King Open and Cambridge Street Upper Schools and Community Complex Breaks Ground

The City of Cambridge today held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new King Open and Cambridge Street Upper Schools and Community Complex on September 21, 2016.  Located on Cambridge Street between Willow Street and Berkshire Street, the new complex will replace the existing school, library, and pool buildings.  It will include the King Open School, the Cambridge Street Upper Schools, the Valente Branch Library, the Gold Star Pool, and the city’s Preschool, Afterschool and Community schools, as well the Cambridge Public Schools’ Administrative Offices.

The 276,000-square-foot building will be designed to be the first Net Zero Emissions project under the City of Cambridge’s Net Zero Action Plan.  William Rawn Associates in collaboration with Arrowstreet, both Boston-based firms, are designing the new complex which is slated to open in September 2019. William Rawn also designed the Cambridge Public Library main branch which reopened in 2009, and has won numerous awards, including the 2010 Harleston Parker Medal for the “Single Most Beautiful Building” built in the metropolitan Boston area in the past 10 years, from the Boston Society of Architects (BSA).

The King Open project has been sited and scaled to provide the services of a large civic building while complimenting the surrounding neighborhood. A central green spine visually and physically will connect a new Cambridge Street Plaza to Donnelly Field. The building is surrounded by multiple green spaces and playgrounds to engage all residents of the community. 

“We are very pleased to be under way with this project to rebuild and renovate our public schools as part of our ongoing commitment to having high quality educational and community facilities,” said City Manager Richard C. Rossi.  “We hope this new facility will also affirm our commitment to architecture that is both beautiful and sustainable.”