MIT Alumni Association Office
In collaboration with RDK Engineers, Menders, Torrey & Spencer planned, designed and executed building conversion efforts and renovations for MIT’s newly acquired, 80,000+ SF, seven-story 600 Memorial Drive building. Adopting a fast-track scheduling process, the project team worked in close collaboration with MIT’s Resource Development and Alumni Association groups and the Department of Facilities to achieve a successful result in a compressed timeframe. Efforts focused on re-engineering business models and executing building improvements to bring MIT’s principal fund-raising groups and associations from scattered locations throughout the campus to a single address in this former industrial structure.
The work was accomplished in phases and initial occupancy of the partially-completed improvements was achieved within 8 months of project start up. Total occupancy of the building was reached with the opening of the alumni welcome center at the building’s entry floor. Natural lighting strategies exploiting south facing elevations, river vistas, and rooftop balconies, and a commitment to collaborative working spaces inform the building’s transformation from a corporate headquarters to a fund-raising and alumni center for the entire campus.