“I think it sends a very good message that this vanguard school of architecture, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is moving into a historic building and adapting it for the future."

Hashim Sarkis
Dean, School of Architecture and Planning

The Metropolitan Storage Warehouse (Met Warehouse) opened in August 2026 as the new home of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning after a makeover turned the century-old storage facility into a light-infused center for teaching, research, and public engagement.

A hulking brick building and local landmark over 500 feet long and five stories high, the Met Warehouse—designed by the architecture studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro—now stands as a new campus hub and a remarkable feat of architecture, engineering, and “adaptive reuse.” Beyond work studios, offices, and classrooms, there is an auditorium, galleries, and common spaces where MIT scholars and students can learn and design together, and the public can engage in lectures, exhibitions, and other programming.

Built in stages starting in 1894, the Met Warehouse became a five-story building with 2-foot-thick brick walls, about 220,000 interior square feet, and 1,500 storage units inside. Credits: Credit: Iwan Baan, courtesy of MIT, edited by MIT News

The Met Warehouse, a local landmark for over a century, is the new home for MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning. “It’s almost inconceivable that this brick box, which was not designed for human habitation but to store objects, has been opened up,” Professor John Ochsendorf says. Credit: Iwan Baan, courtesy of MIT

The architects designed large stairs for to access all floors of the building. “That central spine stair is sort of a ceremonial stair,” Elizabeth Diller says. “To see and be seen. I think it will be lively.” Credits: Credit: Iwan Baan, courtesy of MIT

Each building segment features double-height, column-free studios which, thanks to virtuoso engineering, are suspended from roof trusses that bring the weight back down to the existing structure. Credits: Credit: Iwan Baan, courtesy of MIT

The Met Warehouse’s original structural features are now visible as cross-sections in the building’s walls. “For a school of architecture and planning, this approach feels especially fitting,” Nicole Bernabei says. “The building itself has become a teaching tool.” Credits: Credit: Iwan Baan, courtesy of MIT

The Met Warehouse’s original brick structure is exposed to view in key places, highlighting the building’s historical fabric. Students, designers, and visitors can see both how the old Met Warehouse was built, and how the new version of it was created. Credit: Iwan Baan, courtesy of MIT

The Met Warehouse has long been a familiar presence to the MIT and Cambridge communities.

The building will be home to the MIT Morningside Academy for Design, which was established through a $100M gift from the Morningside Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the T.H. Chan family. This founding gift from family members Gerald and Beryl Chan and Ronnie and Barbara Chan included support for the Met Warehouse transformation. Along with the Morningside Foundation, another key project donor was Sidara (formerly the Dar Group), a global collaborative of specialist design, engineering, and consulting firms, owned by Maha and Talal Shair; they have supported the creation of the building’s Sidara Auditorium and Sidara Gallery space.