Built Environment & Infrastructure

Projects

Using nature’s structures in wooden buildings

Tools for designing with forked tree branches

Accelerating 3D printing

Faster fabrication, renewable materials

Urban sustainability

Designing resource-efficient, appealing cities

Building façades that move, textiles that illuminate

A pathway to flexible, resilient architecture

Related News

MIT research team uses 3D scans to repurpose wood scraps

ConstructionDive · March 16, 2022

Caitlin Mueller (Architecture) and her team are examining how to use the unique properties of odd-shaped tree parts, such as knots and forks that are typically thrown away, as building components. They are finding ways to use these discarded sections of wood to replace steel or concrete building parts, which have a heavy environmental toll.

Using nature’s structures in wooden buildings

Tools for designing with forked tree branches

Infrastructure investment is here—how can we spend it wisely?

The Hill · December 5, 2021

Jinhua Zhao (MIT Mobility Initiative, Urban Studies and Planning) and others from MIT discuss the ways in which the recently passed U.S. infrastructure bill can be best utilized.

People

Moshe Ben-Akiva Professor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Alan Berger Professor

Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Richard de Neufville Professor

Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

Olivier de Weck Professor

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Nicholas Xuanlai Fang Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Mark Goulthorpe Associate Professor

Department of Architecture

Lelia Marie Hampton Graduate Student

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Charles Harvey Professor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

David Hsu Associate Professor

Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Ruben Juanes Professor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Randolph Kirchain Principal Research Scientist

Materials Research Laboratory

Kent Larson Principal Research Scientist

Media Lab

Caitlin Mueller Associate Professor

Department of Architecture

Leslie Norford Professor

Department of Architecture

Julia Ortony Assistant Professor

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Tomás Palacios Professor

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Christoph Reinhart Professor

Department of Architecture

Yang Shao-Horn Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Lawrence Susskind Professor

Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Qiqi Wang Associate Professor

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Brian Wardle Professor

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

James Wescoat Professor Emeritus

Department of Architecture

Brian Williams Professor

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics