Architecture

Boston Globe reporter Laura Krantz writes about an event held at MIT to honor Robert Robinson Taylor, MIT’s first African-American graduate who was honored earlier this year with a new postage stamp. 

In an article for the Cambridge Chronicle, Sara Feijo writes about the new memorial MIT dedicated in honor of Officer Sean Collier. The memorial’s design was “inspired by the gesture of an open hand to reflect the notion of what it means to be ‘Collier Strong.’”

MIT has unveiled a new memorial to honor Officer Sean Collier, writes Jennifer Switzer for The Tech. “The permanent memorial is intended to be a place of remembrance and reflection, a place that evokes the strength of Collier Strong, a place that reflects the connectedness of our community,” said Executive Vice President Israel Ruiz.

Bernice Corpuz reports for CBS Radio on the construction of a new memorial to honor Officer Sean Collier that was designed to embody the spirit of “Collier Strong.” Prof. J. Meejin Yoon explains that the memorial is made up of “32 unique, solid granite blocks working together to support each other to create an impossibly flat five-way vault.”

WBUR reports on the dedication of a new permanent memorial at MIT created in honor of Officer Sean Collier. “Our goal was to show the best of MIT for Sean Collier. Hopefully he would look at it and say ‘Wow, that’s something really cool,’” explains Professor John Ochsendorf. 

On Wednesday, MIT dedicated a new “curving, star-shaped memorial” in honor of Officer Sean Collier, Steve Annear reports for The Boston Globe. The memorial’s architect, Prof. J. Meejin Yoon, explained that she designed the “memorial to not only look strong, but to have a position about that strength,” explains Yoon. 

WHDH reporter Byron Barnett reports from MIT on the dedication of a new permanent memorial commemorating the life and legacy of Officer Sean Collier. Barnett reports that the monument is “an MIT engineering marvel: Five granite arches leaning in on each other, held in place by the laws of physics.” 

Joy Lim Nakrin of Fox 25 reports on the construction and dedication of the memorial built in honor of Officer Sean Collier. “When asked to design the memorial by the Collier Committee, I was both honored and very nervous and anxious. How could any physical structure truly commemorate this incredible life and service?” said Prof. J. Meejin Yoon, the memorial’s architect. 

During a ceremony on Wednesday, MIT unveiled a new memorial built in honor of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier, reports Jack Harper for WCVB. “The goal was really to take that notion of what is strength and how to celebrate Sean,” said Prof. J. Meejin Yoon, the memorial's architect. 

The Associated Press reports that MIT has dedicated a new memorial in honor of Officer Sean Collier. The memorial, “features five granite walls arranged in a radial pattern resembling the spread fingers of an open hand, connected by a vault in the center where ‘In the line of duty, Sean Collier April 18, 2013’ is etched.” 

Professor Carlo Ratti writes for the Financial Times about how data analysis can help architects design better buildings for the future. “If implemented correctly, analysis of occupancy and movement promises to revolutionise our built environment,” Ratti writes. 

Boston Magazine reporter Olivia Rassow writes about how Robert Robinson Taylor, MIT’s first black alumnus, is being inducted into the U.S. Postal Service’s Black Heritage Stamp series. The stamp honoring Taylor “depicts a black-and-white photograph of Taylor taken when he was 22 years old and a student at MIT.”

The U.S. Postal Service has issued a stamp in honor of Robert Robinson Taylor, MIT’s first black alumnus, writes Krissah Thompson of The Washington Post. Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Obama and Taylor’s great-granddaughter, said that whenever she faces a daunting task she thinks of Taylor, “the son of a slave, who traveled all the way from Wilmington, North Carolina, to attend MIT.”

S. I. Rosenbaum of Boston Magazine speaks with the new dean of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning, Hashim Sarkis, about his desire to create a new vocabulary to describe existing habitats. “It is time to come up with a richer lexicon,” says Sarkis.

In a piece for The Huffington Post, Heidi Legg interviews Prof. Hashim Sarkis, the newly appointed dean of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning, about his vision of the world as one city. “The city as an entity has become difficult to understand or explain because it's everywhere and nowhere,” explains Sarkis.