50+60 Binney Street
50+60 Binney Street, the gateway to the Alexandria Center at Kendall Square (ACKS), is a 2.6 million-square-foot urban science and technology campus in the heart of Cambridge, MA’s Kendall Square.
Totaling 900,000 square feet, 50+60 Binney Street is two 10-story, state-of-the-art hybrid laboratory-office buildings built for Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE)—the largest and leading REIT uniquely focused on collaborative science campuses in urban innovation clusters.
The construction of 50+60 Binney Street was done “up-down”, meaning that ten floors were built above ground first, followed by six below-grade parking levels. This technique enables earlier rent commencement for the tenants of the building. Turner Construction utilized advanced mining and slurry wall techniques to accommodate the development’s site adjacent to the Charles River.
50+60 Binney Street is certified LEED Gold. The buildings are equipped with cogeneration technology, an efficient process that generates heat and electricity, LED lighting, electric car charging stations, bike storage, and high-performing, energy-saving enclosures.
To accommodate changing tenant needs over the lifespan of the buildings, 50+60 Binney is designed to be highly flexible with high ceilings, a highly efficient envelope, and a mechanical and electrical core in the center of each floor.
SGA completed the core and shell of the building with zero RFI’s (Request for Information). In addition, 90% of submittals were returned without changes. In the end, the project came in under budget. At completion, SGA provided ARE with Model Curation, a service that enables ARE’s facilities management team to leverage the model’s data throughout the lifecycle of the building.
The façades consist of a glass curtain wall that wraps around the front of 50+60 Binney, with brick and metal panels on the sides and back. The glass allows sunlight to penetrate deep into the office-lab spaces.
SGA implemented Virtual Design and Construction for 50+60 Binney Street at a co-location office adjacent to the construction site. SGA led a collaborative process where SGA’s architects, ARE representatives, Turner Construction, and major sub-contractors worked together as one team to design and construct the buildings.
Together, under SGA’s supervision, all the major trades virtually modeled the building. 50+60 Binney’s systems were detailed in depth, down to each piece of equipment being QR coded to link to its maintenance information and warranty data.