The Broad Institute has begun planning for an extension on 75 Ames St., an open lot behind its central 7 Cambridge Center campus. In an e-mail addressed to members of the Broad community last Friday, Alan Fein, executive vice president and deputy director of the Broad Institute, said that three of Broad’s buildings — located at 320 Charles St., 301 Binney St., and 5 Cambridge Center — have leases which will expire in the next 3–4 years. According to the e-mail, the new building would serve to consolidate these existing buildings and would have more total space.

The e-mail invited members of the Broad community to three town hall meetings held March 7–8 with the architects of the new building to discuss “what works in [the] current space, in terms of architecture and design, and what can be improved upon.”

—Pearle Lipinski