This state-of-the-art, sustainable upgrade for a 90-year-old fraternity house meets or surpasses the standards of new housing evolving on the MIT campus. Key components of the project strengthen communal learning, improve and enhance the presence of the house on campus and Memorial Drive, and make the entire house handicap accessible. The required addition of an elevator presented an opportunity for a dramatic new tower, with glass-enclosed common study/social rooms at each landing that look back to the athletic fields and new campus buildings. Common areas within circulation paths on each of the upper floors are flexibly connected to an adjoining six-person “study suite,” encouraging collaboration and interaction. New connections and enriched multimedia technologies among common spaces on the first floor and a new dining terrace with views of the Charles River generate a cluster of flexible and active social spaces. Newly defined spaces at the exterior edges of the building provide fraternity brothers with visual and physical connections with both the flow of campus activity and the city, reinforcing their engagement with the broader community.

 

Realization

Original Structure

Project Data

STATUS: Phased, full completion 2015

SIZE: 12,760 sf renovation; 2,240 sf new

COST: $5.9 million, phased

Project Credits

OWNER: Phi Beta Epsilon Corporation

OWNER’S REP: Steven Carhart, Bob Steininger, Peter Cooper, Mike Skeldon

CONTRACTOR: Metric Construction

ARCHITECT: Epstein Joslin Architects

Principals-in-Charge: Alan Joslin (design), Ray Porfilio (project manager), Deborah Epstein (finishes), Technical Architect: Arthur Pinkham, Designers: Andy Golubitsky, Anthony Lawson, Diandra Maselli

STRUCTURE: Roome and Guarracino

HVAC: Air Water Energy Engineers, Inc.

ELECTRICAL: Johnson Engineering and Design, Inc.

LIGHTING DESIGN: Ripman Lighting Consultants

PLUMBING/FIRE PROTECTION: Forte Engineering

LANDSCAPE: Saporta Landscape Architecture

CIVIL: Nitsch Engineering

STEAM: Vanderweil Engineers

IMAGE COPYRIGHT: Neil Alexander

Honors and Awards

2016 ILLUMINATION ENGINEERING SOCIETY: Lighting Merit Award

2016 LIGHTING DESIGN + APPLICATION: Lighting Award