MIT Museum to open new Kendall Square location in Spring 2022
New museum space is larger and more accessible
Stephanie Fu
Maximo Machado
The MIT Museum will move to a new location in Kendall Square. In preparation, its location at 265 Mass. Ave. in Central Square has permanently closed.
The new MIT Museum is expected to open in Spring 2022 in the “newly imagined MIT Kendall Gateway” at 314 Main Street (Site 5), according to the MIT Museum website.
The museum will occupy the first through third floors of Site 5, which is also home to a café and the new MIT Press Bookstore. The upper 14 floors of the building will be leased out.
The website writes that the museum is moving because it has “outgrown the space” at its Central Square location and had “the opportunity to move to a purpose designed” facility in a more accessible campus location.
The website also writes that the new location will have over 58,000 square feet available for galleries, classrooms, programs and performances. The larger space will allow for more guests, galleries, and educational and public programs. Additionally, the museum store will be larger and offer more merchandise.
In addition to the increased space, the museum website notes that the move will benefit the museum because it has “great access for visitors” and is a “buzzing, lively” location that may serve as a “meeting ground for MIT community members, Kendall entrepreneurs, and the wider community.”
The museum will also “anchor a new gateway to campus in Kendall Square” that will provide a “bold welcome and introduction” to MIT for visitors.
Preparation for the museum’s move began in 2016, when the City of Cambridge Planning Board approved permits for MIT’s construction and development of new buildings and spaces in Kendall Square.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the museum took place in 2018, and construction of the museum was completed April 2021. At the groundbreaking ceremony, MIT Museum Director John Durant announced that a Cambridge Resident Membership program would offer free museum admission for all Cambridge residents.