MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing | Kendall Square | Cambridge

11:13

IMG_20221113_080948536_HDR.jpg
 
It really does, its like snake skin. Its literally just a short clear glass box, but the way they created depth on the facade makes it really stand out.
 
Great pics and vids.

The one thing that strikes me most, however, is that this street BADLY needs some ground floor life/dynamic injected here. What a freaking zombie road that is. Hopefully the ground floor of Schwarzman can liven things up.
 
shmessy said:
Great pics and vids.

The one thing that strikes me most, however, is that this street BADLY needs some ground floor life/dynamic injected here. What a freaking zombie road that is. Hopefully the ground floor of Schwarzman can liven things up.
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Agreed, but sadly that would require MIT to care at all about the urbanism of the area directly next to their main campus.
 
Given recent changes locking the doors on most of the campus, I would expect them to pitch to privatize Vassar St.
 
FitchburgLine said:
Agreed, but sadly that would require MIT to care at all about the urbanism of the area directly next to their main campus.
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I think those working on the MIT-Kendall Gateway (and soon, Vople) developments would strongly disagree. Not saying you're wrong, but those two initiative (as claimed) are a direct response to your criticism.

RandomWalk said:
Given recent changes locking the doors on most of the campus, I would expect them to pitch to privatize Vassar St.
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Those doors are unlikely to remain locked.
 
My post was ambiguous, but I explicitly wasn't talking about Volpe/Kendall - the area closer to Mass Ave is much worse, and with no (as far as I am aware) plans to change. Also the doors will be open to the public as of tomorrow, Dec 1.
 
FitchburgLine said:
My post was ambiguous, but I explicitly wasn't talking about Volpe/Kendall - the area closer to Mass Ave is much worse, and with no (as far as I am aware) plans to change. Also the doors will be open to the public as of tomorrow, Dec 1.
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One can't be ambiguous and explicit at the same time ;)

I completely agree with what you are saying, but MIT thinks they are improving the campus urbansim and community connection by addressing Kendall and Volpe. The problem is how segmented their design/planning efforts are: they do not have a campus wide master plan-type strategic approach, unfortunately, and Kendall and Volpe are carved off and dealt with by MITIMCo. So nothing thoughtful (re: urbanism) is being done with parcels that aren't "investment" parcels. Even when existing non-investment parcels are renovated, they are usually dealt with in isolation, not as part of a campus- or neighborhood-level improvement plan. That said, there are some better-than-nothing glimmers of hope here and there within the patchwork quilt. The Metropolitan Warehouse renovation will include a much better engagement with Mass Ave and the surface lot at Mass/Vassar will inevitably someday become something else. Given that there's the river along one side, and obviously they are not going to touch the historic Main Block, the opportunities are more limited on the other sides of campus, but I agree that the areas surrounding the intersections of Mass/Vassar and Main/Vassar are big missed opportunities for better engagement with the surrounding city blocks.
 
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FitchburgLine said:
Agreed, but sadly that would require MIT to care at all about the urbanism of the area directly next to their main campus.
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Tragically ironic:

Home | DUSP

dusp.mit.edu dusp.mit.edu

" Welcome to the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning. We are home to the largest urban planning faculty in the United States and enjoy the advantage of operating within the context of MIT’s culture of innovation and interdisciplinary knowledge creation......."

How about that "largest urban planning faculty" do something real-world useful in their neighborhood?????? Or are they merely pie in the sky theoreticians?
 
I’m not really understanding the consternation for MIT — in less than a few decades MIT has helped transform Kendall into a vibrant area and global innovation hub.
 
shmessy said:
Great pics and vids.

The one thing that strikes me most, however, is that this street BADLY needs some ground floor life/dynamic injected here. What a freaking zombie road that is. Hopefully the ground floor of Schwarzman can liven things up.
Click to expand...
Major complexes like campuses need some zombie zones. There are infrastructure components that at least historically needed to be placed away from the main body of the campus, and major human interaction points (note the smoke stacks in the picture). Maybe today the technologies are benign enough to enliven the street and not have consequences, but that historically was not the case.
 
JeffDowntown said:
Major complexes like campuses need some zombie zones. There are infrastructure components that at least historically needed to be placed away from the main body of the campus, and major human interaction points (note the smoke stacks in the picture). Maybe today the technologies are benign enough to enliven the street and not have consequences, but that historically was not the case.
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Agreed. But THIS location is not one of those zones. This is a $500 million building on Vassar Street directly across from the front entrance of Frank Gehry's Stata Center.

I'm not saying it has to be Copley Square, but would it kill them to put a Boloco or Panera or bookstore somewhere, anywhere along that area????

I refer back to Bancars excellent pov video recently. Just look at it for a moment:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1589384933440516096
 
Vassar doesn’t need retail, IMO.
It serves as a cross street from Kendall to Mass Ave / central MIT area.
 
shmessy said:
Agreed. But THIS location is not one of those zones. This is a $500 million building on Vassar Street directly across from the front entrance of Frank Gehry's Stata Center.

I'm not saying it has to be Copley Square, but would it kill them to put a Boloco or Panera or bookstore somewhere, anywhere along that area????

I refer back to Bancars excellent pov video recently. Just look at it for a moment:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1589384933440516096
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MIT Campus academic buildings do not tend to have outside retail. I believe they are moving even further to a closed campus model, meaning keycard access only. There is retail in the commercial buildings right around the corner on Main Street.
 
JeffDowntown said:
MIT Campus academic buildings do not tend to have outside retail. I believe they are moving even further to a closed campus model, meaning keycard access only. There is retail in the commercial buildings right around the corner on Main Street.
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So the reason is no the specific location anymore, now it's MIT in general?

That's a very sad commentary on a university that boasts the 'largest urban planning department in America'.

Honestly, are top minds at the MIT Urban Planning department aiming for any real world effect they can achieve or are they simply content thinking up great theories?

There is no greater waste than genius that spends all its effort on theory.
 
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