Boston Globe reporter Tim Logan writes about how MIT has submitted design plans for the next phase of its proposal to transform the Volpe Transportation Center into a dynamic mixed-use development, including “eight office and residential towers on the 14-acre site north of Broadway.”
Boston Globe reporter Sean Smyth spotlights how the work of the late I.M. Pei, a renowned architect and MIT alumnus, can be found throughout the MIT campus and around the world. Smyth notes that Pei’s portfolio included the Green Building at MIT, the Landau Building at MIT, the West Wing addition to the MFA in Boston and the Louvre pyramid in Paris.
MIT alumnus I.M. Pei, “who was widely recognized as the most prominent American architect of his generation,” has died at age 102, reports Robert Campbell for The Boston Globe. Campbell notes that Pei “charted his own course, remaining a canonical modernist and ignoring the fads and revolutions in taste.”
I.M Pei, an MIT graduate and architect known for designing some of the world’s best-known buildings, has died at 102, reports Kathy McCormick and Deepti Hajela for the Associated Press. Pei’s buildings “added elegance to landscapes worldwide with their powerful geometric shapes and grand spaces.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Brenda Cronin spotlights the work of I.M. Pei, an MIT alumnus and renowned architect, who died on May 16. Pei was “an architect whose graceful grids of glass and metal redrew skylines around the world,” writes Cronin.
New York Times reporter Paul Goldberger memorializes the life and work of MIT alumnus I.M. Pei, “one of the most revered architects in the world.” Goldberger writes that Pei, “maintained that he wanted not just to solve problems but also to produce ‘an architecture of ideas.’”
WBUR’s Mali Sastri highlights Olafur Eliasson’s art installation, “Northwest Passage,” on display in the MIT.nano building thanks to MIT’s Percent for Art program, which provides funds for art at new buildings or renovation projects on campus. Sastri explains that the piece aims to engage “viewers in the embodied experience of climate change.”
Boston Magazine featured Simmons Hall, the Stata Center, the Great Dome and the MIT Chapel in its list of the “100 Best Buildings in Boston.” “Simmons Hall is a Cubist’s dream,” write the editors. “The huge geometric masterpiece comes to life at night with the steady blinking of some 5,500 windows, almost like a huge computer modem.”
Boston Globe reporter Tim Logan writes that Roche Bros. Supermarkets will open a Brothers Market in MIT’s One Broadway Building. Steve Marsh, managing director of MIT’s Real Estate Group, explained that a grocery store was, “so important to those who live and work in Kendall that we worked to incorporate it in the earliest possible phase of our development.”
In an article for USA Today, Nick Som highlights six must-see, mid-century college campus buildings, including the MIT Chapel. Som writes that the chapel is “stunning. The undulating walls of the chapel’s interior are devoid of windows, save for a single domed skylight on the ceiling.”
Times Higher Ed reporter Matthew Reisz writes about a new study by MIT research that provides evidence that physical proximity helps drive collaboration. Reisz explains that the “research also confirms the importance of designing academic buildings to encourage cross-disciplinary research.”
A study by MIT researchers shows that physical proximity can increase collaboration, reports Colleen Flaherty for Inside Higher Ed. The researchers examined thousands of papers and patents stemming from MIT research and found that “paper collaborators in the same workspace were three times more likely to work together than those located 400 meters apart.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, Tim Logan writes that MIT filed a mixed-use zoning petition for the 14-acre Volpe site in Kendall Square. Logan notes that the Volpe redevelopment is part of a broader push by MIT to make Kendall Square, “feel more like a fully-fledged neighborhood.”
Writing for The Wall Street Journal about businesses investing in green power, Brian Baskin highlights how MIT joined forces with two Boston-based organizations to buy power from a solar farm in North Carolina. “We saw it as an opportunity where we could set an example,” says Joe Higgins, MIT's director of infrastructure business operations.
Boston Globe reporter Tim Logan writes that MIT has unveiled preliminary plans for the Volpe Center site. Logan writes that the plans currently include “1,400 housing units — one-fifth set at affordable rents — 1.7 million square feet of office and lab space, street-level retail and three acres of greenspace on the campus.”