Proto | 88 Ames St | Kendall Square | Cambridge

stick n move said:
Heres a great example of a tower thats not that tall but the verticality works very well. Its just thin enough to make the height work. The facade also isn't anything special but the way the pieces are being used its coming out very well. It has the Boston white precast panels but with the grey mixed in and the vertical lines are really working. I think a lot of developers could learn a great deal from this about how to make ordinary materials look amazing. The renders also show the facade breaking up towards the top where the white lines stop and leave just the grey panels and glass to change it up in the top corner. I really like this a lot. This tower looks great.
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Agreed. The sharp corners makes this tower look taller than it is, something that architects in this area seem to struggle to understand. Hopefully we see more of this.
 
This is topped out right? The crown from looking at this render seems to be the height of 3 floors and one of the crown floors appears to have been poured already. Yes this pic was posted on the first page of the thread but it was tiny and Im using it to show the crown on this tower. Im not sure the height of each floor but I'd guess theres about 20 feet to go when they build the rest of the crown? Its already peeking above its neighbors and the crown should make it very noticeable from across the Charles which is great to see. Also the T shape of the tower gives it thin sides but still allows it to have a good amount of rentable floor space. Great design.

I like this tower a lot, its turned out great with average materials used the right way. To me thats what sets good architects apart. Whoever designed this used budget facade materials but with some imagination used them the right way to give the tower a great sense of verticality. The way the vertical lines slowly break away at the top is a nice effect and then they top it off with the roof/crown. I think the choice of colors all work very well together as well.

So what would you say 20ft left give or take?
 
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From Sunday. Looks like it's going to be mostly hidden from Arlington. I think it's peeking out behind the left side of the fatty but tough to tell.

IMG_0680 by David Z, on Flickr
 
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It's nice to see a high-rise embrace its verticality, rather than attempt to mask it.
 
The density is welcome, but this is one uninspired box.
 
It is definitely not a fat Kendall Square science box building. I think the more tall-ish and definitely more thin buildings go up in this area, the better.
 
Vertical lines, no double or triple windows, good height/width ratio-win.

Again we had a parking garage here now we have a fairly nice tower. I love the infill. Although for some reason some people on here think NYC is throwing up turds I like a good amount of what they are building right now but the thing I don't like at all is they are demolishing some very nice old build nyc buildings to do it. I hate that. I like how we are mostly infilling here and so the city isn't doing really any 1 for 1 swaps everything is a net gain and adding to the stock of the cities (bos-cambr). I get it that Manhattan only has so much room but its nowhere near filled up yet but some of the buildings they are tearing down are a huge loss to the city. I like how most of the things we knock down if anything are parking garages. This looks great for a white precast mid rise. Good architects can do a lot without needing world class materials. Im not saying this is world class by any means at all, but for what it is it came out great and is a net positive for Cambridge. I like that its tall enough to stick out on the skyline as well from across the Charles.
 
stick n move said:
Vertical lines, no double or triple windows, good height/width ratio-win.

Again we had a parking garage here now we have a fairly nice tower. I love the infill. Although for some reason some people on here think NYC is throwing up turds I like a good amount of what they are building right now but the thing I don't like at all is they are demolishing some very nice old build nyc buildings to do it. I hate that. I like how we are mostly infilling here and so the city isn't doing really any 1 for 1 swaps everything is a net gain and adding to the stock of the cities (bos-cambr). I get it that Manhattan only has so much room but its nowhere near filled up yet but some of the buildings they are tearing down are a huge loss to the city. I like how most of the things we knock down if anything are parking garages. This looks great for a white precast mid rise. Good architects can do a lot without needing world class materials. Im not saying this is world class by any means at all, but for what it is it came out great and is a net positive for Cambridge. I like that its tall enough to stick out on the skyline as well from across the Charles.
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I completely agree. This building has some really pleasing lines. And a very significant upgrade from the garage deadzone previously in this block.
 
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