MIT Alumni Welcome Center

Located in MIT’s historic Building 10, adjacent to Killian Court, and along MIT’s famous Infinite Corridor, the MIT Alumni Welcome Center takes an existing administrative space and transforms it through several careful operations. 

By opening up an existing wall between corridor and room and replacing solid wall with steel framed glazing, the entrance to the room now allows for borrowed light to pass into the formerly opaque corridor, helping to connect interior space to Killian Court and the Charles River just beyond. Within the room, new LED lighting is concealed in shelves and slots built off the existing beams, highlighting existing structural and spatial characteristics of the room, while concealing light sources. Existing wall-to-wall carpeting was removed to reveal original terrazzo and concrete beneath, which has been sanded and buffed to allow for the floors to be a continuation of the language of the corridor and historic architecture. In addition to these moves, the room features a new acoustic plaster ceiling, which offers acoustic damping with a minimal reduction in ceiling height. A long millwork enclosure on the south side of the space conceals new ductwork and mechanical systems.

Photos by Randy Crandon.