Delivery of the new $90-million Media Lab at MIT in Cambridge, Mass., was a long time coming, but in the end the client got just what it envisioned. The 163,000-sq-ft, six-story building was initially conceived in the late 1990s by Japanese firm Fumihiko Maki and Associates with its Boston-based partner Leers Weinzapfel Architects. Driven largely by donations, the project lost much of its funding and stalled when the dotcom boom went bust.
After nearly five years on-hold, the project found its financial footing again and the project broke ground in spring 2007. The building, which is wrapped in glass curtainwall is intended to both stand as its own modern design, while integrating with the existing home of the Media Lab—the Wiesner Building designed by I.M. Pei.