School of Architecture : reimagining a home for Architecture at MIT

Abstract

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is home to the oldest architecture school in the United States, yet curiously, this department has sat in the shadow of the other programs at MIT for much of its history. Today, however, the Department of Architecture is one in transition, between presidents, deans, and department heads. At this point it seems crucial to reevaluate the direction of this program. This project is meant to address three problems regarding the identity of the Department of Architecture: a lack of identity as seen by our students, identity as seen by the Institute, and identity as seen by the world of architecture. The goal of this thesis is to redesign the spaces which comprise our home at MIT. Specifically, the project seeks to house entire school together on MIT's main campus. Expanding and transforming the current structure of Bosworth's neoclassical buildings, this new School of Architecture provides for itself, the Institute, and the world, a visible new home for a neglected portion of MIT.