Wayfinding

Navigation of Cummings Center may appear a little intimidating at first, but in reality, finding your way around campus and within each individual building is very straightforward. Cummings Center is set up on a giant grid. Like any grid, there is a Y-axis and an X-axis.

The Y-axis is a vertical line running south to north, from Elliott Street to Balch Street. The X-axis is a horizontal line running east to west, from the MBTA train tracks to McKay Street. The South/North-Axis is numbered by a two-digit number from 01 to 81 moving south to north and the East/West-Axis is identified by a letter from A to Z moving east to west. (See Below)

Every suite at Cummings Center is numbered in accordance to where that suite sits on the grid. For example, take the following address:

100 Cummings Center, Suite 407-L

A Cummings Center address provides four essential pieces of information:

1. The building the suite is located in, 100 Cummings Center;
2. The floor of the building on which the suite is located, 4th Floor;
3. The numerical location of the suite on the South/North-Axis, 07; and
4. The letter identifying the location of the suite on the East/West-Axis, L.

Hints for getting where you want to go

Step 1: Identify the correct building.

There are seven buildings on the Cummings Center campus that house businesses:

100 Cummings Center, 200 Cummings Center, 500 Cummings Center, 600 Cummings Center, 800 Cummings Center, 900 Cummings Center, and 950 Cummings Center

Step 2: Proceed to the correct floor.

Once a visitor reaches the correct building, the first number of the suite number, 407-L, represents the floor of the building on which that suite is located.

Step 3: Use the grid to locate the suite you are looking for.

The second number in the suite number, 407-L, represents where on the South/North-Axis the suite is located. The suites closest to Elliott Street, which are the southernmost suites on campus, are numbered 01. As suite locations move farther north from Elliott Street toward Balch Street, this number will increase accordingly until it reaches 82, which is the number of the suites closest to Balch Street, the northernmost suites on campus.

The letter in the suite number, 407-L, represents where on the East/West-Axis the suite is located. The suites closest to the MBTA train tracks, which are the easternmost suites, are lettered A. As the suite locations move farther west from the train tracks and toward McKay Street, the letters will sequentially change until they reach the end of the alphabet. Therefore, any suite labeled X, Y, or Z is located at the westernmost point of the campus, closest to McKay Street and the ponds.

* Caveat: Building 500 falls outside the grid and, as a result, has its own numbering system. Each suite in the 500 building has a four digit suite number. The first digit of the suite number represents the floor of the building on which the suite is located and the following three digits represent where on that floor the suite is located.