What is going on inside Boston University's strange-looking building?
BOSTON -- Near the banks of the Charles, on the campus of Boston University, there is a new addition to the skyline. The building on Commonwealth Avenue kind of looks like someone dropped it and tried to fix it before mom got home.
Like an inkblot test, some see those rotating blocks from a 90s video game. Others see ever-off-balance Jenga blocks. And at the right angle, on a clear day, it looks like it's floating.
"I've gotten remarks from across the spectrum from 'it's fantastic, beautiful addition to the Boston skyline' to 'when is that going to fall down,'" said Boston University President Dr. Robert Brown. "I like stack of books myself. Jenga towers have a way of falling over."
He said the design is meant to be a 300-foot conversation starter.
WBZ-TV got an exclusive tour of this $300 million project, which will become BU's center for computing and data sciences.
Say it's cool or say it's ugly, the university said it's the future -- it's the largest carbon-neutral building in Boston.
There is floor after floor of glass walls and open spaces for students to gather, talk, and learn.
Dennis Carlberg, the university's associate vice president for sustainability, likes the view up on the top floor. It's a view of pipes, compressors, and doodads.
"This is the future. This is absolutely the future," Carlberg said.
He's most excited about the building's use of 31 geothermal wells. Crews drilled 1,500 feet below the earth's surface, allowing pipes to send water up and down, using the earth's energy to heat and cool the building.
The building is fossil fuel-free and carbon-neutral.
"There will be no natural gas hook up to this building," Carlberg said.
The school said any electricity use will be offset by the energy they buy from a wind farm.
"Ten years ago, if you told me we would be doing this I'd say, 'sure, in my dreams.' Well, I am living my dream. It's amazing," said Carlberg.
Amazing and askew. This crooked building just might provide the building blocks of a new generation of Boston buildings.
