Northeastern University - Institutional Master Plan

But...but...what about those dreaded, evil shadows that this building will create???
 
Bigeman -- Atlataden is right -- this is an easy way for Wash to show progress toward his ambitious goal to add thousands of units to Boston's housing stock as NU takes these students out of the local market

Since NU owns the land and its currently just a parking lot -- the popular NIMBY or BANANA argument is obviated that this land is "historic whatever"

By teaming with the private student dorm company from Austin with private financing its a cheap way for NU to meet its commitment to house the students on campus

I predict -- highly expedited approval and construction underway on schedule
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Cynical me says NEU will just increase the size of it's classes and nullify the addition of dorms.
 
meddlepal said:
Cynical me says NEU will just increase the size of it's classes and nullify the addition of dorms.
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not cynical at all and it's been done before... the city should hold all universities to whatever commitments they have made re: housing, and prevent them from increasing enrollment until they figure out more housing for the students...
 
meddlepal said:
Cynical me says NEU will just increase the size of it's classes and nullify the addition of dorms.
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Northeastern wants to rise in the rankings and more freshmen would mean lower admission standards. That will not happen.
 
TomOfBoston said:
Northeastern wants to rise in the rankings and more freshmen would mean lower admission standards. That will not happen.
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Raising enrollment by small increments has little effects on admissions standards, especially in the current, highly competitive market. It would depend on how much they increase...
 
On the topic of enrollment, NU has held firm at admitting the same range of students in order to have an estimated 2,800 to 3,200 incoming freshmen every fall semester. There are two major reasons the school's undergraduate population has swelled from roughly 15,000 students in 2006 to nearly 20,000 in 2015:

1-NUin
2-Student Retention

NUin is an international study abroad program for several freshmen's fall semester. Last I checked there are about 600 students that participate in NUin every fall, who then step foot on campus for the first time in the spring. The program's been around for 9 years, but really only grew to its current size about 5 years ago. These NUin freshmen are not counted among the ~3,000 freshmen that join NU every fall. So amplified over five years, NUin has quietly been responsible for a 20% increase in student population.

As for student retention, its been increasing for two decades. Chalk it up to higher admission standards, better on-campus experience, and improved academic/career guidance across all fronts, there are simply more students staying at NU all the way through graduation now than ever before.
 
Northeastern no longer accepts direct freshman applications for January admission. BU and many other schools do.
 
Hutchison said:
Here is the pnf for the dorm (may want to bump it out at this point or once it gets going to its own thread):
http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/getattachment/56a3e8d4-fbb8-447d-b393-3301093317e4
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Thanks! I created a thread: http://www.archboston.org/community/showthread.php?t=5185

I also found this interesting facilities database buried in the PNF:

hxGSkNk.png

S3kASB1.png
 
I like that NEU went bold with this but I'm not so sure. The dark grey side looks very unwelcoming and I'll reserve comment on the front glass part as I don't even know what's going there yet.
 
This is going to be a high quality piece of architecture. Whether you like it stylistically or not we should all be happy this quality of work is being done. It will stand as an example of what high quality architecture can be ... not unlike the Ferdinand project in Dudley.

cca
 
(Note: This is more a pipe dream than anything)

Next we should convince them to either make that garage slightly taller, or else add a small viewing platform at the top of either the garage or the new science building. That way Downburst, Beeline, and others can keep providing us with top notch skyline shots from that location! As is, once this building is complete, there is no reason to ever go back up that garage for pictures.
 
cca said:
This is going to be a high quality piece of architecture. Whether you like it stylistically or not we should all be happy this quality of work is being done. It will stand as an example of what high quality architecture can be ... not unlike the Ferdinand project in Dudley.

cca
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It is just super that it will look nice in one of theose coffee table picture books. i agree, it will photograph quite beautifully.

But I'm sorry, cca, the Ferdinand a pretty bad analogy.

The Ferdinand actively ENGAGES Dudley Square at street level. It makes its area better.

So far, this project shows no inkling of doing anything close to what the Ferdinand does.

If it engaged the pedestrian and helped make Boston a more livable city, THEN it can be put in the Ferdinand category. Right now, this is just a "look at me" style fortress. But, obviously, the book isn't fully written yet and I hope it develops more towards its environs.

Boston is hot as a pistol right now. There is no reason why the Mayor and BRA simply don't condition approvals based on ground floor engagement/retail.

Would that all the NIMBYs worry as much about the GROUND FLOOR as they do about the TOP FLOOR.
 
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