BSc in Architecture - Building Technology in Cambridge United States | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Building Technology encompasses instruction and practical uses of core technological principles, alongside research into pivotal areas shaping the future of the built environment. The program investigates how design and technology can be combined to develop structures that foster a more humane and ecologically sustainable world. This involves comprehensive architectural design approaches to enhance structural integrity, construction and fabrication methods, access to natural light and thermal comfort, resource management via material flow analysis and life-cycle evaluation, energy modeling for buildings and cities, control system design and engineering, and other design techniques informed by technology. Through lectures, labs, workshops, and independent research, students explore innovative materials and assemblies, emerging and alternative building materials, resource-efficient building systems, advanced analysis and modeling of historic buildings, energy-conserving structures, early-stage computational design and optimization, and diverse energy and material resource challenges at the urban level, including urban environmental monitoring and the urban heat island phenomenon. Some research within the Building Technology Program is conducted through specialized labs focused on digital structures, urban metabolism, developing regions, and sustainable design. Joint research initiatives also utilize facilities from other departments, such as Mechanical Engineering and Civil and Environmental Engineering.