MIT - Main Group Planning Study

The Main Group is the centerpiece of MIT’s campus in Cambridge, MA.  It is comprised of eleven different connected buildings accounting for more than 1.1 million gross square feet and 780,000 net usable square feet.  The building was constructed in phases between 1913 and 1932.  The buildings contain eighteen different departments and organizations with the primary occupant being the Schools of Engineering and Science. 

Over the past century, the buildings have been continually renovated to accommodate the research and teaching needs of its users.  As most of the projects have been small by nature, there has never been a building-wide upgrade to the infrastructure.  The Freelon Group was commissioned to determine the technical capacity of the facility and develop a strategy for how the building might be renovated over time while being continuously occupied. The proposed plan calls for renovations and additions to buildings to allow the west and east quadrants to be renovated either concurrently or sequentially depending on the funding available.

The objective has been to develop a set of “rules to live by” for the next 100 years, sustaining not only the life of the building, but doing so in ways that both respect the academic achievements to date and prepare for the innovative thinking yet to come.  Given the limited infrastructure of the original building, it has been in a constant state of renovation and upgrade to accommodate the ever evolving needs of its highly technical users.  As we prepare for the future, we want to maximize the value of the asset by taking advantage of the lessons learned, defining the appropriate level of new infrastructure, and developing rational economic strategies for renovations moving forward.