Graduate Junction

How can a narrow site at the western edge of campus establish a new confluence of public and private life and ease Cambridge’s housing shortage?

MIT engaged KieranTimberlake in 2019 to conduct a long-term west campus study to identify potential housing sites responsive to both campus and community needs. Graduate Junction is the first built project to emerge from this study and is a cornerstone effort of MIT and Cambridge’s joint commitment to increase availability and affordability of student housing. In 2017, MIT pledged to add 950 beds to ease the housing shortage felt across the city. Graduate Junction, with its studios and one-, two-, and four-bedroom apartments suited for graduate students living alone or with families, supplies 675 of them across 351 units. It is the final piece that carried the Institute past its target.

The two new buildings on Vassar Street rebuilt the streetscape and replaced a sprawling surface parking lot, introducing 16,000 square feet of shared public space for the surrounding residential community and humanizing the street with new tree plantings, energy-efficient lighting, and a sidewalk-level extended cycle track.

A central plaza forms a new public threshold to Fort Washington Park and its surrounding historic district to the north. The project’s sister structures frame the plaza, holding five and six stories within the district before stepping up to ten stories past its boundary. An inclusive and extensive community vetting process influenced the design of the plaza, which connects Vassar Street to Fort Washington Park for the first time in decades.

Inside, lounges, study spaces, a fitness center, and roof decks give students dedicated space to gather. The floor plan for each unit type was carefully adapted to fit the irregular, elongated shape of the site while accommodating a variety of living situations. The modular facade conceals these fluctuations and harmonizes with the masonry of other notable MIT residential buildings along the Charles River.

Sustainability measures earned LEED Platinum and directly address the risks named in Cambridge’s Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment. Both ground floors sit above the projected 2070 100-year flood level with no interior spaces below grade. Efficient water-source heat pumps drive heating and cooling throughout. Planted meadows manage stormwater and temper heat gain, and solar panels offset energy use.