MXD II (Google Kendall) | 325 Main St. | Kendall Square | Cambridge

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I don’t like the carve outs. The slanted glass combined with the corner glass doesn’t seem quite right.

The carve outs are the only thing I almost like about the building. Too many anonymous glass boxes metastasizing throughout Boston/Cambridge. Somebody, please hit the off button!!!!

It is soul crushing.
 
The carve outs could have been executed differently. Perhaps lose the slanted glass (hello 1980s Dallas) and make the underside of the carve out ceiling a different material (e.g. wood).
 
The carve outs could have been executed differently. Perhaps lose the slanted glass (hello 1980s Dallas) and make the underside of the carve out ceiling a different material (e.g. wood).

I hear ya, but I would imagine they want those carve outs to remain glass windows to also provide interesting angle vistas of the surrounding area for the occupants inside (like the dramatic vistas from inside the ICA in the Seaport from its down angled windows).
 
I agree. It's an inoffensive building and the tint in the glass kinda adds a little something. The quality of glass is top-notch, but yeah, it's very much a contemporary building trying so hard to push the concept and seem more creative like the activities meant to be going on inside.

When I walked through here last weekend, I wasn't expecting to round the corner and see this building so far along (I forgot it was a thing). This really fills in the corner it sits in. Definitely not the same quality as its neighbor across the street, but with the quality of the glass, we'll have a nice reflection of the better building! 💁‍♂️
 
I like the bright green. They should make it Pop with some bright colors on the exterior, like.pipes or something. It gives me pompidou vibes
 
I like the bright green. They should make it Pop with some bright colors on the exterior, like.pipes or something. It gives me pompidou vibes
cant tell if your being sarcastic. I think the bright green is just a temporary construction wrapping. It has a product name on it.
 
Google announced this morning a $7 billion capital investment in 2021 in facilities.
In 2018 we made a commitment to double our workforce in New York by 2028, and this year, we will continue to invest in building out our campus presence to meet that goal. We’ll continue to invest in our Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania offices, as well as increase our workforce in Washington, D.C.

The Globe apparently queried Google and asked what was in store for Cambridge. The reply,
Google said Thursday that it is building out more Kendall Square office space than it had intended to, even before the pandemic caused it to shift much of its staff to remote work.

The tech giant said it is adding 38,000 square feet of space to its existing offices at 4 and 5 Cambridge Center. It will also take over 170,000 square feet that it is renovating at 8 Cambridge Center. The moves come on top of the 380,000 square feet on 14 floors in development at 3 Cambridge Center

All told, the company said, it will have more than a million square feet in Cambridge, a footprint that it said will allow it to eventually double its approximately 1,900-person workforce in the area.

 
That is quite confusing as those building labels have been phased out and there really isn't any map that I could find that lists which buildings are which. Vanity addresses are really annoying,

From the CRA website: 2015 The Cambridge Center project was rebranded as Kendall Center and individual buildings were provided city street addresses replacing the Cambridge Center numbering system.
 
That is quite confusing as those building labels have been phased out and there really isn't any map that I could find that lists which buildings are which. Vanity addresses are really annoying,

From the CRA website: 2015 The Cambridge Center project was rebranded as Kendall Center and individual buildings were provided city street addresses replacing the Cambridge Center numbering system.

I believe the 170,000 sf is in the former Akamai HQ on Broadway. The others, I presume, are just taking over/integrating other office space in the existing Google offices.
 
I like a lot of elements of this, but I wish the massing weren't so busy. There's a nice simplistic glass grid here - I think I wish it were just a simple box that emphasized the verticality.

But it's not bad and and it breaks up the 80s brick of Cambridge Center.
 
...I remember when this middle building was one of the larger ones in Kendall.

DZ, I just wanted to say thanks for the great in-neighborhood photos of the Kendall area you posted today, here and in other threads. You nicely captured how much that area has changed in just a few years. Aside from the seaport, I think it's probably the Boston area neighborhood that's changed the most in such a short time.
 

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