Ragon Institute | 624 Main Street | Kendall Square

I was told back ~20 years ago that the building with the fake dropcloth facade was a Kodak lab back before MIT acquired it, and contained some exotic chemical contamination that was tough to deal with (Like, stuff that was never made in sufficient quantities to even have an MSDS or any official word on how to get rid of it). MIT has been letting the chemicals diffuse/degrade for decades. Not sure if it's true, just apocryphal. Glad to see it finally getting dealt with.
 
cburns said:
So which one do we want? Bland boxes that blend in are all glass/ fake brick/ hard to differentiate from each other, or something bold to aid in place making? Depending on the thread, we seem to contradict ourselves depending upon what's proposed....
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Good point. You're right that its better than a bland glass box and I guess realistically for a large office/lab space that would be the alternative.
 
20210624_183034.jpg


Demolition of the site has started. Albany St is closed now except for that parking garage access. Photo taken from Portland St.
 
RandomWalk said:
I found this snapshot of the old building from 2004, which predates the scrim.
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^very cool. As I walked by the active demo this morning, it felt kind of weird. I am so used to walking by this stretch (20+ years); these abandoned buildings had just become engrained in my mental image of this streetscape. Don't get me wrong, certainly ready for something new here. I just find it odd how prominently these couple of decomposing structures had become established in my mind.
 
BeeLine said:
IMG_2348 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr
IMG_2351 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr
IMG_2350 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr
IMG_2356 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr
IMG_2369 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr
IMG_2370 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr
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Awesome pics as always. Three quick observations:
1) I bet that this is/will soon officially be greater Boston's largest triangular shaped hole
2) The Albany St. garage between this & the new Schwartzmann Computing building has got to go
3) #2 aside, Beeline you are the king of climbing garages to get the best vantage points for construction pics
 
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