Mens et Manus
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT names nearly all its buildings by number, so the Great Dome is Building 10 and Frank Gehry's Stata Center is Building 32, standing on the site of the legendary Building 20 that housed the wartime Radiation Laboratory.
- 4Buildings
- 2Traditions
- 1955Oldest · Kresge Auditorium
- 2004Newest · Stata Center
Campus map and Look Around
Tap a numbered pin to see that building from the street with Apple Look Around.
Planning the visit
- Fly intoBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)
Logan is about 7 km from MIT across the Charles River. The MBTA links the airport to Kendall/MIT station on the Red Line.
- Getting aroundWalking / MBTA Red Line
The campus runs along the Charles River and is easy to walk end to end. Kendall/MIT station on the Red Line sits at its eastern edge.
- Colors and teams
At MIT you ask for directions by number: rooms are written like 'W16-100', building then room.
4 buildings to stamp
-
Photo: Lucy Li, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Stata Center
32 Vassar St, Cambridge, MA 02139
Frank Gehry's tumbling, tilting academic complex looks as if its towers are about to topple into each other. It opened in 2004 on the site of Building 20, which housed the historic wartime Radiation Laboratory.
- Built
- 2004
- Architect
- Frank Gehry
- Style
- Deconstructivist
- Today
- Academic and research complex
-
Photo: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Kresge Auditorium
48 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139
Eero Saarinen's thin-shell concrete dome is one-eighth of a sphere, proportionately thinner than an eggshell, resting on just three points with glass curtain walls filling the gaps. It was dedicated in 1955.
- Built
- 1955
- Architect
- Eero Saarinen
- Style
- Modernist
- Today
- Auditorium
-
Photo: NateBergin, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons MIT Chapel
Kresge Oval, Cambridge, MA 02139
From outside, a windowless brick cylinder in a shallow moat; inside, light rippling up from the water and a shimmering metal screen by Harry Bertoia falling from a skylight onto a plain marble altar. Saarinen designed it as a companion to Kresge Auditorium.
- Built
- 1955
- Architect
- Eero Saarinen
- Style
- Modernist
- Today
- Non-denominational chapel
-
Photo: Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Green Building
21 Ames St, Cambridge, MA 02139
I. M. Pei, an MIT graduate, designed this 18-story concrete tower for the earth sciences, one of the tallest buildings in Cambridge. It opened in 1964.
- Built
- 1964
- Architect
- I. M. Pei and Araldo Cossutta
- Style
- Brutalist
- Height
- 84 m (276 ft)
- Stories
- 18
- Today
- Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
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2 traditions to check off
Stamped! keeps these as a checklist, so you can tick each one off on the visit.
MIThenge
On a few days around mid-November and late January, the setting sun lines up with the Infinite Corridor and shines down its whole length. Crowds gather in the corridor to watch the light pour through.
Smoot markers on the Harvard Bridge
The Harvard Bridge sidewalk is painted with marks measuring its length in 'smoots', the height of 1958 pledge Oliver Smoot. Walk the bridge to find the 'Halfway to Hell' mark and the final '364.4 smoots plus or minus one ear'.
Know Massachusetts Institute of Technology well?
Students and alumni know the traditions best. Suggest one we're missing, a building worth a stamp, or a fix. Every suggestion is checked against a source before it goes into the app.
Stamp all 4 on your visit.
Tour Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 3D before you go, add it to a college road trip and earn a passport stamp at every building. Free on iPhone and iPad.
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