A Historic Building with a Contemporary Mission

The Foundry is an adaptive reuse project to build a self-sustaining center for creativity and collaboration for the Cambridge community with a mix of arts, cultural, educational, fabrication and commercial activities.

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Located at the intersection of the Kendall Square Innovation District and the East Cambridge neighborhood, the Foundry building will be designed and operated to provide space and programs for the visual and performing arts, entrepreneurship, technology and workforce education within its historic, industrial setting.

City and CRA Redevelopment Strategy

To deliver a high-quality community space that achieves the vision, the City of Cambridge (City) and the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority (CRA) are proposing to undertake the rehabilitation of the Foundry Building as a publicly funded capital project. The project is intended to be self-sustaining operationally, supported through rents paid by the building’s tenants. Annual operational costs include utilities, cleaning, security, insurance, maintenance and repairs, as well as program management such as community outreach, daily activity coordination, special events scheduling and support, and cross collaboration initiatives. It is estimated that this strategy allows for sixty percent (60%) of the building’s programmatic space to be reserved for dedicated community uses.

Programmatic Use

The building will be repurposed with an array of flexible spaces that can accommodate anchor organizations, artists, and community uses, as well as host shorter-term events and activities in shared spaces. Over time, the building’s uses may adapt to meet evolving community demand. The City and the CRA are working together to establish a design and construction plan that will be suitable for a wide range of activities, create universally accessible, high quality spaces, and respect the historic form of the original structure. The initial draft space plan includes:

- Community Spaces

- Flexible Performance Space

- Classrooms / Multi-Purpose Rooms

- Shared Art Studios

- Makerspace

- Office Space

The Foundry will operate differently than a typical City building. By leveraging the investment, energy, and activity happening in Kendall Square, it will be able to support the uses and programming in the building that are strongly desired by the community.

The CRA has selected The Foundry Consortium as the program management team through a competitive process to operate and program the community space. The Foundry Consortium will recruit non-profit tenants, visual and performance artists, educational program providers, and community events organizers to activate the building consistent with the Foundry’s mission.

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