The School of Architecture and Planning is made up of five main divisions—the Department of Architecture, the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, the Media Laboratory, the Center for Real Estate, and the Center for Advanced Visual Studies.
The unifying theme of all our activities is design. Through the design of physical spaces, and through the design of policies and technologies that shape how those spaces are used, we aim to sustain and enhance the quality of the human environment at all scales, from the personal to the global.
We believe that design and policy interventions should be grounded in a commitment to improving individual human lives, equity and social justice, cultural enrichment, and the responsible use of resources through creative problem solving and project execution.
The School of Architecture and Planning enrolls an average of 600 students a year in an array of courses ranging from Renaissance architecture to the cities of tomorrow, digital fabrication, motion graphics, shape grammars, photography, and construction finance. By far the largest number of those students enter our graduate programs and many of them also pursue cross-disciplinary studies and dual degrees among those programs and others at the Institute.
Throughout the years, we have been noted for the diversity of our student body, drawing on candidates from around the world and from all walks of life. The Department of Architecture graduated its first woman, Sophia Hayden, in 1890, and three years later, Robert Taylor became the first African-American to graduate from an American architecture program—a tradition of inclusiveness that continues today. In academic year 2006–2007, roughly 45% of our students were women, 18% were minorities, and 31% came from other countries.
An important aspect of the School's teaching and research activities is our ongoing participation in more than 100 collaborative undertakings—among our five divisions, with other divisions of MIT, and with public and private institutions in the US and abroad.
One of the most enduring of those collaborations is the Beijing Urban Design Studio, a joint program between the schools of architecture and planning at MIT and at Tsinghua University. Marking its 20 th anniversary last summer, the studio fosters international understanding of urban issues by undertaking joint city planning and design projects involving important, often controversial sites in Beijing.
UrbLab India was launched in spring 2007 with a workshop involving MIT students—in collaboration with the Center for Development Finance of the Institute for Finance Management and Research—focused on the textile town Eroda in the state of Tamil Nadu.
In spring 2008, to enhance collaboration between the School's divisions and with other divisions at MIT, ground will be broken for a major new facility designed by Fumihiko Maki, winner of the Pritzker Prize in 1993. Adjacent to and part of the School's legendary Media Lab, designed by alumnus I.M. Pei (1940 BArch), the facility will also house a diverse array of teaching and research efforts now going on in other divisions of the School.
Our history stretches back nearly a century and a half, providing our current students with a legacy and long tradition of pioneering excellence. The Department of Architecture was the first such department in the nation (1865) and became a leader in introducing Modernism to America. The program in city planning was the second of its kind in the country (1932), later evolving into the current Department of Urban Studies and Planning, the longest continuous planning program in the United States.
The Media Lab, the birthplace of multimedia computing (1985), has come to be known around the world as a world-class incubator of new design ideas; the Center for Real Estate established the nation's first one-year graduate program in real estate development (1984); and the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (1967), now a thriving fellowship program, pioneered the use of technologies such as lasers, plasma sculptures, sky art, and holography as tools of expression in public and environmental art.
The Rotch Library is one of the nation's premier resources in architecture and planning; Rotch Visual Collections, an adjacent branch library, holds 350,000 visual images, including the Aga Khan Visual Archive.
The School's Wolk Gallery mounts several shows a year in its exhibition space, overseen by the curator of architecture and design at the MIT Museum. The PLAZmA Digital Gallery is an electronic showcase of work and events on display in the School's public areas, featuring faculty and student work.
The School's newsletter, PLAN, is published in print and online by the Dean's Office, Room 7-231. The five divisions of the School can be contacted directly about their array of publications.
Adèle Naudé Santos, AADipl, MArchUD, MArch, MCP
Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning
Dean
Diane Davis, BA, MA, PhD
Professor of Political Sociology
Associate Dean
Diane McLaughlin, MBA
Assistant Dean for Administration
Tia Tilson
Assistant Dean for Resource Development
Scott Campbell
Director of Communications
James Harrington, MS, MArch
Facilities Manager