Description

TAC was commissioned by the General Services Administration (GSA) in Washington, D.C. to design a federal office building for Boston’s new Government Center. The building was the first to be completed on the Government Center site. While the original design proposal had called for a single, eight-story high tower, TAC split the tower into two twenty-six story high rises and a four-story low-rise in order to prevent the structure from becoming too monolithic and to still fall within the parameters of GSA policy that all federal high-rise buildings be at least 19,000 square feet. The two towers housed the regional offices of the federal government whereas the low-rise contained the Veterans Administration. Construction began in November 1962, and the building was renamed in honor of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, a month after his assassination. Notable architectural features of the building include a facade of precast MO-SAI panels of white concrete with quartz aggregate as well as glass rounded corners made possible by a cantilevering of the skin beyond the column grid. In addition, artist Robert Motherwell was hired by Walter Gropius to execute a large mural for the entrance corridor.