Responding to the need for additional graduate student housing, MIT embarked on a project in Kendall Square that addresses this need and creates a vibrant new innovation center as well as a new home for Admissions.

The Site 4 project completely renovated two existing buildings on Main Street (E38 and E39, now grouped together as E38) to accommodate ground-floor retail space and the Admissions offices on the second floor. The new Welcome Center, a gift of Tina Moghadam and Hamid Moghadam ’77, SM ’78, features a 200-seat auditorium, moveable walls, and art installations including an illustrated "Welcome Wall" and a rotating story wall. Above the Center, existing space in E38 has been transformed into a new Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hub providing open, multi-use spaces for student makers and entrepreneurs, researchers, and staff, and a new home for the MIT Innovation Initiative.

Within E38, the renovations also created program space for three sustainability groups: the Office of Sustainability (MITOS), the Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI), and the Abdul Latif Jameel Water & Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS). Additionally, E38 provides a new home for the Open Space Programming group.

Rising above the eastern side of E38, the newly constructed residential tower (Building E37) provides 454 housing units (2-bedroom, 1-bedroom, and efficiencies) for MIT graduate students. The residential tower is anchored by a three-level podium housing a childcare facility and common space for the residents.

In a variety of ways, Site 4 is designed to serve as a bridge between the MIT campus and the City of Cambridge. The entire ground floor of the Forum features floor-to-ceiling windows that offer a view of the activity within. When not engaged for Admissions activities, the auditorium will be available to other MIT groups and to the broader Cambridge community. Along its southern side, Site 4 borders an open space designed to encourage pedestrian traffic, offering trees, landscaping, and seating as well as space for special and seasonal events.

With its central location, Site 4 will help power the exchange of ideas by situating MIT problem solvers among industry innovators, and its active ground floor uses foster a dynamic and engaging environment that adds vitality to Kendall Square and MIT’s east campus.

Site 4 has access to underground parking developed as part of the Kendall Square project and provides long-term and short-term bicycle parking. It is targeting LEED v4 Gold certification.