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Photo: Lucy Li, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Likely the most striking building on MIT's campus, built in 2004 in a very modern architectural form. Contains a small branch of the MIT Museum (see below).
The Stata Center, officially the Ray and Maria Stata Center and sometimes referred to as Building 32, is a 430,000-square-foot (40,000 m2) academic complex plus 290,000-square foot (27,000 m2) underground garage designed by architect Frank Gehry for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The building opened for initial occupancy on March 16, 2004. It is located on the site of MIT's former Building 20, which had housed the historic MIT Radiation Laboratory, at 32 Vassar Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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A monumental dome with an oculus at its center, similar to the Pantheon in Rome. Located in MIT Building 10 (most MIT buildings are referred to by numbers rather than names, as befits the university's technical orientation).
The bridge connecting Cambridge to Boston across the Charles river. Located at the edge of MIT, not Harvard University. It's well known in the nerdy folklore of MIT: the distance across the bridge is marked in "smoots" (1 smoot = ) after Oliver Smoot, an MIT student who allowed himself to be laid end-to-end to measure the distance across the bridge, as part of a fraternity prank.
One Kendall Square
This great theater has all the newest Hollywood blockbusters, plus all the arty flicks you never knew you wanted to see. Big garage next door, so parking here isn't as big an issue.
The best way to do this is to rent a boat and paddle upstream to Allston from Kendall Square. Vice-versa is great too, the river has no current to fight against. It'll take less than 2 hours and is amazing.
Has a huge collection of holography, rotating exhibits, and showcases some of the best "hacks" performed by students. Hacks at MIT are practical physical jokes taking place around the institute. For example: installing a somewhat functioning police car (complete with instructions for how to remove it) atop the great dome. This museum is great for kids and many exhibits are hands-on, including moving sculptures and a shadow room.