Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Design Architect: SANAA (Tokyo, Japan)

Architect of Record: Perry Dean Rogers Partners Architects

Location: Cambridge, MA

Total GSF: 35,000 GSF New Construction (with 64,650 GSF of below-grade parking)

Completed: 2024

Sited amidst a collection of iconic modernist structures at the crux of MIT’s West Campus, the Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building is simultaneously introverted and extroverted. The pavilion-like parti, triptych of entries, and vegetated roofs and plaza engage in dialogues with its surroundings through a shared vocabulary of platonic solids, vibrant brick and standing seam materials, and seasonal plantings.

The layered assemblies behind the opaque forms act in thoughtful service to the program and function within: MIT’s music curriculum. The building’s three component volumes, unified by a central lobby canopy, are each constructed to support distinct technical needs: a 390-seat vineyard-style concert hall and world music rehearsal room each occupy their own volumes; the third and tallest volume houses a music technology classroom, practice rooms, faculty studios, recording production studios, and maker space. 

The landscape design, constructed over a 2-level underground parking garage, expands upon MIT’s long-term vision for enhanced campus connectivity. The project connects the residence halls to the south with student life programs such as the athletic center and student center to the north. The ‘crossroads’ nature of the project is embraced by the omnidirectional access and transparency of the lobby.

The Linde Building beckons not only the academic population but the greater community of music practitioners and enthusiasts who are welcomed to experience the intersections of sound and technology within this unique space.

The building has received LEED Gold certification.