MIT SoMa, Kendall Square

Location: Cambridge, MA

A NY style heavy duty overhead protection walkway structure for the MIT SoMa project that will transform Kendall Square into a vibrant mixed-use district featuring six new buildings and more than 2 acres of public open spaces.

Sidewalk Protection between the MBTA Outbound Entrances on Main Street in Kendall Square

Commonwealth Scaffold provided a NY style heavy duty overhead protection walkway structure for the MIT SoMa project. The SoMa Project – in conjunction with MIT's NoMa (North of Main) Project – includes over 100,000 square feet of new or repositioned ground floor retail and active uses for much-needed neighborhood amenities transforming existing parking lots and streets into more than two acres of new publicly accessible and porous open space that will be added to the eight acres currently existing.

MIT's Kendall Square Initiative South of Main (“SoMa”) Project will transform five parking lots owned by MIT on its East Campus into a new, fully urban, mixed-use district in the heart of Kendall Square. The SoMa Project area consists of 293,808 sf (6.75 acres) divided into two development parcels. The public realm is designed to offer a diversity of destinations and program opportunities for a broad range of anticipated users: residents, neighbors, workers, visitors and students. Key elements include an 'urban forest' of canopy trees above a richly textured unit paver ground plane, interspersed with discrete lawns, and densely planted gardens of native and adaptive planting. This landscape may include an interactive fountain or interactive technology-focused art installation, either permanent or temporary.