141 Portland Street Lobby

Located in the heart of Cambridge’s Kendall Square technology quarter, 141 Portland Street is a 10-story multi-tenant office building. The 140,000-square-foot structure was last renovated in the mid-1980s to include a tower element and a large arched entryway. The ground floor comprises a double-height L-shaped lobby and a sky-lit bank branch. The lobby wraps around the bank and eventually terminates at a hidden elevator bay that serves the office tower.

The focal point of the reimagined lobby is the wood “wave” wall.

This feature begins as a curved surface at the entry that slowly morphs into a ceiling plane as visitors turn the corner toward the elevators. A series of linear lights streak along the length of the wall.

Bold graphics in bright red announcing “141 Portland” draw the visitor toward the rear of the L-shaped space, where they find a waiting bench and a video screen (with tenant directory) and a bank of newly refurbished elevators directly ahead.

Materials were chosen for durability and to create a sense of lightness that was lacking in the previous lobby. The new lobby is now a proper front door for tenants and visitors.

Existing structural columns penetrate the wave wall, then rise to the full height of the space, which is illuminated by disk-like circular pendants.