3Q: Karen Gleason on the iconic Metropolitan Storage Warehouse
MIT is advancing a proposal to create a new hub for undergraduate residential life that would include housing, dining, maker space, common and study space, and street-level public retail. The proposed development at 134 Massachusetts Ave. — which could house more than 400 students — would incorporate the unique historic nature of the Metropolitan Storage Warehouse and provide needed flexibility as the Institute continues to enhance its undergraduate and graduate student housing stock. Associate Provost Karen Gleason, the Alexander and I. Michael Kasser Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, is leading the effort and spoke with MIT News about the project. Q. How did MIT develop the idea of repurposing a building that is on the National Register of Historic Places into a center for living and collaborative learning? A. I remember first noticing the Metropolitan Storage Warehouse when I was an MIT freshman, back in 1978, and imagining what possibilities...