Northeastern University - Institutional Master Plan

[Zash]

This is the way of the world now (well, at least the US). Men are failing across the board at an uncomfortable rate in this country, and the topic is something of a third rail for mainstream society.
College stat is almost 60% of all new college students are female.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90673368/women-now-make-up-almost-60-of-college-students-an-all-time-high

Here's a good conversation from Andrew Yang about the fuller topic.

I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s that “men are failing” but rather, women are succeeding.

 

[DZH22]

I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s that “men are failing” but rather, women are succeeding.

Well it's both and the video lays it out pretty well. One major issue that isn't particularly prevalent in New England was the massive drain of manufacturing jobs over the last few decades. It's left too many men feeling helpless and useless, and has created a general undesirability towards this group as women aren't usually flocking to the men in the unemployment lines. These are the men that end up either lashing out (often violently) against society, or otherwise against themselves which is illustrated by their suicide rate being between 3-4 times that of women.

Gender differences in suicide - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Another piece of the issue is that every other group is essentially propped up one way or another. There has been so much work done to "equal the playing field" for women, minorities, and all sorts of other special interest groups. Nobody sheds a tear when a (white in particular) man is struggling. Again, the video linked provides substantially more information, and Andrew Yang is both a progressive thinker while being independently fair towards the subject matter. I'm pretty sure there's also a follow-up video from the same youtube channel.

 

[TomOfBoston]

This is the way of the world now (well, at least the US). Men are failing across the board at an uncomfortable rate in this country, and the topic is something of a third rail for mainstream society.
College stat is almost 60% of all new college students are female.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90673368/women-now-make-up-almost-60-of-college-students-an-all-time-high

Here's a good conversation from Andrew Yang about the fuller topic.

I mention that because prior to this year women made up about 52% of entering frshmen.

 

[Zash]

Email sent out to students today. Link included in it features a cool interactive map of the campus' evolution.

Dear Boston-based students, faculty, and staff,



I am pleased to announce that Northeastern has begun work on its 2023 Institutional Master Plan, which will establish an ambitious ten-year vision and development plan for our Boston campus. The master planning process will be led by the Planning, Real Estate, and Facilities (PREF) division, whose mission is to shape and care for the University’s physical environment in support of learning and discovery. Over the next year, we will engage the Northeastern community in a thoughtful process to envision the future of the Boston campus.



Your voice is critical in informing and shaping a comprehensive vision for the future. Please share your ideas and experiences in an interactive survey from our master plan consultants.Responses are anonymous and will be used to inform our understanding of the campus and shape priorities.Please also keep your eye out for a series of engagement events, including a Campus Forum in Curry in March where the results of the survey will be shared. You can track the plan’s progress on the project website.



We are excited to embark on this work and look forward to hearing from you!



Sincerely,





Kathy Spiegelman

Vice President and Chief

Planning, Real Estate, and Facilities

Northeastern University

 

[shmessy]

Email sent out to students today. Link included in it features a cool interactive map of the campus' evolution.

THIS is how you do it!

How come Harvard hasn't been able to even get close to the level of Northeastern in its urban/architectural development and dynamic vision?????
Harvard Endowment FY 2021 = $53.2 billion
Northeastern Endowment FY 2021 = $1.47billion

Don't even get me started on the side by side comparisons between Northeastern's ISEC (complete with new pedestrian bridge over the MBTA tracks at Ruggles Station installed via crane during a midnight livestream casted to the public from their engineering department) and Harvard's SEC building made to look like a Route 128 style and setting. Walk into each and just compare the two atriums. Both were developed at approximately the same time and the differences could not be more stark.

The WRONG university got all that land in Allston - - - I wish it was Northeastern that had that magnificent opportunity.

 

[king_vibe]

I’m convi

THIS is how you do it!

How come Harvard hasn't been able to even get close to the level of Northeastern in its urban/architectural development and dynamic vision?????
Harvard Endowment FY 2021 = $53.2 billion
Northeastern Endowment FY 2021 = $1.47billion

Don't even get me started on the side by side comparisons between Northeastern's ISEC (complete with new pedestrian bridge over the MBTA tracks at Ruggles Station installed via crane during a midnight livestream casted to the public from their engineering department) and Harvard's SEC building made to look like a Route 128 style and setting. Walk into each and just compare the two atriums. Both were developed at approximately the same time and the differences could not be more stark.

The WRONG university got all that land in Allston - - - I wish it was Northeastern that had that magnificent opportunity.

I’m convinced that Wentworth (endowment = $300) could do a better job in Allston than Harvard will.

 

[DBM]

The WRONG university got all that land in Allston - - - I wish it was Northeastern that had that magnificent opportunity.

Harvard gonna Harvard.

As this pretty informative Crimson piece notes, Harvard definitely used strawmen agents ("In 1997, Harvard announced it had secretly obtained 52 acres of land...") to buy-up land in Allston in the 1990s.

A lot of people know about the abovementioned . . . but before that, from 1902-1932, Harvard engaged in the exact same tactics--i.e., strawmen agents--to make its first big expansion south, pushing beyond actual Harvard Square to develop its footprint along the Memorial Drive riverbank.

That said, it's hard to envision something similar can happen a third time.

 

[shmessy]

Harvard gonna Harvard.

As this pretty informative Crimson piece notes, Harvard definitely used strawmen agents ("In 1997, Harvard announced it had secretly obtained 52 acres of land...") to buy-up land in Allston in the 1990s.

A lot of people know about the abovementioned . . . but before that, from 1902-1932, Harvard engaged in the exact same tactics--i.e., strawmen agents--to make its first big expansion south, pushing beyond actual Harvard Square to develop its footprint along the Memorial Drive riverbank.

That said, it's hard to envision something similar can happen a third time.

I'm fine with THAT and I'd be ok if Harvard expanded to 70K-+ students and more schools. Sorry, but I'm not with the group that wants Allston to be Dorchester circa 1971.

I root for Harvard to continue being an economic engine for the region and scientific, etc. engine for humanity.

I just hate bad. cheap architecture and poor urban planning. Harvard does that. And there's no excuse for Harvard to hit so far below its capabilities in that respect.

 

[chrisbrat]

I just hate bad. cheap architecture and poor urban planning. Harvard does that. And there's no excuse for Harvard to hit so far below its capabilities in that respect.

Especially when the main Harvard campus is widely recognized as boasting some of the finest collegiate architecture. How and why they've gone from the Widener, Memorial Hall, University Hall -- even Harkness Commons, Carpenter Center, and the Science Center -- to settling for the bland office-park nonsense they've been tossing up in Allston is pretty mysterious (particularly given the degree to which lately B.U. and, moreso, NE have been absolutely schooling them -- pun unitnended, but it stays -- with daring, well conceived projects).

 

[stick n move]

On top of that the new buildings that Harvard has built in its traditional georgian style have looked pretty good, much better than this office park stuff.

Klarman hall was built in 2018 right across the street from where the allston yards campus is proposed and it fits in well with the rest of the campus.

https://www.millworkone.com/harvard-business-school-klarmen-hall/

Baker Library was built in 2005 and is even better, designed by Robert stern. Theres no reason they couldnt build more of this, this is what everyone loves about Harvards campus, why change the formula..

https://www.ramsa.com/projects/project/baker-library-bloomberg-center

Id love to see what they could have done with a blank slate in Allston. If they want to have a more modern campus in Allston it would have been nice to have a mix of new and old vs just an office park imo.

 

[shmorkin]

Especially when the main Harvard campus is widely recognized as boasting some of the finest collegiate architecture. How and why they've gone from the Widener, Memorial Hall, University Hall -- even Harkness Commons, Carpenter Center, and the Science Center -- to settling for the bland office-park nonsense they've been tossing up in Allston is pretty mysterious (particularly given the degree to which lately B.U. and, moreso, NE have been absolutely schooling them -- pun unitnended, but it stays -- with daring, well conceived projects).

Northeastern isn't immune to cheap ugly architecture. Look at their renovation plans for Snell...

 

[TomOfBoston]

Northeastern isn't immune to cheap ugly architecture. Look at their renovation plans for Snell...

View attachment 34974

UGH! I was hoping that they would build out the first and second floors. That entryway has always been a dingy space.

Much of the pre-1995 campus is gray. Northeastern has been trying to brighten it up with the various artwork murals. But this? No.

 

[dshoost88]

UGH! I was hoping that they would build out the first and second floors. That entryway has always been a dingy space.

Much of the pre-1995 campus is gray. Northeastern has been trying to brighten it up with the various artwork murals. But this? No.

Instead, NU should temporarily move library activities to EXP as mitigation for a couple years while it rebuilds 'snell' library from the ground up. It may be the largest academic library in Boston proper, but it hasn't been large enough for the amount of students that use it for nearly 20 years, and if there's any building on campus that should evolve from its value-engineered construction to an architectural aesthetic in line with the EXP & ISEC, it's gotta be the library.

 

[bbfen]

Instead, NU should temporarily move library activities to EXP as mitigation for a couple years while it rebuilds 'snell' library from the ground up. It may be the largest academic library in Boston proper, but it hasn't been large enough for the amount of students that use it for nearly 20 years, and if there's any building on campus that should evolve from its value-engineered construction to an architectural aesthetic in line with the EXP & ISEC, it's gotta be the library.

I agree on rebuilding. Lipstick on the pig won’t work. Heck, I remember 20 years ago (during the explosion of the personal laptop era), it wasn’t well-configured to serving the students and that has to have only gotten worse as NEU’s grown enrollment.

 

[TomOfBoston]

I agree on rebuilding. Lipstick on the pig won’t work. Heck, I remember 20 years ago (during the explosion of the personal laptop era), it wasn’t well-configured to serving the students and that has to have only gotten worse as NEU’s grown enrollment.

Northeastern is doing a floor-by-floor renovation of Snell. I have not seen the details. Like many academic libraries nowadays, there will be very few physical books remaining in the building when finished.

In Boston University's latest IMP, they are planning a complete renovation of Mugar Library. That building has not had a major overhaul since it was built in 1966. It will be interesting to see how both of these libraries will look afterwards.

 

[stick n move]

Sheraton Boston owners aim to convert part of hotel into dorm space for Northeastern

“Massachusetts’ largest hotel could soon be partially transformed into a dorm for Massachusetts’ largest university.

One of the new owners of Sheraton Boston Hotel in Back Bay, an entity managed by bicoastal investment firm Hawkins Way Capital, has proposed converting one of the property’s two towers from a 428-room hotel into a dormitory that could house 854 students. Northeastern University is the dorm’s “initial tenant,” wrote Joshua Bird, general counsel of Hawkins Way, in a letter this month to the Boston Planning and Development Agency. Hawkins Way has offices in New York and Los Angeles, and bought the Sheraton last February in partnership with Värde Partners, another investment firm.

The second Sheraton tower, which rises 29 stories with 792 hotel rooms, “will remain a hotel and is not part of this proposal,” Bird’s letter states.

Housing students in hotels was common practice during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when local universities including Northeastern, Boston College, Emerson College, Fisher College, and Suffolk University worked out agreements with local hotels — including the Sheraton, which housed Northeastern students — to spread out dense student populations. And converting hotels into dorms has happened in Boston before: Suffolk University converted the former Ames Hotel just outside City Hall into a dormitory just a few years ago. That $63.5 million deal was likely far less expensive than new construction, particularly in such a prime downtown location.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/04...vert-part-hotel-into-dorm-space-northeastern/

 

[Zash]

Sheraton Boston owners aim to convert part of hotel into dorm space for Northeastern
View attachment 36443


“Massachusetts’ largest hotel could soon be partially transformed into a dorm for Massachusetts’ largest university.

One of the new owners of Sheraton Boston Hotel in Back Bay, an entity managed by bicoastal investment firm Hawkins Way Capital, has proposed converting one of the property’s two towers from a 428-room hotel into a dormitory that could house 854 students. Northeastern University is the dorm’s “initial tenant,” wrote Joshua Bird, general counsel of Hawkins Way, in a letter this month to the Boston Planning and Development Agency. Hawkins Way has offices in New York and Los Angeles, and bought the Sheraton last February in partnership with Värde Partners, another investment firm.

The second Sheraton tower, which rises 29 stories with 792 hotel rooms, “will remain a hotel and is not part of this proposal,” Bird’s letter states.

Housing students in hotels was common practice during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when local universities including Northeastern, Boston College, Emerson College, Fisher College, and Suffolk University worked out agreements with local hotels — including the Sheraton, which housed Northeastern students — to spread out dense student populations. And converting hotels into dorms has happened in Boston before: Suffolk University converted the former Ames Hotel just outside City Hall into a dormitory just a few years ago. That $63.5 million deal was likely far less expensive than new construction, particularly in such a prime downtown location.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/04...vert-part-hotel-into-dorm-space-northeastern/

This is already kinda sorta enacted. The Sheraton (now dubbed 39 Dalton to make it sound more like a dorm and not a hotel) is currently housing NU students and is fully staffed by university residential life staff.

Looks like this might be a proposal to formalize the decision.

 

[TomOfBoston]

This is already kinda sorta enacted. The Sheraton (now dubbed 39 Dalton to make it sound more like a dorm and not a hotel) is currently housing NU students and is fully staffed by university residential life staff.

Looks like this might be a proposal to formalize the decision.

Student feedback about 39 Dalton has been very favorable, despite the walk to campus.

Maybe this is why the 840 Columbus project has not been moving forward. Likely is a lot cheaper than the cost of building that new dorm. Northeastern can now use the space for an academic building.

 

[dshoost88]

Student feedback about 39 Dalton has been very favorable, despite the walk to campus.

Maybe this is why the 840 Columbus project has not been moving forward. $63.5 million is a lot cheaper than the cost of building that new dorm. Northeastern can now use the space for an academic building.

Make no mistake: Northeastern still needs the academic space and the additional beds for students. And as we've seen with West Village, East Village, and International Village, the uses are not mutually exclusive.

 

[TomOfBoston]

As Northeastern has grown and built many architecturally attractive buildings, I have come to realize that Krentzman Quadrangle has become an iconic site on the campus. What was once seen as drab, gray, industrial architecture has aged into a unique cohesive whole. Dodge, Ell and Richards on the quad as well as Hayden, Mugar and Churchill are an interesting, and attractive, relic of their times: the 1930's through the 1950's. Maybe it's time to contact the National Register of Historic Places!