Work Completed at Utile, Inc.

Sitting near the center of the MIT campus on Massachusetts Ave., the Samuel Tak Lee Building (Building 9) at MIT is a 1960s SOM-designed building, housing the Department of Urban Studies and Center for Real Estate. The design team worked with department stakeholders to re-imagine the program layout within the building to accomodate departmental growth. Flexibility of use throughout the spaces was paramount, as was providing light penetration through the deep floorplates.

As part of the project, all exterior windows, which had degraded over the decades, were replaced, and all mechanical systems were upgraded to achieve greater efficiency. These systems were moved from the building’s sub-basement to the roof. Lastly, the team, in collaboration with Over Under, devised a new wayfinding scheme and branding for the building based on MIT’s historic logos.