Smart, soil-free microgarden lets users optimize growing conditions while cutting water and resource use.

MIT Media Lab alumna Jennifer Broutin Farah SM ’13, CEO and co-founder of SproutsIO, has spent nearly a decade innovating in urban farming, designing small- and large-scale gardening systems that let anyone grow food, anywhere, at any time.

MIT Media Lab summer event explores responsible dissent, embodied in its new Disobedience Award.

Introducing a new feature from the School of Architecture and Planning: a brief, weekly list of media mentions of our alumni's contributions to making a better world. These items will feature posts, articles, and videos from MIT channels and outside media outlets covering the work of our alumni. Visit the SA+P News feed each Monday to see the previous week's selections.

DUSP alum transitions to alumni association president
New president of the MIT Alumni Association Hyun-A Park ’83, MCP ’85 has always been an exceptional volunteer for MIT alumni. From her time as class president to her service on the MIT corporation to her mentoring of MIT students, read about her life and career at Slice of MIT. 

Technique could lead to cameras that can handle light of any intensity, audio that doesn’t skip or pop.

Virtually any modern information-capture device — such as a camera, audio recorder, or telephone — has an analog-to-digital converter in it, a circuit that converts the fluctuating voltages of analog signals into strings of ones and zeroes.

Startup’s stress sensor tracks users’ unconscious responses to products and experiences.

Humans experience a range of emotions in response to products and experiences on a daily basis. Shoppers may get excited for certain brands and then overwhelmed by choices. Audience members may oscillate between apathy and engagement during performances. Children can become frustrated, bored, or entertained while learning a new subject.

A novel thesis in the form of a podcast gives voice to issues of security and identity in New York and Paris.

As an undergraduate at Princeton University, Jessica Myers MCP ’17 threw herself into writing a thesis on urban food markets in New Orleans. After many months of work, however, she was disappointed to see it filed away, virtually unread. For her graduate thesis in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), she was determined to resist that fate.

Density of highly educated residents, rather than income or ethnic composition, predicts revitalization.

Four years ago, researchers at MIT’s Media Lab developed a computer vision system that can analyze street-level photos taken in urban neighborhoods in order to gauge how safe the neighborhoods would appear to human observers.

Holobiont, the latest issue of the Journal of Design and Science, suggests that when we look at the connections — as opposed to what’s connected — a new structure of the world is revealed. For this issue, a small group of researchers, designers, and other practitioners were invited to contribute work that speaks to this idea of symbiotic exchange.

Daryl Carter aims to dispel myths about affordable housing
Daryl Carter MArch ’81 SM ’81, founder and CEO of Avanath Capital Management, talks to Forbes about common misconceptions about people who live in affordable housing. Read more about his company, career, and ideas at Forbes.

Involving local farmers in tackling a problem can provide long-lasting benefits.

As the old saying goes, teaching someone to fish is far more helpful than just giving them a fish. Now, research from WorldFish and MIT takes that adage a step further: Better yet, the study found, is working with the fishermen to help develop better fishing methods.

An interdisciplinary team of MIT graduate students, including SA+P's Alpha Arsano, Anran Li, and faculty advisor Caitlin Mueller, were recently honored at NASA's Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts-Academic Linkage Design Competition Forum. The challenge involved designing a commercially enabled habitable module for use in low Earth orbit that would be extensible for future use as a Mars transit vehicle. The team’s design won first place in the competition’s graduate division.

Texting-based surveys from Architecture alum Kenfield Griffith PhD ’12 capture purchasing and behavior data from people living in remote areas.

While on location in remote areas of Kenya, researching automation and home manufacturing for his doctoral dissertation, Kenfield Griffith PhD ’12 encountered a significant lack of data.

Hilary Ballon, PhD ’85 in History, Theory, and Criticism, and a dear friend to the School, passed away on June 16, 2017, at age 61. Ballon was a university professor and professor of architecture and urbanism at New York University, and deputy vice chancellor of NYU Abu Dhabi, which she played an instrumental role in founding.

New open-source website features blueprints for lab-on-a-chip devices.

Apple CEO urges graduating class to “work toward something greater than yourself.”

Tim Cook, the renowned CEO of Apple, spoke to MIT’s Class of 2017 on a beautiful sunny morning in the Institute’s Killian Court, urging the graduates to search for a direction and purpose that extends beyond their own lives.

MIT professor wants public health advocates to think big about future trends.

Electrodes placed on the scalp could help patients with brain diseases.

Delivering an electrical current to a part of the brain involved in movement control has proven successful in treating many Parkinson’s disease patients. This approach, known as deep brain stimulation, requires implanting electrodes in the brain — a complex procedure that carries some risk to the patient.

Nine new Director’s Fellows bring their diverse experiences to a global network empowered by technology created at the MIT Media Lab.

The Graham Foundation has announced over $560,000 in new grants to individuals around the world that engage original ideas in architecture. Five of this year's seventy-two funded projects were from members of the SA+P community including: Architecture's Rania Ghosn and El Hadi Jazairy; DUSP PhD candidate Suzanne Harris-Brandts; Caitlin Berrigan SMVisS ’09; Daniel Cardoso Llach SMArchS ’07, PhD ’12; and Nathan Friedman SMArchS ’15.

Sheets of gelatin transform into 3-D shapes when dunked in water; could save food shipping costs.

“Don’t play with your food” is a saying that MIT researchers are taking with a grain or two of salt. The team is finding ways to make the dining experience interactive and fun, with food that can transform its shape when water is added.

Ventilating flaps lined with live cells open and close in response to an athlete’s sweat.

A team of MIT researchers has designed a breathable workout suit with ventilating flaps that open and close in response to an athlete’s body heat and sweat. These flaps, which range from thumbnail- to finger-sized, are lined with live microbial cells that shrink and expand in response to changes in humidity. The cells act as tiny sensors and actuators, driving the flaps to open when an athlete works up a sweat, and pulling them closed when the body has cooled off.

DUSP PhD student Rebecca Hui and her Roots Studio team win top prize for the most promising arts-focused startup at the Institute.

Student teams develop technology-based tools to address racism and bias.

In July 2016, feeling frustrated about violence in the news and continued social and economic roadblocks to progress for minorities, members of the Black Alumni of MIT (BAMIT) were galvanized by a letter to the MIT community from President L. Rafael Reif. Responding to a recent series of tragic shootings, he asked “What are we to do?”

DUSP's Bish Sanyal is among 10 principal investigators from MIT to receive grants of up to $200,000 per year for two years, overhead free, for innovative research on food and water challenges.

Brandon Clifford, assistant professor in the Department of Architecture, has been awarded The Founders Rome Prize fellowship for 2017-2018 from the American Academy in Rome. Open to U.S. citizens, the Rome Prize is awarded each year to approximately 30 scholars, artists, writers, and composers.

Five teams from SA+P are among the winners of this year's IDEAS Global Challenge. Congratulations Nesterly, Kumej, BioBot Labs, JORO, and Pukuni Community House!

Ten MIT student teams developing innovations to improve the lives of people around the world split awards totaling $95,000 — including a top prize for an app that tackles the U.S. opioid epidemic — at the annual IDEAS Global Challenge showcase and awards ceremony.

Junior faculty members from Masdar Institute reflect on working with MIT professors, including DUSP's Alan Berger and Media Lab's César Hidalgo.

They came to MIT on different schedules, from different academic backgrounds, with different research and educational goals. But the four junior faculty members from a growing technology university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) all described their time at MIT in much the same way: a transformational opportunity for themselves and, ultimately, for their students as well.

Technology developed at the MIT Media Lab could enable faster, cheaper, more adaptable building construction.

The list of materials that can be produced by 3-D printing has grown to include not just plastics but also metal, glass, and even food. Now, MIT researchers are expanding the list further, with the design of a system that can 3-D print the basic structure of an entire building.

When some 45 MIT alumni and friends met April 2 for a private tour of the newly renovated East Wing of the National Gallery in Washington, they were doing more than celebrating the 100th birthday of I.M. Pei. ’40. True, Pei remains one of the world’s most influential architects and the building is one of his  masterpieces.

An entrepreneur who co-founded Wise Systems, Layla Shaikley SMArchS ’13 may be better known for her viral video created to combat media stereotypes of Muslim women.

New supplement for Domus curated by DUSP Professor Carlo Ratti explores architectural innovation today. Read the issue, featuring interviews and work from faculty and researchers from across our School. 

MIT’s Kristel Smentek studies art, collectors, and commerce in new ways.

Who doesn’t like a good story about art, international espionage, and global commerce? Consider this one. In 1765, the French government of Louis XV dispatched two emissaries to China with six large tapestries intended for the Qianlong emperor. In theory, this was a gesture of Enlightenment universalism by France’s minister of state, Henri-Leonard Bertin.

New technique greatly reduces the number of exposures necessary for “lensless imaging.”

Compressed sensing is an exciting new computational technique for extracting large amounts of information from a signal. In one high-profile demonstration, for instance, researchers at Rice University built a camera that could produce 2-D images using only a single light sensor rather than the millions of light sensors found in a commodity camera.

MIT Media Lab event, Beyond the Cradle, launches a new initiative to explore the final frontier

MIT Media Lab supports new ways of harnessing responsible, ethical Disobedience aimed at challenging our norms, rules, or laws to benefit society with a $250K prize. Learn more and explore a brief history of disobedient role models through the ages. Nominate a person or group engaged in extraordinary acts of disobedience for public good.

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new platform for sharing faculty, student, and alumni perspectives on innovative design research, teaching, and practice. On Medium we will post illustrated stories that encompass news, first-person narratives, publication extracts, and reviews of exhibitions, books, and projects—from all parts of our diverse School. More at Medium.

Architecture lecturer Jessica Rosenkrantz writes programs mimicking processes in nature to "grow" objects that can be digitally fabricated.

School of Architecture and Planning lecturer Jessica Rosenkrantz’s career in design began somewhat as an accident and was sparked by a random comment by a graduate classmate at the Harvard University School of Design.

Study of post-harvest storage technology use in Uganda assesses potential for farmer adoption, identifies supply chain challenges and solutions.

According to the World Food Program (WFP), nearly one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted, and over half of that food waste happens during production, post-harvest handling, and storage.

For his MIT residency, the Grammy-winning artist collaborates with over 150 student musicians to stage the monumental concert, "Imagination Off the Charts."

A number of SA+P professors and researchers are offering short courses and digital programs through MIT Professional Education.

Learn more about SA+P faculty-led courses which include:

Advances in Imaging
Ramesh Raskar, Camera Culture, MIT Media Lab

On January 31st, 2017, the MIT Club of New York and the MIT Architecture Affinity Group (MITArchA) hosted a Course IV Alumni Social event in New York City. The event was held at WeWork Charging Bull, located in New York’s Financial District, and was hosted by Melissa Marsh, M.Arch ’04, MITArchA’s Vice President of Membership.

Urban Planning Alums Establish Fund for Doctoral Student Research

A new fund will provide vital financial support to doctoral candidates in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP). Established by and named in honor of two of the department's alumni, the “Lynne Sagalyn and Gary Hack DUSP Fund” will provide grants up to $20,000 per student to enable research leading to doctoral dissertations; funds may be used for travel, data acquisition, student stipends, and other research expenses.

Startup brings solar-powered, phone-charging park benches and digital signs to cities worldwide.

Equipped with high-tech versions of common city fixtures — namely, smart benches and digital information signs — and fueled by a “deploy or die” attitude, MIT Media Lab spinout Changing Environments is hoping to accelerate the development of “smart” cities that use technology to solve urban challenges.

Announcing the first Building 7 Block Party and Gallery Walk!

Start the spring semester with an evening of art, conversation, and community in the first-ever Building 7 Block Party and Gallery Walk on Thursday, Feb. 16, from 5 – 7 PM.

MIT researchers are helping architects optimize both design and energy efficiency.

Designing energy-efficient buildings can be challenging: Incorporating features that decrease the energy needed to run them often increases the energy-intensive materials required to build them, and vice versa. Now an MIT team has demonstrated a computer simulation that can help architects optimize their designs for both future operational energy and the initial energy required for making structural materials — at the same time.

Media Lab graduate student selected from over 7,300 entrants, awarded $50,000 scholarship in contest inspired by the film "Hidden Figures."

“The Food Lab” is the Twitter handle of J. Kenji López-Alt ’02 as well as the title of his new book. But there was a time when it hardly seemed likely that López-Alt would be closely associated with lab work.

As an MIT student, he swore off labs for good, switching his major from biology to architecture. “I spent my summers in high school and the summer after my freshman year working in labs. I got disillusioned with it,” he says. That’s how he ended up in the kitchen.

Introducing DesignX, MIT's newest entrepreneurship accelerator. DesignX is an entrepreneurial accelerator for student ventures that aims to transform the built environment, media, and design.

Among the students, faculty, staff, and alumni honored in "the most definitive gathering of today’s leading young change-makers and innovators," is Hasier Larrea SM ’15 (MAS), foudner of Ori. “[Ori] allows for a number of configurations, from bedroom to office to living room, and back again, all controlled from one control panel.”
Read the full article at MIT News.

A look back at 2016 from the MIT School of Architecture and Planning.

This video features a selection of our most prominent stories from the MIT home page. From innovative startups, to groundbreaking research, to pushing the frontiers of architecture and design, it's been another remarkable year of work from our faculty, students, and alumni.

The STL Lab celebrates the first 2 years of its mission to create a new generation of socially responsible entrepreneurs and academics in the fields of architecture, planning, and real estate.

The Global Grid, a service focused on delivering daily news on “localized and unique architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, urban planning,” has named Archnet one of the Top 20 Architecture Websites for 2016.

Fifth annual MIT Water Summit brings together interdisciplinary panelists to give multiple perspectives on major issues surrounding the water sector.

Turn on the faucet and it is likely that clean, drinkable water will come out; water that can be safely consumed. However, one in four cities around the world are water-stressed, and almost 97 percent of the Earth’s water is undrinkable. From the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, to droughts across the country, the significance of water utility and sustainability is more prevalent than ever before.

Veterans of civil rights movement urge students to join ongoing battle against injustice.

At a luncheon on Wednesday at MIT celebrating “Activism in the Era of MLK,” three iconic figures from the civil rights movement in the 1960s recalled their experiences during those turbulent and dangerous times as they worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders of the movement. They urged today’s students to continue to fight in a struggle that they say has really never ended.

Awards recognize exemplary student research and writing by master's degree candidates.

Elizabeth Reed Yarina MCP ’15, a teaching fellow with MIT-SUTD, and Lillian Jacobson MCP ’15 have been honored by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) for works they published during their graduate programs at MIT. Yarina was awarded the Edward McClure Award for best master's student paper, and Jacobson won the Donald A. Schön Award for Reflective Practice.

Grant continues support for the Global Architectural History Teaching Collaborative. 

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) a $1.5 million grant in continued support for the Global Architectural History Teaching Collaborative (GAHTC).

MIT professor explains how “productive neighborhoods” can remake cities.

Cities around the world are redeveloping industrial areas, downtown districts, and exurban office parks with a mix of retail, housing, and the anchors of the new digital economy: startup incubators and co-working spaces. But beyond these basic ingredients, what makes a 21st-century urban neighborhood both a productive and an enriching place to live and work?

Retrospective documents 15 years of Aga Khan Program

A retrospective of posters for the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT, designed by José Luis Argüello, is on display now in Rotch Library.

MIT and Uber team up to study the potential for shared rides and vehicles to reshape urban mobility.

The Senseable City Lab and the transportation company Uber are launching a research initiative to explore how car- and ride-sharing networks could reshape the future of urban mobility. This initiative will explore new mobility paradigms for the 21st century, building on both parties’ data and analytics strengths.

Hong Kong will be the next stop on MIT's Better World global tour.

“Morphing” wing could enable more efficient plane manufacturing and flight.

The Engine will provide funding, space, and expertise — powering a network of innovation networks.

Today MIT President L. Rafael Reif announced the creation of The Engine, a new kind of enterprise designed to support startup companies working on scientific and technological innovation with the potential for transformative societal impact.

President Reif made the announcement at an evening event at The Engine’s Central Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, headquarters attended by entrepreneurs, business leaders, investors, and members of the MIT community.

MIT team awarded U.S. Department of Energy grant to investigate cost reductions in solar energy systems.

MIT researchers have been awarded a grant of nearly $1.3 million through the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative to study the reasons for solar energy’s rapid and sustained cost decline and how to continue reducing costs in the future.

New library proposals meant to enhance “meaningful access to knowledge.”

An MIT task force is releasing a preliminary report featuring a set of proposals aimed at steering MIT’s library system toward becoming an “open global platform” enabling the “discovery, use, and stewardship of information and knowledge” for future generations.

Combining cellphone data with perceptions of public spaces could help guide urban planning.

For years, researchers at the MIT Media Lab have been developing a database of images captured at regular distances around several major cities. The images are scored according to different visual characteristics — how safe the depicted areas look, how affluent, how lively, and the like.

New DesignX accelerator speeds innovation at the School of Architecture and Planning

The School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) has launched a new entrepreneurship accelerator, DesignX, to cultivate and assist students and faculty developing products, systems, and companies that focus on design and the built environment.

PhD student Lily Bui works with communities around the world to gather data from the bottom up.

Lily Bui’s path to her PhD program in urban studies and planning at MIT has been a meandering one, yet along the way she has followed her passions while finding new ways to support communities at the grassroots level.  

Words from the editors

The editors of Experience: Culture, Cognition, and the Common Sense, Caroline Jones, David Mather and Rebecca Uchill, describe the unusual material features, artistic interventions and intellectual provocations that make this book object something more than a typical codex.  

“Electome” project charts the national conversation in unique detail.

MIT architecture jumps to No. 2 spot in annual survey.

The professional master's of architecture program at MIT has tied for second in the nation in the latest DesignIntelligence rankings, a jump from fifth position last year. MIT's architecture program has consistently appeared among the top 10 in this annual assessment of nationally accredited graduate programs.

Samuel Tak Lee Building filled with light and life after summer renovations.

Last year, the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) and the Center for Real Estate (CRE) gathered to give Building 9 a new name: the Samuel Tak Lee Building. This week, they came together again to celebrate the extensive summer renovations that have given the building a new look and rejuvenated spaces.

Megan Smith ’86, SM ’88 and other thought leaders offer advice to students on how women in STEM fields can develop skills for navigating life and work.

Not that many years ago, Megan Smith ’86, SM ’88 was poised to embark on a career in technology, a field long dominated by white men. Now, the MIT alumna is the United States’ Chief Technology Officer, and she’s determined to tamp down gender bias and step up diversity, especially in STEM.

MIT’s Samuel Tak Lee MIT Real Estate Entrepreneurship Lab uses gaming to advance its mission in China.

In China, city development through effective planning and real estate investment is serious business, but learning about it can be fun and games. Thanks to a new approach developed at MIT, a game based on socially responsible real estate practices was tested in China this summer.

MIT–Tsinghua collaboration grapples with urban issues in China.

This winter, China released its 13th “Five-Year Plan,” a socioeconomic blueprint for designing the country’s future. Alongside measures to improve per capita income, life expectancy, air and water quality, innovation, and other initiatives to build a healthier and more prosperous society, the plan also calls for “new-type urbanization.”

Funding supports the development of a “virtual museum” from an archive of experimental works.

The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded MIT’s Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT) of the School of Architecture and Planning an NEA Art Works grant to support the digitization and online presentation of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) Special Collection.

A number of SA+P professors and researchers are offering short courses and digital programs through MIT Professional Education.

Learn more about SA+P faculty-led courses which include:

Advances in Imaging
Ramesh Raskar, Camera Culture, Media Lab

Hot off the presses, the latest publication from SA+P Press showcases over ten years worth of MIT/DUSP studios, practica, and workshops.  In these 128-pages you can read about student work around the country and around the globe – from the neighborhoods of Boston to the streets of Beijing, from Maine to Manila, from the Salton Sea to Singapore.er of print copies as well if you need them.)

Future of Suburbia [Conference] is introduced by Eric Bender in Moving Beyond Suburban Legends. The conference is designed to appeal broadly to professionals involved in urban planning and development, and will explore how suburbs and their metropolitan areas may be made more sustainable and livable through better design and planning. The gathering will build on a two-year research effort by CAU, which has sought to go beyond traditional analyses of urban lands

Archinect's Paul Petrunia and Amelia Taylor-Hochberg sat down with Dean Hashim Sarkis to hear his perspective in comparing architecture education and practice.

"Our interview revolves around the same questions we ask in our Deans List series – how architecture education and practice are changing, how to address student needs, MIT’s particular take on how to cultivate exceptional architects, and the culture of the school in a global urban context."

The MIT Center for Real Estate (CRE), hosted a meeting of the Architectural and Engineering Council of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers (NAREIM), to help make connections between MIT researchers and developers in order to modernize construction practices.

“We have no choice but to challenge assumptions, understand potential future scenarios, and build better strategies," said Gunnar Branson, president and CEO of NAREIM.

P. Christopher Zegras SM ’01, MCP ’01, PhD ’05 has been named the lead principal investigator for the Future of Urban Mobility Interdisciplinary Research Group at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART).

The MIT Center for Real Estate announces the launch of the BuildZoom and Urban Economics Lab New Index: a new set of residential construction and remodeling indices. The Index shows that in contrast to the tepid recovery of new home construction, the remodeling of existing homes has surpassed its pre-­crisis level. 

 For the full story go to: http://mitcre.mit.edu/news/new-eye-on-housing-and-the-economy

MIT historian of technology discusses new work examining “digital citizenship.”

The May edition of the international architecture magazine The Plan is featuring ORG's Fire Station in Asse.

MIT was named the top university for architecture and the built environment by QS World University Rankings in 2015. Universities are scored in 36 different subject areas, on academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact. 

Read more on dezeen.com

Situated on MIT’s campus in honor of Officer Sean Collier who was shot and killed on April 18th 2013, the Collier Memorial marks the site of tragedy with a timeless structure—translating the phrase "Collier Strong" into a space of remembrance through a form that embodies the concept of strength through unity.  The memorial is composed of thirty-two solid blocks of granite that form a five-way stone vault. Each block supports the other to create a central, covered space for reflection.

The Market Street Prototyping Festival in San Francisco displays research that viewers decided should move from "prototype to reality." MIT's Urban RISK Lab was selected for its Emergency Preparedness Hub, on display on the corner of Market and Hayes Streets from April 9-11.

The work of Gyorgy Kepes, from 1937 through 1947, is on display at Tate Liverpool in northern England. Kepes was the first artist on staff at MIT when he began to teach visual communication in 1944. Kepes founded the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, now part of the Program in Art, Culture and Technology. 

"Collective-LOK – a collaboration between Jon Lott (PARA-Project), William O'Brien Jr. (WOJR) and Michael Kubo (over,under) – designed the winning submission, selected from over 120 entries by 1000 public voters and an official competition jury."