The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced today that it will break ground in spring 2007 on a new Media Lab designed by the Pritzker-Prize winning Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki. The media lab is well known for inventions that have ignited the digital revolution, including advances in the way architecture is practiced. The 163,000-square-foot six-storey structure will join a building designed by MIT alumni I.M. Pei. The expanded facility will feature an open, studio-style architecture designed to provide the flexibility required to respond to emerging research priorities. In addition to the Media Lab, the building will house a Visual Arts Center; the School of Architecture and Planning’s Design Lab and Center for Advanced Visual Studies; the Department of Architecture’s Visual Arts Program; and MIT’s Program in Comparative Media Studies.

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Sharon McHugh
WAN US Correspondent