MIT i2 by Suk Lee

MIT i2
MIT i2
Image © Suk Lee

This thesis propose a flexible public space for both the MIT community and the city of Boston in response to the unknown future of the university campus, questioned by the rapid growth of online learning.

MIT i2
Image © Suk Lee

Despite the various opinions on the future campus, the value of physical social interaction remains the primary method of incubating ideas. MIT i2 is an architectural solution to this issue, and is situated on the Charles River along the Harvard Bridge, the point of greatest pedestrian activity compared to the other parts of the waterfront.

MIT i2
Image © Suk Lee

This project ultimately changes the Charles River from a barrier to a new urban destination where various social and intellectual activities can occur. Two radical interventions address completely different relationships with the water: spaces above and below the water.

MIT i2
Image © Suk Lee

Form, structure, and material are designed in consideration of both physical and aesthetic meaning of “Floating” for typologies above the water. The platform, which makes a contact on the large surface area of the river, provides stability for both pavilion and island interventions.

MIT i2
Model

The typical dock structure with de-icers allows two feet vertical movement for the tidal difference and maintain the water fluid during the extreme winter weather of Massachusetts.

MIT i2
Model

In contrast to structures above the water, sunken platform interventions are completely grounded on the basin of the river, creating the inhabitable platforms under the water level.

MIT i2
Model

Unlike the wide form of floating planes, these interventions are relatively narrow and the actual width of the structures are constrained by the existing foundation of the Harvard Bridge.

MIT i2
Model

These typologies create different spatial experiences for different programs, but remain flexible for the unknown. Source by Suk Lee.

MIT i2
Model
MIT i2
Plan and Section
MIT i2
Plan and Section
MIT i2
Detail Section
MIT i2
Site Analysis

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