Assembly Innovation Park | 5 Middlesex Ave | Somerville

You all read my mind.....

The buildup of this part of the Metro is totally badass. That said,

no reason it couldn't have gone 450'~500' mixed use for the last 1~3 parcels,

with a considerable increase in the number of units going sans cars.
 
Mike02125 said:
The target audience isn't probably you - it's C-suite tech and life science executives (firms with names like XMBLY and not like "Somerville Crossing" etc)
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So you honestly believe some 27 year old CEO of the next Flickr, Grindr or Scribd is going set up shop in your building because they think the name is XTREMLY cool?

That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works.

Techbros are certainly capable of making monumentally stupid decisions, but they are not quite that stupid.
 
Mike02125 said:
I love the name XMBLY.

...

"XMBLY" does it all. Slam dunk.

...

As the person who named it
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lol

Seriously though, this is less than three syllables? Can we get a phonetic pronunciation?

'zem-blee?


fellowkids.jpg
 
I'm not an architect, but I love architecture, so I joined this board to learn.

I love reading the points from real architects, many of you have helped me to understand what makes architecture great... in fact, because of this board, I look at architecture differently now, so thank you.

I know what I don't know (architecture) and so I love to learn from those that do.

I also know what I do know - branding. I won't bore you with my background but this is all that I've done for decades.

So I thought some of you might like to learn a little about an industry (branding/advertising) that you may not know anything about, and thought you might be interested in some insights into that world.

Of all the buildings, products and businesses that I've named over my career - I think XMBLY is about the best and I actually love that the lurking skeptics hate it enough to talk about it. An office park in Somerville is being talked about! It would be hard to imagine anybody talking about "Somerville Landing" or "Somerville Crossing".

Plus, our actual research (because it's as much science as art) has showed that the very people we're targeting dig the name. So there you have it.
 
Mike02125 said:
I'm not an architect, but I love architecture, so I joined this board to learn.

I love reading the points from real architects, many of you have helped me to understand what makes architecture great... in fact, because of this board, I look at architecture differently now, so thank you.

I know what I don't know (architecture) and so I love to learn from those that do.

I also know what I do know - branding. I won't bore you with my background but this is all that I've done for decades.

So I thought some of you might like to learn a little about an industry (branding/advertising) that you may not know anything about, and thought you might be interested in some insights into that world.

Of all the buildings, products and businesses that I've named over my career - I think XMBLY is about the best and I actually love that the lurking skeptics hate it enough to talk about it. An office park in Somerville is being talked about! It would be hard to imagine anybody talking about "Somerville Landing" or "Somerville Crossing".

Plus, our actual research (because it's as much science as art) has showed that the very people we're targeting dig the name. So there you have it.
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Know that branding is one of my passions, so please continue to share your insights. They are always welcome here.
 
Mike02125...in all seriousness, and with due respect, can you tell us how to pronounce it?
 
It sounds just like "Assembly" but the "ass" is replaced with "ex" - it's actually so easy to say, and I've seen people struggle with "Echelon" here in the Seaport.

The decision was actually easy - a milquetoast brand would blend in and lead our audiences (more brokers than CEO's) to believe that this was just an extension of Assembly Row... *or* we could create a screaming, sore thumb, 'look-at-me' brand name to ensure that would never happen and force brokers to look up from their daily routines and say "WTF?"

There was no middle ground considered here.

These developers are really smart visionary people (and nice guys too) who had the foresight to build Liberty Wharf back when there was no Seaport District.

They looked into the future and they made the right the call, then and now.
 
Mike02125 said:
...a screaming, sore thumb, 'look-at-me' brand name to ensure that would never happen and force brokers to look up from their daily routines and say "WTF?"

These developers are really smart visionary people...
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Any chance they're Primal Scream fans?
 
Thanks, Mike02125.

In fairness to your point, many folks on this board totally ripped boston properties for branding their apartment tower "proto" in Kendall. Yet, I must say, I work in Kendall and there is actually an audible buzz about prospective renters going to check out proto (obviously i don't have real data on this...I am referring to overheard conversations). I actually think they got that name exactly right for the target audience. Tech-nerds like cheesy tech-sounding things, even if they're fake.

I personally don't care for XMBLY but it's not your job to make me like it.
 
Like others have said, your input is much appreciated.
Just some thoughts.
The name seems quite short sighted for a building that's probably going to be around for a few generations. It might appeal to your market share now but I fear it might date quickly. Dropping letters already seems dated to me.
Rather than piggybacking directly on assembly branding, perhaps incorporate some local geography/history (as Assembly did). I agree 'Somerville Crossing' would be terrible but this just seems like 'SmrvlXng'.
I think part of the problem is that most see 'X' as shorthand for 'cross'. At first glance my brain trys to turn it in to 'Crossembly'
Again, just some thoughts. Thanks for posting.
 
Make Vowels Great Again!!!

cca

Ps. Just saying.
 
I wonder if the they were able to do some ROI calculations?

Example:
If they went with Assembly Crossing the space would have projected to have sat on the market for X days and got $x/sq ft. Where as with XMBLY it will project to only be on the market for x-1 days and command $x+1/sq ft.

What other measure of effectiveness might they use?
 
I really appreciate the insight on the way contemporary branding concepts are brought to light, and how you've zeroed in on your market. Kudos!

But the explanation does nothing but amplify my volcanic hatred for this sort of development. We've replaced the imperative of solid, place-making architecture with the flaccid, superficial veneer of marketing.

This isn't even architecture. It's an inhabitable slide-deck.
 
Beton Brut said:
This isn't even architecture. It's an inhabitable slide-deck.
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But isn't that what the market wants? "Just let me rent a place where when I take my filtered Instagram pictures it makes a good backdrop ... and people will shag me."

cca
 
cca said:
But isn't that what the market wants? "Just let me rent a place where when I take my filtered Instagram pictures it makes a good backdrop ... and people will shag me."

cca
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When demand growth outpaces supply growth to the extent it is now, the market just wants a place to live. If you're a prospective tenant, it's hard to devote too much concern to the details when you know that, whatever you may think, somebody else is going to pounce on that space in an instant if you don't. A cat walking across a keyboard could come up with the marketing name for this development and it would still fill up without difficulty.

When the market is cooler developers need to work harder to fill their units and square footage. When the market is this hot, any crap will do.

Any commercial tenant that will fill this project is choosing it to gain access to human capital. Any residential tenant is choosing it for its access to the city and its amenities and offerings. They aren't doing it for the architecture, and they definitely aren't doing it for Instagram.
 
Brut cuts through the bullshit like a razor blade through blowfish.
 
cca said:
"Just let me rent a place where when I take my filtered Instagram pictures it makes a good backdrop ... and people will shag me."
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Is our contemporary addiction to technology the only thing that truly separates America circa 2018 from Rome during the reign of Caligula?

JumboBuc said:
  • When demand growth outpaces supply growth to the extent it is now, the market just wants a place to live.
  • When the market is cooler developers need to work harder to fill their units and square footage. When the market is this hot, any crap will do.
  • They aren't doing it for the architecture, and they definitely aren't doing it for Instagram.
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Solid points, all.

I'm deeply troubled by the fact that taken as a community (or subculture), intelligent and (presumably) well-meaning architects appear content to shit out this kind of work across the entire country. I was in San Diego last month -- it's no better.

In the Post-WWII Era, architecture was perceived as a cultural problem-solver. Indeed, Wright, Corbu, Gropius, and Aalto were already there a generation before. We can argue until the wheels come off about the ill-considered approaches to public housing and barren plazas fronting unloved examples of hard modernism. But can we please talk about intent, about an actual goal, about making efforts to learn from a place, and build on its best attributes. We (from designers and planners to preservationists and activists) know better than Robert Moses and Ed Logue. It's well past time we put that knowledge to work.

odurandina said:
Brut cuts through the bullshit like a razor blade through blowfish.
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Thank you, but I'm no razor. Information is the razor. At best, I'm a rusty handle.
 
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