PHOTO: BOB O’CONNOR
The transparent and outward-looking design of the new Building 45 gives passersby a direct view into the first two floors and the central core. The shingled-glass façade creates a distinctive visual cue: along with insulating the building, the floor-to-ceiling glass encourages interaction and engagement between the community and the college.
Located on Vassar Street steps from Kendall Square, with open spaces for studying and socializing on the ground floor, the new college building is already becoming a destination for MIT students and visitors alike.
Meantime, the top floor, eight stories up, houses MIT’s newest signature event space, with stunning views across Cambridge and Boston.
Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, a firm that has created some of the most technically and environmentally advanced buildings in the world, the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing building offers state-of-the-art space for computing education while serving as a nexus for interdisciplinary teaching and research.
In keeping with MIT’s commitment to environmental sustainability, the building is tracking towards Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification.
The glass shingles forming the building’s south-facing side not only provide ample natural light, but also form a double-skin façade constructed from interlocking units that create a deep sealed cavity, which is expected to significantly reduce energy consumption. Other sustainability features include embodied carbon tracking, on-site stormwater management, and a green roof.
Situated next door to Building 46—home to the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research—and connected at the third floor, the Schwarzman College of Computing building encourages collaboration across and beyond MIT through an open design that sets the stage for spur-of-the-moment interactions. On four levels are research spaces created for a computing faculty and their research groups across a broad range of areas.
For a college that describes itself as “reshaping the computer age,” the new Building 45 serves as an energetic hub.
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