Volpe Transportation Center Development | Kendall Sq | Cambridge

Construction fences now down (7/23):

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LexSEDotVille said:
I like the mid-century architecture, but not the mid-century urban form...

Why are the setbacks so significant? Isn't it just DOT?

It looks like it's bollard-ed, berm-ed, and CCTV-ed excessively - is this a 'target?'
Click to expand...
In this case, I think the landscaping and the setbacks are appropriate. The building is classic and stately, like a monument of sorts, so visually it works in that kind of spread out setting. And I actually like the undulating grassy berms.
 
Charlie_mta said:
In this case, I think the landscaping and the setbacks are appropriate. The building is classic and stately, like a monument of sorts, so visually it works in that kind of spread out setting. And I actually like the undulating grassy berms.
Click to expand...

I would further add that, assuming we take as givens (at least to some extent) the physical security requirements, this is a dramatic improvement over the present states of aesthetic and urbanization of Kendall Square as a whole because the existing Volpe building occupies the dead center of a 14-acre site and is surrounded by surface lots, underutilized plazas, and buffer zones. This new building is shifted almost all the way over to the Binney St. side, leaving the entire Broadway side set for planned development of a new, dense streetwall. Binney, on the other hand, was never going to have a nice streetwall (at least any time soon) for reasons no fault of this project's - the entire street is devoid of public-facing architecture and has a lot of large and monolithic blocks and dead spaces. So this new project enables better urbanization elsewhere on the parcel - the correctly prioritized Broadway side - while still managing to be a net improvement of the Binney side (away from the Kendall core). If one has to have a Fed building in this vicinity, I'll take this particular configuration.
 
LexSEDotVille said:
I like the mid-century architecture, but not the mid-century urban form...

Why are the setbacks so significant? Isn't it just DOT?

It looks like it's bollard-ed, berm-ed, and CCTV-ed excessively - is this a 'target?'
Click to expand...
It is DOT run, but a lot of the projects are DOD and Homeland Security related (and highly classified).

Think transportation in the broadest sense, including protecting passengers and critical transportation infrastructure.

Yes, it is a potential target.
 
Article w/ a neat photo spread from the architects:
archinect.com

SOM shares photos of new Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) have shared photos of their new U.S. DOT Volpe National Transportation Systems Center project in Cambridge, Massachusetts following the building’s formal public inauguration in September. The 13-story, 410,000-square-foot building reclaims an existing 14-acre lot...
archinect.com archinect.com

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Image: © Dave Burk/SOM
 
This may seem minor to some forumers but it's a big deal in my book: when the new Volpe gov building opened a few months ago, it was frustrating that they created these nice landscaped/hardscaped pathways, but they were basically useless to the general public because they didn't lead anywhere (other than the building itself). One of them dead-ended against the block-long security fence along the Loughrey walkway (Old Sixth St). People asked MITIMco why the fence wasn't cut open to allow pedestrian passage, and they said that, yes, that is the plan, but they couldn't do that until they took title for the Volpe property, which couldn't happen until the gov. took occupancy/ signed off on the new tower, etc. Fortunately the fence is now cut open and you can now pass between the mid-point of the Loughrey walkway the the interior of the Volpe parcel. Long time coming.
 
I'd like to see a view of what it looks like inside looking out through those fins.
 
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