MIT SoMa Building 2 | 200 Main Street | Kendall Square

[type001]

Exactly. I really like the big modern New England university style buildings. At least we'll have the pictures as head into the next era.

 

[BeeLine]

IMG_0230 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr
IMG_0231 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr
IMG_0240 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr
IMG_0256 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr

 

[A Chicagoan]

Is this replacing the Eastgate Student Housing tower? Darn, I really liked that building...

 

[Gameguy326]

It is, IMO, a serious shame that they didn't renovate and expand the building into mixed use rather than completely tear it down.

 

[RandomWalk]

The concrete structure didn’t support renovation for state of the art building systems. It was simpler to start over.

 

[Gameguy326]

The concrete structure didn’t support renovation for state of the art building systems. It was simpler to start over.

Didn't they just renovate the affordable housing at around 270 Green st a few years ago? That was completely concrete.

 

[RandomWalk]

Green St is a much larger footprint than Eastgate, so they had more room to work with.

 

[Dr. Rosen Rosen]

It must of been really bad inside. Even a complete redo/reimagined first 5 floors with a reclad crown would of made more sense to me, ala the courthouse.

Indeed it was bad on the inside. I visited many friends there during grad school. It had 7’ ceilings.

 

[Gameguy326]

Indeed it was bad on the inside. I visited many friends there during grad school. It had 7’ ceilings.

It was so bad that it had a wait list.

 

[Dr. Rosen Rosen]

All MIT housing has a wait list.

 

[Cortes]

Indeed it was bad on the inside. I visited many friends there during grad school. It had 7’ ceilings.

7 foot ceilings. I'll just let that sit. That just ain't gonna work.

 

[RandomWalk]

Cliff dweller caves

 

[Dr. Rosen Rosen]

Wasn’t even born at that time!

 

[bigpicture7]

WMBR antenna is now gone:

 

[Dr. Rosen Rosen]

A nice write-up and image gallery about this project and Kendall Sq in general in the Boston Biz Journal: (apologies if you don’t have access) https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/...-tower-will-be-demolished-in-mit.html?ana=maz

Here’s a cool Birdseye view of the area I’ve never seen before from the article:

 

[DZH22]

A nice write-up and image gallery about this project and Kendall Sq in general in the Boston Biz Journal: (apologies if you don’t have access) https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/...-tower-will-be-demolished-in-mit.html?ana=maz

Here’s a cool Birdseye view of the area I’ve never seen before from the article:

View attachment 20816

It's the current view on google maps 3d! They just zoomed in and took a screen shot.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

 

[Dr. Rosen Rosen]

That’s hilarious!

 

[bigpicture7]

Updated design review materials posted to the Planning Board site in response to feedback:

https://www.cambridgema.gov/-/media/Files/CDD/ZoningDevel/SpecialPermits/sp302_303_mit/sp303_bldg2design_20220506.pdf

In particular, some facade revisions. Stainless steel mullions have been added in the glass surrounding the big cantilever post/stairwell. From the file above:

 

[393b40]

I love the yellow bracing, just wish it went all the way up the building.

 

[DZH22]

Losing Cambridge's best proportioned tower for something that looks straight out of North Point is a tough pill to swallow. Luckily we'll be able to forget about it within a couple years once MXD and Volpe get those 400'+ residentials into the sky. Cambridge's future is extremely bright, but the next year or so is going to be a real visual downer over there (add in the height reduction of Middlesex Courthouse where that no longer stands out from the crowd either).