Wentworth Institute of Technology Expansion | Fenway

Yes, indeed. Great re-use of the old facade. Very much like MCPHS' Matricaria SC.
 
Fitness center:
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New commuter lockers:
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Oversized seating is rather inappropriate for the space:
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Info Hub, WIRE (radio) in the back:
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Temporary seating for the caf upstairs (Ward St addition) because Spring Break is ending:
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The ground floor of Beatty will (re)open on Monday! "Building a better tomorrow!"
 
525 Huntington Avenue has been approved by the Board of Trustees. This was designated in the IMP to become a 7-story dorm with 305 beds in apartment style living with single bedrooms. This might be split off into its own thread because of the prominent location.

IMP Listing:
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Initial renders from Perkins + Will:
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Letter from Dr. Pantic released this morning:
Dear Wentworth Community,

As we are nearing the completion and opening of The Flanagan Campus Center and The Center for Sciences and Biomedical Engineering for the fall semester, the Institute is looking to the future and planning for other projects that will further benefit the campus community.

I am pleased to inform you that the Board of Trustees has approved the development of a new 305-bed residence hall at 525 Huntington Avenue, the site of the current Wentworth-owned park that occupies the corner of Huntington Avenue and Louis Prang Street across from the fire station on Huntington Avenue. The residence hall was one of the five projects that were proposed as part of Wentworth’s vision articulated in the Institutional Master Plan, a comprehensive development plan that describes long-range planning goals and proposed projects that was filed with the City of Boston.

The new seven-story residence hall is geared toward juniors and seniors, offering apartment-style living with mostly single bedrooms as part of a suite. It will create more appealing housing alternatives for students wishing to live on campus and these units will provide modern amenities to address the current and future needs of students.

Over the summer months, focus groups will be held with students to involve them in the process and garner feedback related to amenities and elements of the design. Operating on an aggressive timeline, the plan is to break ground on this project in February of 2013 and have it opened for the Fall 2014 semester.

Building at this time will enable Wentworth to take advantage of reduced construction costs and more attractive funding options, which for this type of construction project, will result in considerable savings for the Institute.

The other initiative that is underway is related to the potential future private development of Sweeney Field. At this time, the Institute is only seeking zoning approval, a key initial step in the process. The current work taking place on Sweeney Field is unrelated to future development as it is a project to remove and replace the existing turf.

Wentworth is considering the future development of up to 650,000 square feet of facilities on the site to be used for research and development and offices. The development of this land is likely going to take place within the next eight years as communicated in the master plan. The Institute would enter into a long-term ground lease arrangement with an entity seeking to develop this space. The objective is to attract a tenant that will create jobs, co-op placements, internships, and interdisciplinary opportunities for students. In addition, as part of the development, a 70,000 square-foot academic building will be created for Wentworth to house our Center for Innovation in Engineering and Technology. Prior to any development taking place, Sweeney Field would be relocated over the Parker Street lot.

As you can see, it continues to be an exciting time for Wentworth.

Sincerely,
Zorica
Zorica Pantić, Ph.D.
President
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Awesome. I remember buying cigarettes from the old gas station that was there.
 
unfortunate that frontage on huntington is taken up with just another identikit dorm...
 
Yes, the rendering is at least 2 years old. It is just the rendering from the IMP (I just screenshotted the PDF). The shadow studies are also from the IMP.

The rendering that the IMP has for Ira Allen doesn't look like what was just built either. The renders for Beatty (unfortunately) never changed.
 
Right, I'm not trying to parse words, but the screenshot from the IMP says "initial shadow and massing study are presented below." I'm inclined not to read anything more into it.
 
I quite like the initial massing/facade study. Hopefully they reinforce and build upon the strong points of their initial concept as they go through the DD phase. Of course, it will likely change dramatically.

It's always important to include the initial renders just to see how the project progresses over time. I'll never get to experience the building because I'm graduating in a few months, but I'm excited for this project and will get to watch it go up. I suspect that like Ira Allen and Beatty/Flanagan, student symposiums/think-tanks will be huge design drivers. Wentworth has been polling us for years about why we live off campus and they're finally addressing a key issue in this dorm -- apartment living with SINGLE bedrooms instead of horrible doubles.
 
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Details for 500 Huntington Ave. (the soccer field) were submitted on June 24, 2013 for a six and eighteen story building. Some new renders are in the filing, but I'm too lazy to pull them out.

Proposed Project:

The Proposed Project consists of a total of up to 640,000 gross square feet within two buildings. Building One will be up to six stories high and contain up to 78,400 gross square feet of space leased to support the Wentworth Center for Innovation in Engineering and Technology, and up to 15,600 gross square feet of office/research and development space. Building Two, which fronts on Huntington Avenue and Parker Street, will be a combination of a lower element of up to six stories and a higher element of up to eighteen stories. Building Two will contain up to 546,600 gross square feet of state-of the-art office/research and development space with up to 15,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, cultural, entertainment, recreational, banking, postal, day care, community, fitness center, conference center or service space on the ground floor. In addition, the Proposed Project will contain up to 410 below-grade parking spaces in two basement levels, with loading and service areas located on Parker Street at-grade. The Proposed Project will be constructed in a single phase.

Proposed Uses:

The Proposed Project contains research and development, office, laboratory space, retail, restaurant, cultural, entertainment, recreational, banking, postal, day care, parking, and accessory uses. A full list of allowed uses is included in Exhibit C.

Height:

The proposed buildings include a building with up to six-stories (Building One), and one building with up to eighteen stories with a lower component with up to six stories (Building Two). The height of the buildings will be: a maximum of 93 feet to the roof, and 118 feet to the top of the mechanical equipment screens for Building One, and the six story component of Building Two, and a maximum of up to 253 feet to the top of the roof and 280 feet to the top of the mechanical equipment screens for the tower component of Building
Two.
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http://bostonredevelopmentauthority...titute of Technology 500 Huntington A_PDA.pdf
 
Whoa! That looks fantastic!!

This would be right down the street from the new MassArt dorm and directly across the the MFA...this will be a really great stretch of road moving forward.
 
280' in that area would be pretty substantial! Is there a height limit in/around Longwood? I would like to see a couple towers there in the range of 350'-400' (same thing with Kendall).
 
This makes me wonder why doesn't NU or Wentworth buy that block of Parker St from the city and add it to their campus just like BU recently did.
 
This will also be right next (and I mean right next to) to NU's planned Burstein/Rubenstein tower at Huntington and Parker. The whole area's going to be pretty impressive in a few years.
 
The only thing on that block (assuming you mean the one bounded by Parker St, Ruggles St, and Huntington Ave) is Punter's Pub. NU has also announced plans in its IMP to replace Rubenstein and Burstein residence halls with a newer, denser residence tower up to 24 or 26 stories (or realistically however tall the neighborhoods will let them). Aside from that bar, this entire block is effectively owned by the institutions.

The Innovation tower looks beautiful, BTW.
 
I am really dating myself here, but does anyone remember the Rice Bowl, the nasty Chinese food place behind the gas station?

So, I guess Wentworth is ditching the athletic field? I like the proposal, it looks a lot more imaginative than the copper-roofed thing they put up on Huntington.

I am looking forward to Wentworth complaining to NU when NU decides to put some taller buildings on the neighboring Burstein / Rubenstein site. "Oh, the shadows, ohhh, the wind, ohhhhh, the visibility restrictions."
 
Czervik.Construction said:
I am really dating myself here, but does anyone remember the Rice Bowl, the nasty Chinese food place behind the gas station?

So, I guess Wentworth is ditching the athletic field? I like the proposal, it looks a lot more imaginative than the copper-roofed thing they put up on Huntington.

I am looking forward to Wentworth complaining to NU when NU decides to put some taller buildings on the neighboring Burstein / Rubenstein site. "Oh, the shadows, ohhh, the wind, ohhhhh, the visibility restrictions."
Click to expand...

The current Sweeney Field will not be developed until the new Sweeney Field/Parking deck on the Parker St. lot is completed.
 
Czervik.Construction said:
I am looking forward to Wentworth complaining to NU when NU decides to put some taller buildings on the neighboring Burstein / Rubenstein site. "Oh, the shadows, ohhh, the wind, ohhhhh, the visibility restrictions."
Click to expand...

On the contrary, WIT's planning team and NU's planning team have admittedly met with each other on multiple occasions recently to coordinate their development plans for the next 10-15 years. NU has even gone as far as to include WIT's Innovation Center's massing details adjacent to its own renderings for future development at NU, including the Burstein/Rubenstein site.
 
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