Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Leers Weinzapfel transformed the 500-foot, red-brick Metropolitan Warehouse into a 195,000-square-foot facility for MIT’s architecture program, reorganizing the masonry shell with carved voids, suspended lightweight inserts, and generous north-facing daylight.
A 195,000-ft², five-story red-brick warehouse (oldest section 1894) was converted to house MIT’s architecture department, urban studies and planning, and the Morningside Academy for Design.
Design strategy relied on subtraction: cutting multistory voids, inserting lightweight, roof-hung structures to create column-free, double-height studios fronted by north-facing curtain walls.
A multilevel circulation spine, inspired by MIT’s Infinite Corridor, links studios, shops, classrooms, and galleries and keeps the building publicly accessible.
# Project overview
Warehouse—originally built in phases beginning in 1894 and notable for crenellated brick facades, a corner tower, and large painted signage—has been converted into the new home for MIT's architecture program. The adaptation, by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) with Leers Weinzapfel, reorganizes a 500-foot-long, five-story masonry block into a set of studios, classrooms, labs, shops, and public spaces totaling about 195,000 square feet.
# Design approach
# Spatial organization and circulation
A multilevel circulation spine threads the length of the warehouse and is explicitly modeled after MIT's Infinite Corridor. That spine links the new double-height studios, small rooms, faculty offices, and support spaces. Spatial clusters are arranged like neighborhoods along a street: studios and larger gathering areas sit as focal points with offices and classrooms fitted within the original column grid.
MIT's decision to keep the building open to the public reinforces the street-like quality. Visitors can move beyond an atrium or gallery, following the circulation spine past labs, shops, and studios all the way to the back of the building.
# Program and uses
# Material and structural logic
# Intent and context
# Visible craftsmanship and pedagogy
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