Building Technology

The Building Technology (BT) Program at MIT is a group of students, faculty, and staff working on design concepts and technologies to create buildings that contribute to a more humane and sustainably-built environment. Our work ranges from fundamental discovery to full scale application. Students are challenged to address topics of clear and important relevance to the future of the built environment through creative and analytically rigorous approaches.

Students entering into the program are able to engage with active and ongoing research projects while pursuing their own intellectual and career agendas. Areas of study are highly interdisciplinary and address topics at diverse scales, from individual building components to broader urban energy and material flows. Each student works on research directly with a Building Technolgy faculty member. Research frequently involves collaborations with other departments in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The Building Technology department also engages with industry and public agencies to bring cutting-edge research into practice through pilot projects and policy. 

Areas of Research

Sustainable Design Strategies

• Low-energy and passive building energy strategies  
• Indoor environmental/air quality and views
• Embodied carbon
• Material reuse, circularity
• Human comfort analysis
• Human health and wellbeing
• Policy development for building technologies 

Advanced Materials and Construction Systems

• Innovative materials and assemblies
• Emerging and nontraditional building materials
• Integrated architectural design strategies
• Structural design and optimization
• Advanced manufacturing and digital fabrication for construction 

Computational Design, Simulation, and Analysis

• Performance driven computational design approaches
• AI and machine learning methods
• Building and urban energy modeling and simulation
• Multi-physics modeling and optimization
• Innovative analysis and modeling of historic structures 

Urban and Environmental Systems Analysis

• Urban environmental sensing, urban heat island effect, and urban metabolism
• Resource accounting through material flow analysis and life cycle assessment 

Click here to view our Google Scholar Page.

Click here to view our Theses/Dissertations by Advisor.

Based on area of interest, each of our students is matched with a Building Technology faculty advisor upon admission. The advisor provides guidance on the initial plan of study, including the selection of major and minor fields, and on each term's choice of subjects. The advisor supports the student's progress and assists the student in the selection of a dissertation committee.

Each admitted applicant begins research under the supervision of a faculty member while also starting coursework. Many graduate research projects will be a portion of a sponsored research initiative. Students may be co-advised by faculty from within and outside the Building Technology group.  Many BT faculty members have joint appointments in departments including Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Schwartzman College of Computing, and Architecture. 

Graduate programs in Building Technology offer students the opportunity to explore critical topics for the future of the built environment and resources through close collaboration with interdepartmental research teams. 

Applicants of diverse educational backgrounds and interests are considered. Students will be accommodated in the Building Technology student lab area and will have the opportunity to work with and share their interests with BT students in other degree programs. They may also be advised and participate in BT research groups while pursuing degrees in other departments, including Civil and Environmental Engineering, Urban Studies and Planning, the Schwartzman College of Computing, and more.  

Students in all degree programs attend the Building Technology Seminar in their first semester. The course gives a broad overview of research directions in Building Technology through readings, discussions, design and analysis projects, and student presentations. The course teaches fundamental research methodology and supports the development of students' individual research directions. 

See Graduate Programs for specific degree requirements.

Building Technology students are supported by a diverse combination of departmental funds, MIT fellowships, external fellowships, teaching assistantships, and through projects sponsored by industry and government. Student support may be split between departments and research projects. Externally sponsored projects give students exposure to important issues in industry and practice.  During the admissions process, the faculty admissions committee carefully reviews all relevant funding opportunities (e.g. from internal fellowship and faculty research grants) available for prospective students.  The Building Technology faculty aspire to fully fund all graduate students in the program, including tuition and stipend at levels set by MIT. 

For more information on funding opportunities, please see the resources below.

• MIT Architecture Grants, Awards, and Prizes
• MIT Tuition Stipend Rates
• OGE Fellowships
• Doctoral Research Opportunity in Building Technology and Advanced Urbanism (LCAU)

The majority of academic publications in the Building Technology program take the form of papers published in peer reviewed journals or conference proceedings. Articles are typically co-authored between faculty, students, and postdocs.  To see all publications produced by members of the Building Technology program see this Google scholar link.