Harvard Square Theater / Mixed Use

10 Church Street Updated2 3 300x207 Harvard Square Theater / Mixed Use

10 Church Street3 300x207 Harvard Square Theater / Mixed Use

10 Church Street5 300x207 Harvard Square Theater / Mixed Use

10 Church Street Video 300x207 Harvard Square Theater / Mixed Use

Harvard Square Theater / Mixed Use

  • location:
    Cambridge, MA
  • Date:
    Construction 2019
  • client:
    Kirche LLC
  • collaborators:
    Architect: PROMONTORIO & Merge Architects, Design Partnership
    Code Consultant: Code Red Consultants
    Civil Engineer: Beals + Thomas
    Facade & Media Consultant: iart
    MEP Engineer: WSP
    Structural Engineer: McNamara Salvia
    Glaze Consultant: Studio Christine Jetten
  • project_team:
    Principals-In-Charge: Paulo Martins Barata, PROMONTORIO; Elizabeth Whittaker, Merge Architects
    Project Architects: Luis Teixeira, PROMONTORIO; Kyle Barker, Merge Architects
  • description:
    This project is a design collaboration between MERGE and PROMONTORIO out of Lisbon, Portugal. MERGE is thrilled to be working on this nostalgic property in Harvard Square to recreate a state-of-the-art movie theater for the district, while providing a new office and retail building for the square.

    The street level is designed to be dense with retail to activate the streetscape and this prominent corner of Church Street. A theater entry marquee addresses pedestrian traffic closest to Harvard Yard, while the second floor and above strategizes a deep site with a landscaped courtyard in the middle of the footprint, allowing light and air into the interior of the office floors above. This 'keyhole' courtyard brings sunlight to the sidewalk and street and breaks up an otherwise expansive facade, causing the building to appear much smaller and more in context with the scale of Harvard Square.

    The front facade will be clad in concave terra cotta bricks that will house concealed LEDs to enable a well curated, yet changing, series of moving images and revolving art.