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Architecture Group-MIT Alumni for Climate Action: From Vision to Action

Architecture Group-MIT Alumni for Climate Action: From Vision to Action

The Group’s First Meeting - Published Public Announcement *

We are pleased to invite you to our first online group meeting on February 23, 2026.

Photo. credit: The original Rogers Building, MIT's first home, designed by William Gibbons Preston, from the exhibition, Imagining New Technology: Building MIT in Cambridge. (Photo credit: Meral Ekincioglu, Ph.D.)

Announced in the MACA December 2025 Newsletter and led by Meral Ekincioglu, Ph.D. (1), the Group held its inaugural breakout session during the MACA 2026 Annual Meeting on January 18, 2026.

While the building sector is a leading source of global carbon emissions, MIT’s current and initial climate framework does not specifically address the discipline and professional practice of architecture. (2). However, MIT is the home of the oldest architectural course of study in the U.S. (3) and the MIT School of Architecture and Planning has a legacy of leadership in architectural and urban design, innovation, and societal impact in these fields. Considering these facts, today, it is time to harness that legacy to tackle climate action. The Architecture Group-MACA is here to fill the vital gap in MIT climate framework with its members, MACA, MIT community and its alumni.

Our Architecture Group’s aim is to serve as an active part of MIT’s wide problem-solving communities and an extension of its outward looking climate initiatives. By embracing alumni of MIT School of Architecture and Planning and the Institute at the global scale, we will develop our own discipline-specific roadmap for architecture and climate action while remaining aligned with MACA’s roadmap and core priorities. Our essential focal points are innovative architectural and urban design practices, their real-world solutions, actionable steps, new methods, tools, resources and measurable impacts to reduce and mitigate the risk of climate change for societies.

We are honored to align with MIT President Sally Kornbluth’s call to “marshal a bold, tenacious response to the run-away crisis of climate change,” to this global challenge (4) and MIT’s 17th President Rafael L. Reif words for “MIT Climate Change Action Plan”: "There is room and reason for each of us to be part of the solution." (5).

We look forward to collaborating with you at the intersection of architecture and climate change for a better world.

The February 23 Agenda: From Vision to Action

This online meeting marks the transition from vision to action. We will discuss and prioritize urgent climate problems in architecture, our actions, our discipline-specific roadmap, short and mid-term goals.

Event Details
Date: February 23, 2026
Time: 2 PM – 3 PM. EST.
Format: Online (Link provided upon registration)

Who Should Attend: MIT SA+P alumni, former research scholars, MACA members and affiliates, and MIT community interested in architecture, the built environment, and climate action.

How to contact the organizer:
Meral Ekincioglu, Ph.D.:
meralekinci2020@gmail.com

References:

1. MACA, December 2025 Newsletter, https://maca.earth/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/MACA-Newsletter-December-Issue.pdf, pp. 5-6, last accessed on February 12, 2026.
2. MIT Climate Project’s six topics, MIT Climate Project, Mission Descriptions, https://climateproject.mit.edu/six-missions/mission-descriptions, last accessed on February 12, 2026.
3. Turning Points: 150 Years of Architecture at MIT, Celebrating the oldest architectural course in the United States, https://betterworld.mit.edu/spectrum/issues/winter-2019/turning-points-150-years-of-architecture-at-mit/, last accessed on February 12, 2026.
4. MIT President Sally Kornbluth, 2023, Inaugural Address, May 1, https://president.mit.edu/writing-speeches/inaugural-address, last accessed on February 12, 2026.
5. L. Rafael Reif, 2021, MIT Climate Change Action Plan, Letters To The MIT Community, October 21, https://reif.mit.edu/speeches-writing/mit-climate-change-action-plan, last accessed on February 12, 2026.

See the published news: https://maca.alumcommunity.mit.edu/events/163086, last accessed on February 17, 2026.



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