The new Real Estate innovation Lab will push data analysis, 3D printing, and new construction technologies   A new program announced earlier this month at MIT seeks to bring cutting-edge, high-tech analysis to the world of real estate, bridging the disciplines of development, architecture, and planning to realize new ways to build better cities. Think of it as building tech focused on the bottom line.
?This is a safe space for new analysis,? says Dr. Andrea Chegut, a research scientist and Director of the new Real Estate Innovation Lab. ?Our goal will be to understand what is happening at the frontier of the built environment today, to produce statistical and empirical evidence of approaches that work, and to translate these innovations into widespread use.? Part of the architecture school, the lab will apply new data-driven rigor to buildings and technological innovation. In a smart city age, it?s become that much easier to apply rigorous analysis to our built environment, and by studying the economic impact of proposed innovations, MIT academics hope to speed up the transition from rendering to reality. Working with real estate industry partners, such as JLL, as well as the school?s own design-focused architecture accelerator, DesignX, this new initiative wants to get innovative, economically feasible projects under construction as soon as possible, and demonstrate the value of 3-D printing, modular construction, and new design innovations.
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