The Institute (location)

The Institute is a location in the Commonwealth in 2287. It is the secret headquarters of the organization known as the Institute, and is located deep beneath the C.I.T. ruins.

Concourse
The concourse is a large cylindrical-shaped subterranean structure with four floors. Hallways wrap the outskirts of the cylinder leaving the middle section open for a large atrium of trees and fountains, with a helix-shaped elevator going to the surface levels where the teleporter is located. The upper three stories of the cylinder are residential and meeting rooms. The majority of the activity takes place on the bottom floor.

Along the outer circumference of the lower floor are doors leading to the Institute's four main labs: Bioscience is the lab to the northeast, Robotics is to the southeast, Synth Retention is to the southwest and Advanced Systems is to the northwest. There are also supply rooms next to each of the labs in the lower section. Some of these are locked via terminals.

Towards the hub of the bottom floor are four recreational/common areas. To the north is the cafeteria, to the east is supplies/outfitting, to the south is a break/lounge area and to the west is medical.

At the end of the Synth Retention quest, the player character will receive their own personal quarters when they return from Libertalia. The Sole Survivor's personal quarters are found by going up the staircase past the entrance with the clock symbol. Once the third floor is reached, it is located down a small hallway on their left, across from Evan Watson's quarters.


 * There is a synth cafeteria worker that sells Institute bottled water and Institute food packet in the cafeteria.
 * The synth requisition officer can be found on the bottom floor in supplies/outfitting. He sells the unique plasma rifle Experiment 18-A, legendary synth armor pieces, and is open 24/7. This will no longer be available if the player character receives the quest Banished from the Institute.
 * There are a few unowned beds in the Clinic.

Bioscience
One of the larger labs, bioscience is filled with plants and even some synthetic gorillas. There is a series of connected labs that have been closed off and abandoned also. The quest Building a Better Crop can be found here from Isaac Karlin, and also Hypothesis can be started with Clayton Holdren.

FEV Lab
The FEV lab is the source of the majority of super mutants found in the Commonwealth. Many years of experimentation with the Forced Evolutionary Virus took place here on the people of the wasteland. It's also speculated that this was where mutant hounds were created.

To access the lab one must either hack a Master level terminal in the main Bioscience lab which provides direct access to the FEV lab. Or, pick a Novice locked door in the back hallways of the Bioscience division which requires dealing with an Assaultron guard, seven laser turrets and further hacking to open locked doors, with the option to disable some of the turrets.

Going through the storage room the Sole Survivor will enter what is a long room filled with observation cells. Past that there's a small room with a destroyed synth and another door access terminal, the destroyed synth indicates there was a conflict of some kind which left the lab in a state of disarray.

The player character will then find the main research room, with three large glass cylinders in the middle, two of which contain super mutant specimens. The third cylinder looks to have been smashed with a chair. The rest of the room is filled with lab equipment and machinery. One can find another terminal that is filled with test subject information and progress reports. The player character can also find the serum that Virgil asks to retrieve to cure his mutation and the holotape "Brian Virgil personal log 0176" which explains why he left the Institute. One can give this holotape to Madison Li to convince her to leave the Institute during the quest From Within.

Robotics
Robotics is the smallest of the four labs by accessible areas, consisting of a single large room containing the Institute's synth assembler. A constant stream of synths is being produced here, being assembled in a pool in the middle before climbing out and walking through into the inaccessible Processing section.

Synth Retention

 * Justin Ayo can be found here. He eventually gives the quest Political Leanings.
 * X6-88 can be found here if the Sole Survivor did not recruit him as a companion.

Advanced Systems
A small lab area with multiple work stations and a firing range used to test new weaponry. This is where Institute weapons are developed, tested, and innovated to arm the Institute's vast army of synth foot soldiers and coursers. This is also where they created the experimental synth relay grenades, which will automatically teleport in multiple synths to fight for the player character where thrown.


 * The advanced systems laboratory contains the entrance to the reactor room.
 * Madison Li can be found here.
 * Evan Watson, who begins the quest Appropriation, can be found here.
 * Shaun can be found here following the first meeting with Father.

Reactor
The reactor room is only accessible through the Advanced Systems division after completing the quest Mass Fusion for the Institute or in The Nuclear Option quest for the Brotherhood of Steel, Minutemen or Railroad. Upon entering, there is a long sloped hallway that leads to a larger room with the reactor in the middle, accessible by a catwalk. Depending on which faction the Sole Survivor chooses there will be a change in the events that take place here.

If the player character decides to destroy the Institute they will be greeted by three hostile laser turrets upon entering the sloped hallway. In the main reactor room, there are multiple synths, Institute scientists, and two more laser turrets. Three legendary synths, Z4K-97B, XPN-20A and A-2018 are present. The player character needs to plant the fusion pulse charge in the reactor to sabotage it, which leads to completely erasing the Institute off the face of the Earth with a massive nuclear explosion. Once the agitator is planted the player character is teleported out and can not return.
 * Enemied Institute:

If the player character decides to join the Institute they will be called to the reactor room to insert the beryllium agitator into the reactor, no turrets will be hostile and the room with be filled with scientists. By doing this the Institute will be propelled into the future with enough power to sustain them indefinitely.
 * Allied Institute:

Public works maintenance area
This area is accessed from an underwater pipe due south of Ticonderoga, which leads into a small flooded underground room. There is a terminal-locked security gate in the northeast corner, leading to a small area containing a steamer trunk with leveled loot.

Old robotics
An old and rundown section of the Institute that appears to have been sealed off for many years. The player character will only travel through this area when progressing through the quest The Nuclear Option. It's inhabited by many hostile synths and four laser turrets, which can be deactivated using a terminal. There are multiple conveyor belts and pieces of machinery that appear to have been used to assemble protectrons. On the main assembly floor, there is a sentry bot which can be activated with the robotics terminal. It will fight the synths that are on the assembly floor, but will also be hostile to the player character. The exit is through a circular hatch in the back of the main assembly floor, which will lead to the Bioscience division.

Sublevel 21-D
A very small area is accessible only by an elevator in the main atrium. It contains a storage room and heavy construction equipment being used to expand the Institute's infrastructure.

Notable loot

 * N.B. This loot will become unavailable if you are banished from the Institute, or after completing The Nuclear Option for any of the three factions.

Concourse

 * Astoundingly Awesome Tales issue #12 - In Holdren's room at the top of the north spiral staircase. Out on the left balcony on a table to the right.
 * Experiment 18-A - A unique automatic plasma rifle that is sold by the synth requisition officer.
 * Mark 2 synth armor - Sold by the synth requisition officer.
 * Mark 3 synth armor - Sold by synth requisition officer.
 * Advanced system notes - Holotape, found on a table in Li's room, at the top of the west spiral staircase.
 * Director's recording 108 - Holotape, found in the director's quarters, on the east side. On the upper level opposite the globe and the radio, inside an opened white cardboard box on the floor itself resting on two unopened white boxes. This room is above where the synth Shaun and Father are first encountered.
 * Director's recording 52 - Holotape, on a side table in the board room on the top level (east side).
 * Shaun's terminal password - In an office desk in director's quarters. Gives access to his adjacent terminal.
 * Four Join the Railroad holotapes. Two can be found in two trash cans in Isaac Karlin's living quarters, one under the bathroom sink on the right side of the room, the other next to a dresser near his bed. Third and forth ones are also hidden in trash cans, in Volkert's and Holdren's living quarters (in the north section, below and above Karlin's quarters respectively).
 * Three ice cold Nuka-Colas in the cafeteria on the bottom floor.
 * An ice cold Nuka-Cherry can be found in Allie Filmore's room.
 * Every Institute-unique junk item contains at least some aluminum, and dozens if not hundreds of items can be found throughout the facility.
 * Yellow Institute division head coat - Worn by Allie Filmore.
 * Orange Institute division head coat - Obtained after completing Nuclear Family.
 * Father's lab coat - Worn by Father and can also be obtained after Nuclear Family.
 * Liam's glasses - Reward for the quest Plugging a Leak, given by siding with Liam Binet.

Bioscience

 * Hydroponics key - Taken from Max Loken if he dies after opening the gorilla doors during A House Divided.
 * Green Institute division head coat - Worn by Clayton Holdren.

FEV lab

 * Experimental serum - In the room with the super mutant vats, on a counter in the southeast corner.
 * Brian Virgil personal log 0176 - Holotape, In the same room, on the table next to the accessible terminal along the west wall.
 * FEV research notes (InstituteHolotapeFEVLab01) - Holotape, In the same room, on a console in front of the super mutant vats.
 * FEV research notes (InstituteHolotapeFEVLab02, same name but different recording) - Holotape, In the same room, on another console in front of the super mutant vats.
 * A puncturing pipe wrench mod - In the storage room with the Assaultron, on a shelf.
 * A hooked pipe wrench mod - In the same room, on a different shelf.
 * BioScience systems access - Given by Institute scientist Newton Oberly during A House Divided.

Synth Retention

 * Five synth relay grenades and eight fusion cells on a shelf along the northwest wall.
 * Black Institute division head coat - Worn by Justin Ayo, can also be bought from the synth requisition officer.

Advanced Systems

 * Advanced system notes - Holotape, located on a desk next to Madison Li's terminal.
 * Eight synth relay grenades on a table in the firing range.
 * Blue Institute division head coat - Worn by Dr. Madison Li.

Reactor

 * Reactor terminal password - On Z4K-97B and A-2018 during The Nuclear Option quests. Gives access to terminals in the Institute's reactor.

Public works maintenance area

 * 4n1m4L's test logs - On the Robotics terminal in the maintenance area, during the quest The Nuclear Option (Minutemen).
 * Three cryogenic grenades, the only three fixed ones in the game.

Old robotics

 * Fusion core in the room beneath the circular hatch that leads to the Bioscience division.

Sublevel 21-D

 * Holotape Implant update session 7 located in Sublevel 21-D, which appears to be an expansion of the Institute, as it is filled with several pieces of heavy machinery. The section must be accessed via a dilapidated elevator off of the ground floor storage room on the south side of the Institute. The elevator room is the door on the left. The recording itself is on the right side of the leftmost shelf when coming from the elevator, at ground level.

Appearances
The Institute appears only in Fallout 4. The location is mentioned several times in Fallout 3 and in Mr. House's obituary in Fallout: New Vegas.

Bugs

 * For some reason, a standalone elevator car will spawn in front of the stairs that are supposed to lead up to the reactor during The Nuclear Option, preventing access to the reactor without using a jetpack or jump trick.
 * Before and even after the player character has become the director, if they are caught using Madison Li's terminal, all the Institute NPCs will become hostile, including X6-88.
 * Silver Shroud Radio can be received in the Old Robotics section, if the radio station is active during The Nuclear Option.