Hashim Sarkis, the MIT dean who has led the School of Architecture and Planning for 12 years, will step down at the end of June 2027. The university has already started its search for a successor. His departure closes a period in which the school expanded its interdisciplinary research, launched new academic initiatives, and saw a major transformation of its home on campus.
The most visible milestone of that period is the recently completed conversion of MIT’s century-old Met Warehouse in Cambridge into a new hub for architecture, planning, and design. Diller Scofidio + Renfro designed the project, which turns an old industrial structure into a home for the school. The building gives the departments a shared base after years of growth under Sarkis.
Hashim Sarkis. Image credit: Bryce Vickmark, courtesy MIT SA+P
Sarkis also oversaw the launch and expansion of several research centers and programs during his tenure. These include the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism, the Morningside Academy for Design, and the MIT-LUMA Lab. Together they strengthened the connections between architecture, technology, urbanism, and the arts, which gave the school a broader reach across the university.
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Among his final initiatives is a commitment to full tuition support for students entering multiyear graduate programs beginning in fall 2027. When asked which of the changes he helped bring about has meant the most to him, Sarkis answered: “I do believe education is a right for every student.”
Sarkis is an architect, an academic, and the curator of the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale. He will reportedly take a sabbatical after leaving the deanship, and then return to MIT as a professor and head of the MIT-LUMA Lab, so he will remain tied to the institute he has led since 2015.
Olivia Bennett is a seasoned American news editor at Arch2O, born in the UK and a proud alumna of UCLA, where she studied Architecture and Media Studies. With a strong editorial background and a passion for design storytelling, she excels in translating complex architectural ideas into engaging narratives. Olivia focuses on contemporary trends, sustainability, and emerging talents in the field, offering readers a fresh, global perspective on the built environment.