Despite early summer's near-constant rainfall, MIT's three major building projects -- the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, the Media Lab addition and the new MIT Sloan School of Management building -- progressed as planned and are scheduled to be completed on time.
The Media Lab addition will begin housing occupants in late October, while Sloan should be finished by next summer and the Koch Institute will open in late 2010, according to Richard Amster, director of the Department of Facilities, Campus Planning, Engineering and Construction.
Several other construction projects began over the summer, including work on the East Campus roadways, the Central Utility Plant Chiller Expansion, and repair of the stairs at the base of the great dome. Renovations took place on the Department of Materials Science and Engineering lab on the Infinite Corridor; the Barker and Dewey libraries; an architecture studio in Building 7, and a lab for continuous manufacturing in Building 66. The restoration of the building envelope of W1 (the old Ashdown House), which began in the spring, also advanced.
Ongoing renewal programs for roofs, fire alarm systems, building facades and elevators also continued, and additional lab and research space was created for new faculty hires and faculty relocations.
Some work was not just for functionality; in collaboration with the MIT List Visual Arts Center, public art conservation projects were completed for the Henry Moore sculpture in Killian Court, the Noland mural at the Media Lab and the Alexander Calder sculpture in McDermott Court.
And, in keeping with the greeningMIT initiative, the Facilities' teams continued to focus on energy investment projects with lighting and occupancy sensor upgrades in the Student Center, the Stata Center, and Building 66, Amster said.
