As Akamai Technologies’ new global headquarters, 145 Broadway consolidates their workforce from across six disparate locations into a unified vertical campus. Creating connectivity within the building and neighborhood was a defining vision for the design.
As a major infill urban development, the design process for this approx. 482,000 gsf tower in Kendall Square was tailored to directly respond to opportunities created through deep collaboration with the design team and the City of Cambridge. This participatory design process resulted in a confident yet sensitive building that fits within the city scale, inspires employee engagement, and supports innovation.
A defining feature of the massing, five interlocking bars weave together like fingers to create a series of cantilevers that reach toward downtown Cambridge and the Charles River. Green roofs cover each cantilever and create a network of visible vegetation from the pocket park at the building’s lobby entrance to the tower top.
The building provided an armature for the creation of the AkaMile, design by interior architects Sasaki. A mile-long meandering path, the AkaMile connects collaborative workspaces, libraries, game rooms, and a cafeteria across the 19 floors of Akamai’s new home. This continuous multi-level circulation from the garden to the sky creates a vertical community and promotes interaction among the company’s 2,000 employees, newly united under one roof. The color spectrum of the AkaMile palette is visible through the façade, revealing Akamai’s collaborative culture to passers-by.
Certified LEED Platinum, the tower’s high-performance enclosure of painted aluminum and Low-E insulated glass panels maximizes daylight and views while optimizing energy performance. Ensuring the building’s long-term viability and sustainability. Integrated systems include active chilled beams (ACB), high-efficiency chillers, an energy recovery system for the chilled beams and a rainwater harvesting tank for irrigation and cooling tower make-up water. The headquarters is also the largest WELL-certified building in the Northeast and fourth-largest in the U.S., Supporting the City of Cambridge’s bike culture and initiatives to encourage alternative transportation, the project includes 150 bike parking spaces and a dedicated bike lane along Broadway.
Designed to be constructed using an innovative up-down construction approach, the tower was erected in steel in tandem with the basement excavation and construction of below-grade levels. This unique methodology decreased the construction schedule significantly, improving the economic performance of the project and benefiting the neighborhood by decreasing the duration of construction activity.
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