Architectural Projects: 'Big Dig' Central Artery, Vent Building No. 1

This is an illustrative page to my Curriculum Vitae on Google Maps. You can enlarge the images.

Vent Building No. 1 at Fort Point Channel

I worked on this building while at Ondras Assoc. The building is designed to pump air into the Central Artery tunnels, specifically as Mass Pike I-90 dives under the Fort Point Channel on its way to the Logan Airport.  My task was to engineer the Rainscreen metal panels cladding system. At the time Rainscreen cladding system was used in Europe and Canada but was a novelty in America.

Vent Building No. 1 at Fort Point Channel

I worked on these panels for a year and then people with no sense of color decided to splash some, it took them about ten minutes. The idea was pretty good but the choice of colors terrible. That till is the worst, unnatural color on the face of the earth. There should have been different colors and they should have colored multiple panels, instead of individual panels, it works better from a distance and with the scale of this industrial structure.

Vent Building No. 1 at Fort Point Channel

The fresh air is sucked into the underwater tunnels through these grills and exhaust is pumped out through the tall stacks. There are eight vent buildings for the Central Artery in Boston, all different in size, function and construction. I believe this one is the largest of the eight.

Vent Building No. 1 at Fort Point Channel

The prefabricated tunnel tubes under the Fort Point Channel serve also as the foundation of this building. It was the most complex (and expensive) section of the “Big Dig” project.