ruminations about architecture and design

Thursday, September 2, 2010

never trust first impressions

Yesterday I visited the new Media Lab building at MIT and I'm glad that I withheld any public comments on it until I had a chance to reflect on it overnight.

It is a fine, but not exceptional building. I think that the atrium space is a bit overdone, but it has the effect of drawing natural light deep into circulation spaces at the center of the building. The egress stair at the front of the building could have been planned and designed better, but that's easy for me to say since I'm sitting in an armchair now and didn't have to sweat through the design and revision process.

The Media Lab is an expression of wealth. The wealth of a school that has been around for over a hundred years and has nurtured the talents and passions of people who have made some remarkable contributions to human progress. As a monument to those the school and its architects made a sincere effort at creating spaces that refer to the cheap, functional and undistinguished buildings where some of that original alchemy took place. The most important tribute to the spirit of creation and re-creation that propels an institution like MIT will be when the school radically alters and renovates the space in the near future.

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