Cambridge Crossing
Developed over two decades of planning, design and construction, Cambridge Crossing (CX) has transformed a marginal site into a vibrant 43-acre mixed-use neighborhood that includes commercial, residential and laboratory spaces. Once a salt marsh straddling Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston, the area was dredged and filled to support a bustling port and later a railyard. To ensure future climate resiliency, the once low-lying site has been raised out of the flood plain, in accordance with Boston's 2070 flood modeling.
MVVA worked closely with CBT Architects on a 2002 neighborhood master plan and has led the design and delivery of all the CX landscapes. The neighborhood’s 11-acre open space network unifies 25 development parcels, into a vibrant, cohesive, and verdant public realm. The 4.3-acre Common is the largest of the spaces and serves as an active social core for the retail, lab, and residential community.
The Common at CX was built in the earliest phase of development, along with aspects of the street network and the first two buildings. Nearly 10 years passed before subsequent phases came on-line, which gave this central landscape time to grow and mature. Client-sponsored programming during this era helped the wider community discover the Common, building a constituency of future users.
A large flexible lawn at the center of the Common hosts a multi-seasonal offering of client-sponsored programming which includes regular recreational, cultural, and community programs such as CX Fit and CX Summer Nights. CX also hosts citywide events such as the Smoke This Rib Fest, and a pop-up Fall Vintage Market.
CX’s open space network offers something for everyone with smaller parks and lawns dispersed throughout the neighborhood, supporting a range of permanent daily-use programs, including a sports field, flexible lawns, a community table, a dog park, water play, and a picnic grove.
Integrated sustainability informs every aspect of the design, including green infrastructure, urban ecology, and material salvage. The pond at the heart of The Common is fed by landscape swales, collecting and detaining stormwater runoff from across the 43-acre development and reducing impacts on municipal infrastructure. The combined effect of stormwater capture and a site planting of more than 1,000 trees helps provide critical habitat, heat island mitigation, and carbon sequestration.
Over 2,000 tons of massive hand-hewn historic granite blocks were excavated during construction and have been repurposed as retaining stone outcroppings, benches, amphitheaters, stabilized pond embankments, and event plaza paving.
A network of low-speed streets, separated bike lanes, and generous tree-lined sidewalks support walkable community life and connective multi-modal mobility. Scott Station Plaza is the front door for the CX development, welcoming light rail and bus commuters. A green corridor along the east-west spine completes the missing link of a popular regional multi-use path, enhancing pedestrian and cycling access.
