We recently reviewed the Visual Mock-up (VMU) for The Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard in Cambridge. Visual Mock-ups are used as a way to review the final aesthetics and material choices. The team also uses the mock-up as a means to confirm and coordinate transitions between materials and the work of the various trades.
Part 1 of this blog mini-series focused on the unitized curtain wall and sunshades for The Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard in Cambridge. It was critical to release fabrication of the unitized curtain wall that encloses the majority of the building asap. It has a longer lead time than the remainder of building enclosures due to final detailing, testing, and then fabrication. A lot has to happen before the units are delivered on site and craned into place!
Part 2 of the visual mock-up is made up of many different types of exterior walls and soffits that are primarily on the ground floor of the building. Various sub-contractors are involved at this point, and it is a more involved coordination effort between all parties.
This is a chance for the sub-contractors to practice installation methods, prove transition details between different types of enclosures, and set a standard/ level of quality for the work to follow.
Part 2 of the Visual Mock-Up included:
- Stone Base
- Vals Quartzite stone walls: including grout color options and corner conditions
- Timber curtain wall and All-glass curtain wall
- Perforated copper anodized aluminum screens
- Metal panel Fascia that capped all Level 1 walls, providing the transition to thermally modified hemlock, and metal panel soffits
This mock-up was critical to confirming correct colors had been chosen. In fact, we ended up going a shade darker on the Fascia and the stone base type was changed before the mock-up was complete. There is something to be said for seeing it all together in person, at full scale, and on site!
Stay tuned for the next post in this series, expanding on another type of mock-up being coordinated around the same time – The Performance Mock-up.
Related Posts in this Series
The 2025 OpenLAB Boston studio work will be exhibited at Virginia Tech Monday, March 2nd through Wednesday, March 4th.
Please join us for the following events on Monday, March 2nd:
11:00am - Lecture with Parke MacDowell
1:00pm Lobby talk with Kevin Sullivan
This year’s studio identifies seven sites along the frayed edges of Boston’s Greenway. The Greenway is a one-mile-long linear park running through the heart of the city, reconnecting downtown Boston with its waterfront. Many of the parcels along its edges remain undeveloped and present mute, blank facades to the public realm. Addressing and repairing these edges through acts of infilling, layering, grafting, framing, and placemaking is the core focus of the studio—SUTURE.