/~/media...02_303_mit/sp302_design_submission1.pdf?la=en

That doc includes this description of the changes to the existing One Broadway structure:
One Broadway additions and alterations include the following:
• The addition of a one story retail “Liner Building” fronting Broad Canal Way
• The relocation of the office lobby for One Broadway eastward to make way for an expanded
retail space at the corner of Broadway and Third Street, in an effort to further activate that
corner of the building site
• The expansion of the existing retail fronting Broadway to include a proposed grocery store and associated food prep and storage space in the existing basement
• The addition of two small levels of office above the grocery store in front of the existing
parking garage façade
• The addition of a roof terrace above the new office

So, apparently some portions (but not all) of the 2008 renovation are being undone/redone - that was short lived!

Some renders:

The supermarket / offices above supermarket:
agPKUEY.jpg


From Broadway/Main intersection:
r0RpNnZ.jpg


Along Broad Canal way:
WCLNSwr.jpg
 
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It looks like they changed the design. Is there some sort of rule that MIT can only build ugly buildings nowadays? Outside of the sheer scope, every part of this complex is completely uninspiring.

I guess one thing I didn't realize is there are 5 buildings instead of 4. So a net gain of 4 new structures after losing Eastgate.

Still, I continue to be disappointed with the lack of vision and guts for this supposedly booming region. We deserve better than a never-ending stream of buildings with questionable designs that are wider than they are tall. I have zero confidence that MIT will deliverable anything noteworthy at the Volpe site, or frankly ever again in the architectural world. As a college they are cutting edge, but as a developer they suck!
 
DZH22 said:
As a college they are cutting edge, but as a developer they suck!
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Compared to many universities nationwide, they are a great developer. Very, very few universities develop skyscrapers. And most others' new buildings are much more cookie-cutter than MITs. I applaud them for working to integrate the campus into the urban fiber of Cambridge.
 
bigpicture7 said:
Compared to many universities nationwide, they are a great developer. Very, very few universities develop skyscrapers. And most others' new buildings are much more cookie-cutter than MITs. I applaud them for working to integrate the campus into the urban fiber of Cambridge.
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Is the (old) red cross building staying or going? I thought I saw it in the last rendering but I'm not certain.
 
HalcyonEra said:
Is the (old) red cross building staying or going? I thought I saw it in the last rendering but I'm not certain.
Click to expand...

It's still in the rendering. You have to squint but you should be able to make out the top and front corner of it. Check the second to last render.
 
MIT can put up a 450' dorm tower effortlessly and reap the whirlwind of a superb paying asset.

That they don't build the equivalent of Pace University's tall dorm is puzzling.
 
odurandina said:
MIT can put up a 450' dorm tower effortlessly and reap the whirlwind of a superb paying asset.

That they don't build the equivalent of Pace University's tall dorm is puzzling.
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It's not puzzling, there is a whole lot of zoning at play.
 
 
Thanks. The only thing to orient you is the Marriott.
 
Man, they really like cantilevers....
Funny thing is, I've stood next to and pushed around some of the models on that map, and never really noticed the crazy cantilever on building 2 (the eastgate replacement building.)

Knowing what the steel is for the two smallish cantilevers on building 3, I'm very interested to see the steel on building 2, when designed.
 
Two observations:

1) the giant narrow cantilever building hovers over a small, historic brick building on Main st...I had thought that what was driving the cantilever was the need to not interfere with the historic building (hence hover over it). Yet now that historic building is a total facadectomy. So, looking back, is the cantilever really the best design?

2) Is that a surface parking lot on the green space??? I thought that was all supposed to be a park/green. What a shame to have a surface parking lot there...I was hoping for a much more expansive greenspace.
 
bigpicture7 said:
Two observations:

1) the giant narrow cantilever building hovers over a small, historic brick building on Main st...I had thought that what was driving the cantilever was the need to not interfere with the historic building (hence hover over it). Yet now that historic building is a total facadectomy. So, looking back, is the cantilever really the best design?

2) Is that a surface parking lot on the green space??? I thought that was all supposed to be a park/green. What a shame to have a surface parking lot there...I was hoping for a much more expansive greenspace.
Click to expand...

The surface parking lot is a temporary part of that greenspace, that part will eventually be a new academic building in the longterm.
 
^ thanks guys. My memory is coming back to me now...the end vision is a corridor-like greenspace meant to embody an extension of MIT's infinite corridor (or something like that).

I just hope the surface lot doesn't stick out like a sore thumb in the mean time. I wish it could be a temporary lawn rather than temporary pavement. Oh well.
 
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