MIT Building Trust Over Time

Building 9 : designed By skidmore, owings, and merrill (som)

Building trust over timeour work at the massachusetts institute of technology

introduCtionin the world of design for higher education, trust is the most basic ingredient of any productive and lasting relationship. When first speaking to the director of Facilities and other senior staff at mit, dPC was able to point to ongoing positive experience at Boston College and other public and private higher ed institutions in the region. we also thought our firm’s specialized expertise in occupied renovation projects could be of great benefit to the Institute. However, even the most persuasive arguments are no substitute for a history of direct client contact, and so a certain amount of faith was required for MIT to give us our first assignment.

ConCePt rendering oF mit sailing Pavilion

mit sailing PavilionIn the years since, we have justified the Institute’s initial faith with dependable performance on multiple projects. Our first project was a light touch study intended to spark interest in improvement and expansion of MIT’s sailing pavilion on the banks of the Charles River, including a museum of naval architecture and yacht design featuring noted alumni like Nathaniel Herreshoff. Many good ideas, both pragmatic and visionary, were generated, but unfortunately the project proved to be of low priority in a period of shrinking endowment and alumni giving. It remains on hold, hopefully to be resurrected in more affluent times. Meanwhile the Sailing Master continues to allow us use of his Tech Dinghies on fine spring afternoons.

MIT Sailing Pavilion

mit Building 9in may of 2008, dPC was given the opportunity to design renovations to approximately 5000 square feet in Building 9, one of the iconic structures comprising the Institute’s Massachusetts Avenue streetscape. the renovated space was slated to become a new center for the department of urban studies and Planning - school of architecture. Program requirements were straightforward – meeting and display space and a through connector to other departmental areas. our design response was equally straightforward – large panels of tempered glass in minimalist black framing provide dividing walls, many of which can be rolled back to create expanses of open floor space. Against this unobtrusive backdrop, the students and faculty and their work provide color, detail, movement and life to the space. the project was completed on time, well within budget and to the complete satisfaction and even delight of the users.

mit Building 9 - Corridor

mit Building 9 - Corridor

mit Building 9 - ConFerenCe roommit Building 9 - ConFerenCe room

MIT Building 9

mit Building e15since then, a steady stream of interesting projects has flowed from the Institute to our office. We are told by mit project managers and user representatives that they appreciate how well we listen and how our designs join their requirements with our vision to improve but not obscure the original concept; we enhance their ideas rather than advance our own. One significant ongoing assignment involves Building E15. This is the former Media Lab Building, known for spawning several pop culture phenomena including the lego lab and the guitar Hero video game. when e19, a new, larger facility, inherited most of E15’s users, 125,000 square feet of space became available for backfill by other departments.

Our first task was to assist the Institute’s Facilities department in planning the sequence of moves – in and out – that would effect the transition, and determine what provisions would be required for the new users. as a further complexity, a comprehensive program of fire alarm replacement and necessary code upgrades was to be dovetailed with the moves. With the Institute’s staff, DPC developed parameters for three sets of projects. The first set, known as the E15 fast-track projects, included four separate retrofits designed, permitted and constructed within an 18-week period. The second project series entailed the fire alarm replacement, carefully phased to allow continued safe occupancy of the facility. the third set of projects is scheduled for “summer slams” over the next 2 years. when complete, these will create a new, expanded and vastly improved home for the visual arts department.

in addition to several other e15 projects, dPC has also been active in Building 53. one recent project renovated existing space for the Physiology department. another, larger and more complex, involved moving the administrative suite and senior staff offices of the Anthropology Department to new space, designed and built specifically to their requirements.

mit Building e 15 : designed By i.m. Pei

MIT Building e15

mit Projects

sailing Pavilion Feasibility and design study to expand sailing

pavilion and create naval architecture and yacht

design museum

Building 9renovations for expansion of department of urban

studies and Planning

Building 53 Renovate office suite for Department of Physiology

Building 53Comprehensive renovations to create new

headquarters for anthropology department

(+/- 4500 sF area)

Building e15Building master Plan for moves and rearrangements

Building e15Phased architectural renovations included with

installation of new fire alarm system to support

multiple new user group tenants (+/- 75,000 sF total

area)

Building e15Renovation to so-called Cube to return office

space to its original use as performance space

Building e15list museum renovations to provide new support,

lobby and reception space

Building e15renovations to lab 473 to support research in

cognitive studies

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