Around the MIT Campus

Established in 1861, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university located on 166 acres in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. More than 100 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with it as alumni, faculty members, or researchers. In addition to significant contributions to many areas of technology and science, the Institute has a strong entrepreneurial culture that has led to the founding of many notable companies.

We spent a few hours exploring the campus on a very cold February afternoon. The cover photo is Fariborz Maseeh Hall, a dormitory.

The 2004 Stata Center, a 430,000-square-foot academic complex designed by architect Frank Gehry. It was near impossible to capture how crazy this building is, but a columnist for *The Boston Globe* said it “looks as if it’s about to collapse. Columns tilt at scary angles. Walls teeter, swerve, and collide in random curves and angles. Materials change wherever you look: brick, mirror-surface steel, brushed aluminum, brightly colored paint, corrugated metal. Everything looks improvised, as if thrown up at the last moment. “

Kresge Auditorium was designed by architect Eero Saarinen and completed in 1955. Compare and contrast with the nearby MIT Chapel (see below in this post), also designed by Saarinen. We were not able to view the inside (not that we didn’t try to get in!).

Doug standing on Harvard Bridge, next to a marking of the non-standard unit of length known as “the smoot.” This unit is equal to the height of Oliver Smoot (5 feet, 7 inches) at the time he was pledging to a fraternity in October 1958. He lay down repeatedly across the bridge to measure its length, which came in at 364.4 smoots.

*Aesop’s Fables, II*, 2005, Mark Di Suvero.

The Rogers Building (MIT Building 7), built in the Neoclassical style in 1937. Because of its prime location on Massachusetts Avenue, over the years it has been the site of many pranks (or “hacks”) that involve placing an object on top of the dome. You can peruse pictures of some of these here.

We got lucky with this stop. The doors were locked when we tried them, but a student inside heard us trying to open the door and let us in! We were delighted to see the inside.

The non-denominational chapel was designed by famed architect Eero Saarinen and completed in 1956. Its architecture is very unusual, a windowless brick cylinder 50 feet in diameter and 30 feet high. The exterior bricks were chosen for their roughness to create a textured effect. Sitting on top is a spire and bell tower designed by sculptor Theodore Roszak.

Inside the undulating walls provide good acoustics and create an enclosed feeling. A “full-height metal sculpture by Harry Bertoia glitters from the circular skylight down to a small, unadorned marble altar.”

The 768-pipe organ was custom-designed for the space by Walter Holtkamp of the Holtkamp Organ Company (Cleveland, Ohio). A skylight lets in natural light. It has seating for 114 people.

A look at the rough bricks, interesting brick patterns, and undulating walls.

Machine with 11 Scraps of Paper,
1999, Arthur Ganson.

Founded in 1971, the museum “hosts collections of holography, technology-related artworks, artificial intelligence, architecture, robotics, maritime history, and the history of MIT.”

Its overall purpose is to make MIT’s work more visible and access to the “outside world.”

We primarily went to see the Arthur Ganson display, which features his mechanical art.