Prof. Nathaniel Hendren and Prof. Justin Steil speak with New York Times reporter Jason DeParle about the difficulty in building affordable housing in opportunity-rich neighborhoods. “A lot has changed in American life over the past 50 years, but the hostility to affordable housing has remained surprisingly durable,” Steil explains. “Where you grow up matters a great deal for shaping your life outcomes,” Hendren adds.
Terreform One - a nonprofit art, architecture and urban design research group led by Mitchell Joachim PhD '06 - has designed a building made out of growing trees, reports Nate Berg for Fast Company. “We wanted to use the powers of computing and fabrication systems and other ideas about how we could prototype this to nudge nature or help train nature to do the things it does naturally, but shape it into usable structures and eventually homes,” says Joachim.
CNN reporter Jacopo Prisco spotlights Prof. Carlo Ratti and architect Italo Rota on their eco-friendly design of Italy’s pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020. “One thing I do not like about temporary events – like various international exhibitions or the Olympic Games – is that a huge amount of waste ends up in landfills after just a few weeks or months,” says Ratti. “This is why we wanted the Italian Pavilion to address the temporary nature of the Dubai Expo 2020. Most architectural elements are recycled or recyclable, refused or reusable.”
Prof. John Fernández, Director of the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, partnered with Handel Architects on the design of a new Boston high-rise that will be the largest office building with Passive House-certification, an exacting sustainability standard. “This is exactly the kind of building that cities need to consider facilitating, because cities now have very aggressive carbon emissions reduction goals,” Fernández explains to Adele Peters of Fast Company.
Penelope Green of The New York Times highlights the research of Prof. Neri Oxman in this article about air conditioning. “At MIT, Dr. Oxman’s team is experimenting with polymers and bacteria in the hopes they might ‘grow’ building facades, and ‘wearables’ — clothing, for example — complete with arteries to hold cooled liquids or gas,” writes Green.
Boston Globe reporter Bryan Marquard memorializes the life of alumna Natalie Adelman Taub, known for her pioneering work in Boston’s construction field. “Why should construction be exclusively a man’s field?” said Taub in 1954, after founding her own firm. “There are many fine women architects, designers, and decorators, so why not women contractors?”
Prof. Brandon Clifford, director and co-founder of Matter Design, has developed a new way to move heavy concrete slabs, using only human force, by exploring ancient building methods, reports Katharine Schwab for Fast Company. “The resulting project, called Walking Assembly, demonstrates the possibilities with a set of interlocking concrete puzzle pieces that the designers are able to assemble into a solid wall and staircase in about 15 minutes,” Schwab explains.
Fast Company reporter Mark Wilson spotlights Prof. Neri Oxman’s work developing 3-D printed sculptures filled with melanin, the pigment that colors our skin and hair. Wilson writes that Oxman’s work shows how melanin could potentially be used in buildings to protect inhabitants for the elements, generate energy or absorb unwanted environmental materials.
Scott Kirsner of The Boston Globe outlines the three factors that have created a strong foundation for local startups that are focused on buildings. He highlights MIT’s designX accelerator program as one factor that has helped “would-be student entrepreneurs explore ideas tied to the built environment, and to potentially launch for-profit companies or nonprofit organizations.”