Baker House Dormitory, MIT

MIT Seniors Dormitory
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Baker House Dormitory, MIT

Site overview

Baker House is the first major building to synthesize European Modernism with the regional material vernacular of New England. It is also a pivotal building in architect Alvar Aalto's career and the most significant of his works in North America. The building is an undulating slab clad in the rough brick of the region’s Georgian vernacular. A series of spaces, axially turned back toward the campus, bisect the slab near its midpoint. The termination of this axis is a dining pavilion, clad in limestone with wood framed ribbon windows and Aalto's signature bank of circular skylights. On the north facade hangs a great stucco-clad stair whose rough, Constructivist aesthetic is a direct response to the industrial East Cambridge neighborhood in which the building was originally set.

Baker House Dormitory, MIT

Site overview

Baker House is the first major building to synthesize European Modernism with the regional material vernacular of New England. It is also a pivotal building in architect Alvar Aalto's career and the most significant of his works in North America. The building is an undulating slab clad in the rough brick of the region’s Georgian vernacular. A series of spaces, axially turned back toward the campus, bisect the slab near its midpoint. The termination of this axis is a dining pavilion, clad in limestone with wood framed ribbon windows and Aalto's signature bank of circular skylights. On the north facade hangs a great stucco-clad stair whose rough, Constructivist aesthetic is a direct response to the industrial East Cambridge neighborhood in which the building was originally set.
Commission

1946

Completion

1949

Commission / Completion details

Commission 1946(e), completion 1949(e).

Current Use

Student housing (dormitory).

Current Condition

Most of exterior is in very good condition. Windows were replaced with inauthentic units in 1970s. Interior is well worn, but still in reasonably good condition. The entire building is in process of being renovated and restored (completion 1999).

General Assessment

Baker House at MIT is the first major building to synthesize European Modernism with the regional material vernacular of New England. It is also a pivotal building in Aalto's career and the most significant of his works in North America. Commissioned by MIT to design the first building in what would become a major postwar program of student life facilities, Aalto responded with a unique parti. An undulating slab, clad in the rough brick of the region√.s Georgian vernacular (the first use of exposed brick by Aalto), is set along the Charles River. A series of spaces, axially inflected back toward the heart of the campus, bisect the slab near its mid-point. The termination of this axis is a two-story dining pavilion, clad in limestone with wood framed ribbon windows and Aalto's signature bank of circular skylights. On the north facade hangs a great stucco-clad stair whose rough, Constructivist aesthetic is a direct response to the industrial East Cambridge neighborhood in which the building was originally set. This structure is itself one of the finest examples of functionalist design in the US.