Themes

Renovation, renewal, and stewardship

Renewal and stewardship are critical elements of MIT's plans for the future. To ensure that its buildings are able to support the educational, research, and student life activities essential to our mission, the Institute will continue to pursue programs of renovation, renewal, and comprehensive care, guided by an assessment of our needs and priorities.

MIT conducts teaching, research, and campus activities that help solve the world's greatest problems—and our facilities must be up to the task. Each year, our capital project needs are substantial, and we have deferred certain maintenance tasks in older buildings, creating a backlog of tasks that now requires attention. To address this backlog and deepen our commitment to our existing physical assets, we have developed two new programs that focus on renewal and stewardship. These programs help us proactively manage and maintain the established infrastructure of MIT's campus—including its laboratories, offices, teaching and collaboration spaces, and housing.

By putting these programs in place, we expect to achieve the following outcomes:

  • Align campus renewal and stewardship plans with academic needs and priorities, with an emphasis on enabling the MIT mission;
  • Consistently and methodically identify and prioritize capital renewal projects that present opportunities to enhance academic benefits through improved infrastructure and other renovations;
  • Improve building conditions across campus through renovation and stewardship, enabling community members to better teach, learn, and conduct their research; and
  • Provide new tools, processes, and governance for evaluating requests relating to maintenance and renewal.

Many of the Institute's historic and iconic buildings are fundamental to its character and have architectural significance. Given the important role these buildings have played in the history and cultural development of MIT and the City of Cambridge, we are dedicated to renewing them. With these new programs, we will be more proactive about campus stewardship while accelerating our most critical campus renovation and renewal projects. Through the MIT 2030 framework, our goal is to renew many of our iconic properties in the coming years.

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Historic and Iconic Buildings