Kresge Auditorium
Eero Saarinen · Cambridge, United States · 1955
Eero Saarinen’s Kresge Auditorium is defined by a thin concrete shell conceived as one-eighth of a sphere and supported at only three points. The roof creates a broad, column-free performance hall while its sweeping geometry establishes a strong civic presence within MIT’s campus. Glass curtain walls fill the triangular openings beneath the shell, emphasizing the contrast between heavy concrete and transparent enclosure. Completed in 1955, the building is a major American experiment in expressive structural modernism.