Tag Archives: Lillie Paquette

MIT.nano building update

A few years ago I featured a story (my May 6, 2014 posting) about a new building, the MIT.nano, being constructed on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus. Now at about 1/2 way through the construction (the building is due to open in 2018) MIT has issued an update in an April 20, 2016 news release by Leda Zimmerman,

A spectacular show has been going on outside the windows of central-campus buildings all spring. An enormous steel structure has been growing — piece by piece, and bolt by bolt — out of a giant hole in the ground formerly occupied by Building 12. At a March 24 [2016] “tool talk” information session for the MIT community on the construction of MIT.nano, representatives from MIT Facilities and the contractors who are building the new 200,000 square foot nanoscale characterization and fabrication facility gave an overview not only of where things stand with the project, but how they got stood up.

“In our structural-steel erection progress log, we’ve been averaging around 23 tons per day,” said Peter Johnson of Turner Construction. “We’re putting up 2,101 tons total, and we’re 22 percent complete.”

There is a Canadian connection,

Working with Ontario-based steel fabricator, Canatal, Johnson and his colleagues at Turner developed a four-dimensional plan for steel engineering, delivery, and installation. “We went through a painstaking process to maximize efficiency of this sequence,” says Johnson. “This allows us to avoid times when a crane is down because it’s waiting” for a delivery of steel.

There are some very interesting details in the news release but if you don’t have the time, there is this picture,

MIT.nano steel structure, looking northwest. Photo: Lillie Paquette/School of Engineering

MIT.nano steel structure, looking northwest. Photo: Lillie Paquette/School of Engineering

The colours are quite striking (I suspect they have been enhanced).