McDermott Court finally reopens with new landscaping
After years of construction, the renovated court is now open to the public
At 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15, McDermott Court — the open space in front of the Green Building (Building 54) — reopened to the public after more than five years of continuous construction. The superintendent of the renewal project packed up the last orange cones and yellow cordon surrounding the new plaza. Students then began to filter through the stone walkways around the “Green Dot,” the circular lawn at the center of the court.
McDermott Court closed in 2020 to serve as a staging ground for the construction of Building 55. It remained fenced off for several years as other projects began, including the installation of a new radome on the roof of Building 54 and the renovation of the East Campus dorms. Construction work on the new open space took place over the summer, finishing in August, just in time for the fall semester.
The Court was dedicated in 1966, following the construction of the neighboring modernist Buildings 18 and 54. It featured a circular lawn — the Dot — surrounded by pavement and, further toward the river, Alexander Calder’s steel sculpture La Grande Voile.
Now, waves of waist-high knolls enclose the Dot and the sculpture. Other additions include benches, a power bollard for events, and new lighting fixtures for evening activities.
A week after opening, McDermott Court began to look more Seussian than brutalist, unlike the surrounding buildings. Workers spray-painted colorful shapes onto the hilly terrain to mark off sections of soil. Sacrificial annual grasses put down roots to firm up the landscape. Pots of native plants sat on hilltops, waiting their turn for transplanting. “Please keep off” signs appeared on the lawn.
In an email statement to The Tech, Laura Tenny, a senior campus planner in the Office of Campus Planning, wrote that the grass would remain off-limits until next spring.
“Walking on it while it’s getting established can lead to ongoing compaction, muddy spots, and patchy or dying lawn,” Tenny wrote.
It will take time for the gardening to finish, too. The new terrain around the Dot provides extra soil for a native wildflower meadow to take root. According to Tenny, the native plants will need a few years of weeding, observation, and maintenance before they reach maturity.
The extra habitat around the green dot is part of a broader effort on campus to expand green spaces and improve sustainability. The Institute has planted more trees and recently renovated the Julie Fassett Garden, near Baker House.
Tenny says that, like these other projects, the additions to McDermott Court “improve drainage and will reduce the urban heat island effect.”
MIT also sought to tailor the new space to the needs of the community. In 2024, the project team canvassed more than 800 people about what they wanted from the updated court. The respondents’ highest priority for using the new space was to “be in nature.” They also wanted an event friendly space, more outdoor seating, and climate-conscious greenery. All of these requests made it into the final plans.
The Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), which is mostly housed in Building 54, will be especially impacted by the reopening of McDermott Court. Those with offices on the south side of Building 54 have been looking down at construction since 2020. When Building 55 was being built, EAPS students, faculty, and staff sometimes had to squeeze through narrow walkways between fencing and concrete to get to work.
Professor David McGee moved into the second floor of Building 55 when he became department head of EAPS last year. His new office directly overlooks McDermott Court. In an interview with The Tech, McGee expressed enthusiasm, both for the new building and the new green space.
“Building 54 is skinny and stratified,” McGee said, referring to the limited number of spacious areas for people to meet. “Having Building 55 here has been really great for the departmental community, and for our ability to bring together conversations around climate and space research.”
Now that McDermott Court has reopened, McGee says, there’s even more space for community events, like departmental barbecues and lunches. But the view is also important. As we spoke, sunlight reflecting off the Dot lit the office with a faint green glow.
“It’s easy to understand intellectually that it is very different to look out on gravel versus looking out on green and variety,” McGee added. “But it’s quite different to actually experience it.”