Volpe Transportation Center Development | Kendall Sq | Cambridge

meddlepal said:
This is good news but I agree nothing is written in stone here without the paperwork being signed by the GSA. For all we know the Trump admin has it out for liberal MIT and Cambridge and intends to put the kabosh on this deal, rebid it and award it to a developer while revoking the zoning jurisdiction to Cambridge so that developer can do whatever it wants. He is all about "Getting Even" after all.

Unlikely, but we don't know.
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Given what MIT paid, this hardly seems to be a preferential deal for MIT. In fact, the Feds did quite well. If he knows anything, it's Real Estate and more than "getting even" he is about maximizing the return. Of course, the devil is in the details.

I wouldn't even consider MIT to be that liberal. They are heavily engaged with the DOD and other agencies. Sure, they have some outspoken ones on staff, but the work produced by Lincoln Labs alone can hardly be coined as "liberal."
 
The institute’s first task is a new building for the Department of Transportation; the cost will be subtracted from the $750 million, and MIT will pay the difference to the government after completion. The building will be designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, an 80-year-old international architectural firm that completed the new Los Angeles federal courthouse last year.
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a new transportation research building, estimated to be complete in four to five years
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“It’s been a marathon project, but we have made it to the top of Heartbreak Hill,” said Robert Zarnetske, the General Services Administration’s New England head, in a statement. Zarnetske said that although there is a long way to go, for him “the finish line is in sight”: a new transportation research building, estimated to be complete in four to five years.
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http://www.cambridgeday.com/2017/01...on-to-redevelop-kendall-squares-volpe-parcel/
 
Gameguy326 said:
What? SOM?? I demand more Elkus-Manfredi!!1!!1!
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Are they the firm that frames like four stories of windows with a big white square in every damn project, no matter what, or is that someone else?
 
Arborway said:
Are they the firm that frames like four stories of windows with a big white square in every damn project, no matter what, or is that someone else?
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They're the firm where every building looks like the Broad Institute.

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DZH22 said:
This could end up being the most exciting project on the forum. (or not, don't hold me to this)
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Ha! i get nervous when it's so much land like this. MIT has money. But, they're not an institution pushing outrageous and iconic like Universtiy City. MIT teaming up with MP would be great.
 
You have it backwards from an architecture perspective MIT is much more likely to do outrageous/iconic i.e. the Stata Center or Simmons Hall. Millennium does safe, but high quality architecture for 90% of their projects i.e. Millennium Tower Boston/SF.
 
^ Dear Leader will meet you in the Justice Chamber of the Ministry of Truth. I find that courthouse kind of scary in a 1984 sort of way.
 
SOM wins the award for most shameless i'm-not-even-trying-to-hide-it mechanical penthouse treatment in the Osborne Triangle buildings. The new Broad Tower on Ames St. proves that even in the big biotech buildings with tons of mech, you can tastefully integrate the mech penthouse...but the SOM building in Osborne Triangle that Pfizer occupies (the 2nd of Gameguy's pics) has the most egregiously gigantic blank-wall of mechanicals I have ever seen as a proportion of building size...c'mon, at least put in SOM effort
 
I'm feeling pretty confident that the new Volpe center will be a glass box with some metal geometric shapes overlaid on it... :)
 
bigpicture7 said:
SOM wins the award for most shameless i'm-not-even-trying-to-hide-it mechanical penthouse treatment in the Osborne Triangle buildings. The new Broad Tower on Ames St. proves that even in the big biotech buildings with tons of mech, you can tastefully integrate the mech penthouse...but the SOM building in Osborne Triangle that Pfizer occupies (the 2nd of Gameguy's pics) has the most egregiously gigantic blank-wall of mechanicals I have ever seen as a proportion of building size...c'mon, at least put in SOM effort
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The Broad institute and the 610 Main Street buildings (Osborne Triangle) are all Elkus buildings. I worked on the first Broad dedicated building (7CC) and both of the 610 Main buildings (North & South.)
 
SeamusMcFly said:
The Broad institute and the 610 Main Street buildings (Osborne Triangle) are all Elkus buildings. I worked on the first Broad dedicated building (7CC) and both of the 610 Main buildings (North & South.)
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Ah ha...so Gameguy's photo is not correctly attributed?

Interesting.
 
JeffDowntown said:
^ Dear Leader will meet you in the Justice Chamber of the Ministry of Truth. I find that courthouse kind of scary in a 1984 sort of way.
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The excerpt from the Declaration of Independence over the doors is easier to stomach than what is above the entrance of the old Worcester Courthouse: "Obedience to Law is Liberty". I've always wondered if it it was placed there due to a misunderstanding of the word "liberty" or if intentional doublespeak. I do, however, agree that courthouse in LA is oppressive and unnerving in appearance.
 
SlothofDespond said:
The excerpt from the Declaration of Independence over the doors is easier to stomach than what is above the entrance of the old Worcester Courthouse: "Obedience to Law is Liberty". I've always wondered if it it was placed there due to a misunderstanding of the word "liberty" or if intentional doublespeak. I do, however, agree that courthouse in LA is oppressive and unnerving in appearance.
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At the risk of derailing the thread -

It is a quote attributed to Roman "philosopher" Boethius and is on many a courthouse or other government building facade.

For further analysis for anyone interested along with a quote from the article:

http://our-thoughts-are-free.blogspot.com/2012/06/obedience-to-law-is-liberty.html

"Now you know why I put philosopher in quotes up there; anybody corrupt enough to suggest such a proposition that ends up having the opposite effect is quite frankly a dangerous asshole, but rest assured Boethius that modern day tyrants thank you for your contribution to humanity!"
 
bigpicture7 said:
Ah ha...so Gameguy's photo is not correctly attributed?

Interesting.
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Sorry, I guess there was a Snafu in communication...I was under the impression Arborway was referring to Elkus in his question.

(FWIW I don't think the Elkus buildings are bad...but for some reason all the ones they've designed for Cambridge (save the Millenium building) have the same style, and it's getting a bit stale.)

Anyway, SOM is indeed awesome. This is SOM:

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Very cool. And sorry I perpetuated the miscommunication. The Elkus buildings get the job done, but making biotech buildings interesting is quite the challenge, and IMHO they haven't conquered that challenge (but perhaps they weren't commissioned to either...)

In any case:
Thanks for sharing these awesome SOM examples!
 
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