MIT.nano | Kendall Square | Cambridge

FK4 said:
^So cool... awaiting the tangent onslaught, but definitely was worth posting. I didn't know MIT had a nuclear fission lab (is that the same as having a nuclear reactor?).
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Yes, they have a small nuclear reactor. It is one of only 5 research reactors in the US that is licensed for High Enrichment Uranium fuel (HEU).
 
whighlander said:
Tangent -- If you read what the Faculty Committee under Jerome Slater [Physics and Materials Science] said about the proposed building in the late 1950's when it was first discussed -- the rhetoric was very similar to what is being said about SoMa today

Bldg 13 was going to be the Northern Gateway to MIT-- hence the massive columns at the ground level; the big empty lobby and the top of the building being free of mechanicals to keep from blocking the view of the dome.

Didn't quite work out the way it was initially planned. For instance there were originally supposed to be 2 huge escalators taking you to the main Bldg 10 lobby -- instead after discussion of escalators, elevators and basements by the faculty -- the result was a quite secondary almost hidden stairs and the elevators
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Yes, I've wandered through there once or twice. It felt a bit like the compromise you describe. Considering how central it is and the cluster of buildings behind it, it really did feel like sneaking out the back.

For a period of time this was more of a post war utilitarian part of campus... Still is the focus of a lot of lab space, so it does make some sense that this side of the dome didn't end up like the picturesque Killian court. I'm somewhat optimistic nano can help get this side back on track, but I am also a bit concerned about how big it is and the proximity to the dome. Would have probably been better to give it more space.
 
tangent said:
Yes, I've wandered through there once or twice. It felt a bit like the compromise you describe. Considering how central it is and the cluster of buildings behind it, it really did feel like sneaking out the back.

For a period of time this was more of a post war utilitarian part of campus... Still is the focus of a lot of lab space, so it does make some sense that this side of the dome didn't end up like the picturesque Killian court. I'm somewhat optimistic nano can help get this side back on track, but I am also a bit concerned about how big it is and the proximity to the dome. Would have probably been better to give it more space.
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They chose the space because it was the only place sufficiently isolated from electrical and acoustic noise. They were originally going to put it where the old Polaroid building near Osborne is, but it was too close to the Red Line and the vibrations made it infeasible.

Anyway, I wouldn't get too excited about this part getting "back on track" artistically - MIT likes these brutalist structures, and there's no room to expand here. They even highlight it on the tour of "arts at MIT" as architecture to highlight. I don't get it myself, but hey, eye of the beholder, I guess.

The best chance for making this area "nicer" is in the lots adjacent to the old Cyclotron building and power plant.
 
Gameguy326 said:
They chose the space because it was the only place sufficiently isolated from electrical and acoustic noise. They were originally going to put it where the old Polaroid building near Osborne is, but it was too close to the Red Line and the vibrations made it infeasible.

Anyway, I wouldn't get too excited about this part getting "back on track" artistically - MIT likes these brutalist structures, and there's no room to expand here. They even highlight it on the tour of "arts at MIT" as architecture to highlight. I don't get it myself, but hey, eye of the beholder, I guess.

The best chance for making this area "nicer" is in the lots adjacent to the old Cyclotron building and power plant.
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Eliminate buildings 31 and 24. That would do it.
 
tangent said:
Eliminate buildings 31 and 24. That would do it.
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They're not going to knock down perfectly fine, functional buildings, just to make the area prettier. In fact, they're actually renovating building 31 right now.

At best, they knock down the low-rise portion of 24. That's the only change I could see them making over there.
 
JeffDowntown said:
Yes, they have a small nuclear reactor. It is one of only 5 research reactors in the US that is licensed for High Enrichment Uranium fuel (HEU).
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My dads friend operates (if that is the correct term ((is in charge of?)) the reactor. I get a kick every time I walk by the area knowing that of all the secret dealings in regards to bio-pharm and what have you, there is some serious high energy physics going down a block away.
 
Gameguy326 said:
They're not going to knock down perfectly fine, functional buildings, just to make the area prettier. In fact, they're actually renovating building 31 right now.

At best, they knock down the low-rise portion of 24. That's the only change I could see them making over there.
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That's what universities do...spend a lot of money on architecture and aesthetics to create a campus and not just a jumble of buildings.

Demoing the low rise portion of 24 would help quite a bit. Create a court yard effect rather than the alley ways they have now.
 
Cortes said:
My dads friend operates (if that is the correct term ((is in charge of?)) the reactor. I get a kick every time I walk by the area knowing that of all the secret dealings in regards to bio-pharm and what have you, there is some serious high energy physics going down a block away.
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Tell me about it. I was living on corner of Brookline & Watson when 9/11 hit, and didn't get sleep for days because of the fighter jets that buzzed overhead 24/7 making their low sweep above the reactor.

I loved hearing their stock answers on CCTV-televised community meetings every time some shrieking citizen went on a rant about how "THERE'S A NUKE IN OUR BACKYARD!!!6!!" Something like..."Meh, if it blows it'll be contained within the parking lot." Which is probably much more truth than deflection...but not exactly the most comforting answer to give to people who board the 1 bus right in front of said parking lot. ;)
 
In this view:
- Renovated MIT Bldg. 31 at left
- Finally covering over utilities trenches and beginning hardscape/landscape installation center/foreground
- MIT.nano at back right
- 88 Ames crane in the distance

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MIT.nano in the background; trees being planted / pavement going in in the foreground.

qRXFBwS.jpg
 
Very glad that MIT is installing some legit plazas/landscaping back here...this whole area used to be nothing but seas of pavement and alleyways for delivery vehicles and lots of parked cars. This will be a marked improvement (both in the directions of the Vassar st. outlets and the Mass ave. outlet). MIT will always have a gritty industrial-lab motif in some parts of campus, but they are discovering that such is not entirely incompatible with being human-friendly.
 
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