MIT Green Building Project

whighlander

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MIT is preparing a significant expansion to the iconic Green Building [I M Pei and possibly Araldo Cossutta design 1959 and constructed from 1960 until 1964]
green-building2.jpg

A Major Expansion for the Green Building
MIT Resource Development
Friday, August 23, 2019
$60 million upgrade will add 12,000 square feet for meetings, classrooms, and study spaces.

Read this story at MIT News.

Rising nearly 300 feet from the ground, the Cecil and Ida Green Building, aka Building 54, stands out as not only the tallest building on MIT’s campus but also (until recently) the tallest building in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Yet it’s not obvious from the outside what actually goes on within this imposing 55-year-old structure designed by the late I.M. Pei ’40.

People on campus tours often hear about the annual pumpkin drop, or about instances when students have commandeered the Green Building’s LED-equipped windows to play giant games of Tetris. But not everyone learns about the groundbreaking work carried out inside — such as the development of chaos theory, seismic tomography, numerical weather prediction, climate modeling, and far-reaching NASA missions.

This is the headquarters of MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), and plans are now underway to give Building 54 a major facelift, including a new LEED-certified addition that will offer a window into the important work taking place inside.

The $60 million upgrade will allow construction of an Earth and Environment Pavilion designed to be a vital center for environmental and climate research on MIT’s campus. With assistance from the Institute and generous private donors — including John H. Carlson; David desJardins ‘83 and Nancy Blachman; George Elbaum ’59, SM ’63, PhD ’67; Charlene Kabcenell ’79 and Derry Kabcenell ’75; Fred A. Middleton Jr. ’71; Neil Pappalardo ’64; and Kenneth Wang ’71, and Shell, among others — EAPS recently passed the midway point on its $30 million fundraising campaign for the new pavilion and other improvements to the Green Building, such as a renovated lecture hall (54-100) to be renamed the Shell Auditorium.

The project will yield about 12,000 square feet of additional space, providing new meeting places, classrooms, and study areas. The enlarged and revamped Green Building is expected to help EAPS attract and retain top faculty and students. But the more ambitious objective is to enhance the research undertaken within the department by co-locating EAPS and the MIT-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program with the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, affording greater opportunities for interaction and the cross-pollination of ideas.

This article originally appeared in MIT Spectrum.

For further information about the Earth and Environment Pavilion and potential giving and naming opportunities, please contact Angela Ellis at 617-253-5796 or aellis@mit.edu.

Story Image: An artist’s rendering depicts the Green Building (Building 54), home to the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, with the planned Earth and Environment Pavilion. (Credit: Ellenzweig)
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https://eapsweb.mit.edu/news/2019/major-expansion-green-building
 
would be nice if they spruce up the aging / dirty façade as well.
 
This is not the expansion. The expansion appears to be dead. This is what is being done presently.
As part of the Institute’s investment in infrastructure renewal, work is underway to renew Building 54. This work includes replacing the roof system, and restoring the façade and building systems

Work on the facades looks to be 6-8 months per side. Except for the east side, where the very short timeframe may be a typo on the slide.

http://web.mit.edu/facilities/construction/docs/Bldg 54 Townhall #4 02-2021 PDF.pdf
 

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