MIT 150: The Top 50

Number 17: That’s cool If your office temperature is always comfortable, you might thank Pietro Belluschi . The dean of MIT’s School of Architecture + Planning from 1951-65, he designed the Equitable Building (later named the Commonwealth Building), a sleek office space in Portland, Ore., that was completed in 1948. Wrapped in aluminum, it was the first large commercial building in the country to be fully air-conditioned. It also was the first to have double-glazed glass windows, which helped reduce glare from the sky and, therefore, controlled solar heat better.
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Number 17: That’s cool

If your office temperature is always comfortable, you might thank Pietro Belluschi. The dean of MIT’s School of Architecture + Planning from 1951-65, he designed the Equitable Building (later named the Commonwealth Building), a sleek office space in Portland, Ore., that was completed in 1948. Wrapped in aluminum, it was the first large commercial building in the country to be fully air-conditioned. It also was the first to have double-glazed glass windows, which helped reduce glare from the sky and, therefore, controlled solar heat better.