CIRCA:MIT Media Lab

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The MIT Media Lab

The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology located in Cambridge Massachusetts. A part of the University's School of Architecture and Planning, the MIT Media Lab is an interdisciplinary research group dedicated to investigating the potential uses and effects of technology, multimedia, and design. Currently, there are over 170 researchers at the Media Lab, including 28 permanent faculty and principle investigators, working on over 350 projects. Over 70 sponsors fund the Lab's annual $35 million budget.

Opened in 1985 as the brain child of professor Nicholas Negroponte and former MIT president Jerome Wiesner, the lab occupied the specially designed Wiesner building on the University's main campus. Initially, the Media Lab had a 10 year mission exploring the uses and implications of the technologies of the emerging "digital revolution". Projects sponsored under this mandate include research into holography, electronic music, and cognition and learning. After its first decade, the lab shifted its focus to investigating digital technologies outside of the traditional "box" computer. Areas of research during this time included novel approaches to children's education, wireless communication, and new forms of artistic expression.

After it's 20th anniversary the MIT Media Lab has begun to its work on "human adaptability", with areas of research ranging from Alzheimer's treatments to new methods for Human Computer Interaction. In 2009, the Media Lab opened a six story connected expansion of the Wiesner building to form the MIT Media Lab Complex.

Facility

The Tangible Media Lab

The Media Lab is currently housed in a 163000 square feet (approximately 15100 square metres) six story complex, opened in 2009. The building houses laboratory, office, and meeting space as well as the List Visual Arts Centre, The School of Architecture and Planning's Programme in Art, Culture, and Technology, the Comparative Media Studies Programme, as well as the Okawa Centre for Future Children.

The building was built in an open atelier, adaptable style in order to address the demands of changing research demands. The use of open space and glass walls is meant to encourage collaboration between research groups and investigators. There are a total of seven research laboratories of sizes ranging from 5000-8500 square feet (approximately 460-790 square metres), eight conference rooms, an outer and inner atrium flanked by exhibition space, a cafe and two small coffee areas, and 3200 square feet (approximately 300 square metres) of administrative space. The top floor is dedicated to being used for events and features a 100 seat lecture theatre, a 3500 square foot (approximately 325 square metres) multipurpose space, a 2500 square foot (approximately 230 square metres) conference room featuring an outdoor terrace, a 3500 square foot reception/dining area, and an 1800 square foot (approximately 170 square metres) catering kitchen.

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