Baker House
Alvar Aalto · Cambridge, United States · 1949
Alvar Aalto shaped MIT’s Baker House as an undulating brick residence so that as many student rooms as possible could face the Charles River without directly looking into one another. The serpentine plan also creates varied internal corridors and communal spaces instead of a repetitive dormitory slab. Brick, timber and carefully designed furnishings soften the institutional scale. Completed in 1949, the building is a significant example of Aalto adapting modernism to student life, dense urban conditions and a highly specific waterfront site.