The iconic Great Dome of Building 10 on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus was closed off for more than 70 years from the Barker Engineering Library reading room, which is located directly below. In an effort to restore the reading room to its original condition, the team renovated the dome—preserving historic features and adding new structure.
The Great Dome originally contained a 27-ft-dia oculus with a glass block skylight. The oculus had been covered since World War II, when authorities thought it could be a beacon for potential bombing raids. The original oculus skylight was made of more than 1,000 patterned glass blocks set in a grid of narrow structural concrete ribs. When work began, the remaining glass block skylight was covered with plywood and EPDM roofing membrane.