Green Building (MIT)
Cecil and Ida Green Building | |
---|---|
Brutalist | |
Location | MIT Campus - East |
Address | 21 Ames Street |
Town or city | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
Country | US |
Current tenants | MIT Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Department (EAPS) |
Construction started | 1962 |
Opened | 1964 |
Height | |
Architectural | 277 feet (84 m)[1] |
Tip | 295 feet (90 m) |
Technical details | |
Structural system | Shear wall |
Material | Reinforced concrete |
Floor count | 18 |
Floor area | 130,502 square feet (12,124.0 m2) |
Lifts/elevators | 3 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | I. M. Pei (MIT BArch, 1940) Araldo Cossutta |
Website | |
https://calendar.mit.edu/building_54 | |
References | |
I. ^ "Green Building". Emporis. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. [2] |
The Cecil and Ida Green Building, also called the Green Building or Building 54, is an academic and research building at the
The Green Building was designed by I. M. Pei, who received a bachelor's degree in architecture from MIT in 1940,[3] and Araldo Cossutta.[4] Principal donor Cecil Howard Green received a bachelor's degree and master's degree from MIT and was a co-founder of Texas Instruments.
Architecture
The Green Building was constructed during 1962–1964 using
The first occupied space above the ground level entrance is the "LL" level, consisting of the large Room 54-100 lecture hall. The second floor formerly housed the Lindgren Library, part of MIT's library system, but this separate facility was consolidated into another library in 2009.
From its completion in 1964, the Green Building was the tallest building in
The building's height has some functional purpose. Its roof supports
In 2019, MIT began a $60 million plan to renovate the Green Building. The renovation introduces an additional 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) of space for
Occupancy
The Green Building is the main facility of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science (EAPS), also known as Course 12. The departmental headquarters is on the 9th floor of the building. The lower floors of the building contain the
Problems
When the Green Building was first opened, the isolated prominence of the building and its relative proximity to the Charles River basin led to high wind speeds in the archway at its base. Strong winds sometimes prevented people from entering or leaving the building through the hinged main doors, forcing occupants to use a basement tunnel connecting to other buildings.[12] Large wood panels were temporarily erected in the open concourse to block the wind, and revolving doors were later installed at the ground floor entries to somewhat ameliorate the problem.[12] Several windows cracked and at least one large windowpane popped out on an upper floor, in part due to the effects of wind, eventually requiring all the windows to be replaced.[12] A few years later, similar problems occurred in Boston's John Hancock Tower, a 60-story skyscraper designed by the same architectural firm.
After the wind problems became obvious, aerodynamic model tests were conducted in MIT's Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel.[13]: 17–20 In 2013, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study re-examined the complex airflow around and through the building. The studies confirmed the anecdotal stories of unusually strong winds at the base of the building, explaining the phenomenon as the result of a large stagnation pressure perturbation at the southern face of the building.[13]
A popular but incorrect myth states that Alexander Calder's sculpture La Grande Voile (The Big Sail) was installed in front of the building to deflect the strong winds. The 2013 CFD study demonstrated that the sculpture is located too far away to significantly alter wind flow at the base of the building.[14][13]: 34
Hacks
Because of its height and visibility from the Boston
In September 2011, hackers installed 153 (= 9 × 17) custom-made wirelessly controlled color-changing high-power
Instead of a one-shot temporary installation, the hackers have designed and built a permanent facility that can be re-used repeatedly by the MIT community. An understanding has been reached with the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), which is headquartered in the Green Building, to allow the light display hardware to remain installed in each window. To avoid annoying the occupants and to allow late-working staff to "opt out", each light display is equipped with a manual override button, which will disable the pixel lighting for that window for several hours after it is pressed. In addition, the hackers have released open-source software tools used to develop new display patterns, so that others can design and deploy new stationary or animated images, in cooperation with the hacker engineers.[21]
On the night after the
As of 2020, the light display was no longer functional.
As a prototype feasibility demonstration, the
Other hacks utilize the height of the building, such as a 1974 failed attempt to operate a giant
Events
Pumpkin Drop
At midnight on the last Saturday of October, First West (the smallest hall in the
Green Building Challenge
A traditional event in MIT's annual Bad Ideas weekend is the Green Building Challenge, a competition in which teams of students attempt to climb up the stairs of the Green Building as many times as possible in an evening. Winning teams tend to complete around 300 cumulative ascents of the 18-story building.[33][34]
Art
The Green Building faces McDermott Court (also known as The Dot).[35] This grassy area is flanked by the 33-ton metal sculpture La Grande Voile (The Big Sail), one of Alexander Calder's "stabile" artworks.[36][37]
In May 2011, a temporary artwork was installed in the arched "breezeway" at the base of the Green Building, to take advantage of its legendary wind gusts. Designed by Meejin Yoon, an Associate Professor of Architecture, Wind Screen was an array of wind-driven
On May 18, 2013, a night-time projection on the
See also
- List of tallest buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts
References
- ^ a b "Cecil and Ida Green Center for Earth Sciences - The Skyscraper Center". The Skyscraper Center. Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ^ "Green Building". Emporis. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019.
- ^ "Renowned architect I.M. Pei '40 dies at 102". MIT News. May 17, 2019.
- ISBN 9780262192118.
- ^ Bushra B. Makiya (October 5, 1999). "This Week in MIT History". The Tech. Vol. 119, no. 47. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
- ^ "Tallest buildings in Cambridge". Emporis. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
- ISBN 0-262-69294-5.
- ^ "Welcome to the MIT Campus Map". MIT Campus Map. MIT. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ^ Times, Boston Real Estate (August 19, 2019). "MIT Plans $60 Million Upgrade to Building 54 That Was Designed by Late I.M. Pei". Boston Real Estate Times.
- ^ a b Fernandes, Deirdre (November 24, 2019). "At MIT, a new name (Shell Auditorium) for an old standby (54-100) fuels outrage - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com.
- ^ Chen, Kristina (November 26, 2019). "EAPS community gathers at teach-in to discuss Shell donations to Green Building". The Tech.
- ^ a b c Interviewer: Susan Crowley (February 9, 2005). "William R. Dickson Oral History Project" (PDF) (Interview). MIT Institute Archives & Special Collection. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
{{cite interview}}
:|author=
has generic name (help) - ^ arXiv:1310.3538 [physics.ao-ph].
- ^ "List Curators Discuss Evolving Face of Public Art by Benjamin P. Gleitzman". The Tech. Vol. 126, no. 36. September 8, 2006. Retrieved May 29, 2014. Interview with curators Bill Arning and Patricia Fuller.
- ^ "Hacks on The Green Building (54)". MIT IHFTP Hack Gallery. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
- ^ "The Green Building Sound (VU) Meter". MIT IHTFP Hack Gallery. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-262-51584-9.
Greenspeak spoken here
- ^ "Red Sox Greenspeak". MIT IHTFP Hack Gallery. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
- ^ "Greenspeak". UVa Writing Program Instructor Site. University of Virginia. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
- ^ "Greenspeak". FRB Dallas [website]. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
- ^ a b Pourian, Jessica J. (May 1, 2012). "The 'holy grail' of hacks: The construction of one of the most anticipated hacks of all time". The Tech. Vol. 132, no. 22. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
- Boston Globe. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
- ^ "Tetris on the Green Building". MIT IHTFP Hack Gallery. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
- ^ a b MIT News Office (April 21, 2013). "MIT's Green Building pays tribute to the week's events". MIT News Office. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
- ^ Kennedy, Shred. "Famous MIT Green Building Displays American Flag Lights After Bombing". The Awesome Boston. The Awesome Boston. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
- ^ "Green Building". Tmrc.mit.edu. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
- ^ Moore, Barb (January 16, 1974). "Unusual Activities" (PDF). The Tech. Vol. 93, no. 56. p. 3. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ^ "Front page photo caption" (PDF). The Tech. Vol. 94, no. 5. February 22, 1974. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ^ Lydia K. '14 (October 31, 2011). "Pumpkin Drop". MIT Admissions. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Michael C. '16 (October 28, 2012). "MIT PUMPKIN DROP 2012!". MIT Admissions. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Hao, Ziwei (October 29, 2010). "How to get wicked this weekend". The Tech. Vol. 130, no. 49. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
- ^ Jared L. Wong; Mark Fayngersh; Miho Kitagawa (November 1, 2011). "Photo Gallery". The Tech. Vol. 131, no. 49. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
- ^ "Green Building Challenge". MIT Admissions. January 31, 2019.
- ^ "Bad Ideas - Events". bad-ideas.mit.edu. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
- ^ Matthew Palmer (April 28, 2000). "McDermott Building Plan Altered". The Tech. Vol. 170, no. 23. Retrieved January 19, 2009.
- ^ "La Grande Voile (The Big Sail)". MIT List Visual Arts Center: Collections. MIT Council for the Arts. Archived from the original on November 8, 2011. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ^ "'The Big Sail (La Grande Voile)' by Alexander Calder". Virtual Globetrotting. May 10, 2007. Retrieved January 19, 2011.
- ^ "Meejin Yoon: Wind Screen". Arts at MIT [website]. MIT Council for the Arts. Retrieved May 8, 2011.