# What do you think of this unusual new MIT building? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348 "2004-05-09T22:09:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/1 "2004-05-09T22:09:23Z")
I like new stuff, but this is Dr. Suess architecture. [Ray and Maria Stata Center, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts.](http://www.csail.mit.edu/events/news/stata.html) News article [MIT’s new, offbeat center](http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=21970) [Architects brochure model of completed complex with multiple views](http://www.aia.org/cae/conference/spring2002/stata.pdf) _(non-broadband connections will take a bit to load this PDF file)_ ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/2 "2004-05-09T22:16:07Z")
It’s bizarre almost to the point of surrealism. I love it. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/3 "2004-05-09T22:43:32Z")
Is that where the Star-bellied Sneetches live? Waaaaaay cool! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/4 "2004-05-09T22:47:35Z")
It’s hard to tell now, maybe after they fix the damage from that earthquake that must have it… Huh? Seriously, I don’t know. It’s interesting looking, but looks too much like it’s broken for my taste. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/5 "2004-05-09T23:13:28Z")
I dunno. I liked the EMP, in Seattle, a lot more in person than I did in photos. Same for the Pyramid, in San Francisco. Politically, I think that kind of money would be better spent on K-12 education. Pie-in-the-sky, I know. 😉 Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/6 "2004-05-10T00:09:28Z")
Looks like wannabe-Liebeskind to me. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/7 "2004-05-10T00:17:49Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Looks like wannabe-Liebeskind to me. Am I the only one who has no idea what the hell a Liebeskind is? Dear child? Anybody else notice Google’s mothers-day rose? Cool. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/8 "2004-05-10T00:26:08Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > Am I the only one who has no idea what the hell a Liebeskind is? Dear child? > Anybody else notice Google’s mothers-day rose? Cool. 🆒 LOL sorry - for anyone else, he’s the guy who won the WTC site contest, and he creates buildings which appear as an assemblage of fragments - and yes, lead to oh-so-witty jokes about looking like they’ve fallen down. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/9 "2004-05-10T00:30:58Z")
Danke mein Freund. I found him. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/10 "2004-05-10T01:00:17Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Looks like wannabe-Liebeskind to me. I don’t know about that. Gehry’s been doing oddly-angled buildings for a pretty long time, and if anything, this one reminds me of his 1996 [Fred and Ginger](http://www.erase.net/visual/photo/2003/04-07/building-ginger) building in Prague. Similarly, see what he did for [Disneyland’s administration](http://www.salon.com/people/bc/1999/10/05/gehry/gehry7.html) (1997) and the [Weisman Museum](http://www.salon.com/people/bc/1999/10/05/gehry/gehry16.html) (1993). ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/11 "2004-05-10T01:45:09Z")
The Fred And Ginger building is magnificent. It appears not only to be caught in the act of moving, but in the act of bending and swelling. It reminds me of the tuning scenes from Dark City. ---
**Author:** ![BoringDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@BoringDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoringDad)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/12 "2004-05-10T02:02:52Z")
When I see a building like this, I think “Now there wa a project team and an architect who wanted to make a statement of extreme ego. Who wanted to be remembered for this building. With no consideration given to cost to build, ease of maintenance, or comfort of occupants.” Good old Frank Lloyd, remembered as a genius architect, designed buildings with leaky roofs. His masterpiece Falling Water went way over budget, and it’s famous canitlever sagged. Architects drive me crazy. Guess I’m just too much of an engineer. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/13 "2004-05-10T03:52:24Z")
I’ve posted many pictures and links to it on the Dope Board over the past few years. I know it markas me as Philistine, but I hate it. It reminds me of the B. Kliban cartoon “Clown Building”, or the cartoon Al Jaffee did for Mad mny years ago, where someone swats a fy on an architectural drawing, an they build it that way – giant squashed fly and all. But those were _cartoons_. It’s hard to believe somebody ponied up the money for an actual building. According to today’s Boston Globe, it’s way over budget and late, and it leaks. Students who used to have offices now have an open central compound and high school-style lockers to store their stuff. A lot of folks who are stuck in the building apparently don’t like it. We’ll see how it all works out. The damned thing still isn’t even finished. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/14 "2004-05-10T04:29:37Z")
I also hate it. Then again, I’ve never seen a Gehry I didn’t hate, the one thing I like about my new longer commute to work is that I no longer have to gaze at EMP every morning. Tech Square (where their offices used to be) was far away, and a PITA to get to most of the time, but it was at least visually unoffensive - plus, I used to work in building that used to stand on that site. It was historic, and old, and well falling down around our ears because it was 50-something and designed as a “temporary building,” but I have fond memories of that place. I still have a key to one of the doors, somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/15 "2004-05-10T05:06:42Z")
I think Gehry’s high water mark was the Guggenheim in Bilbao. I don’t think he will top himself. As for Libeskind, I’ll second earthling’s comments that Gehry has been doing that sort of work for much longer. If anything, Libeskind is the knock off. Gehry has been doing this sort of decon since the 70’s. Libeskind’s proposed Jewish Museum for San Francisco was really lovely. I worked for the model comapny that built [this.](http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/projects/pro.html?ID=24) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/16 "2004-05-10T05:19:59Z")
> [@Bad News Baboon](#): > > Libeskind’s proposed Jewish Museum for San Francisco was really lovely. I worked for the model comapny that built > [this.](http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/projects/pro.html?ID=24) “What is this? A center for ANTS? How can the children be expected to learn how to read, if they can’t even fit inside the building? I don’t want to hear your excuses. The center has to be at least… three times this size. I have a vision.” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/17 "2004-05-10T10:44:37Z")
What a horrible building. The thing looks like it’s about to fall over. Why can’t people just make regular buildings anymore? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/18 "2004-05-10T13:47:51Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Why can’t people just make regular buildings anymore? Define ‘regular building’ and you might get an answer. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/19 "2004-05-10T14:39:25Z")
I like it. I think I like all of Gehry’s stuff except the EMP. Beats the minimalist concrete block cubes a lot of state universities are made from. I also like it more than regular buildings, like the kind of post-neo-classical eclectic stuff older colleges are made of, like the pseudo-Georgian classicising stuff I went to college with, as well as the ‘post-modern’ skyscraper with a couple of greek-order-like bits stuck on the top floor. This at least is a newish vocabulary. I also like things like Hundertwasser, though. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/20 "2004-05-10T14:41:59Z")
Vulgar. Odd, without being attractive. The architect is a shallow show-off, with little talent. He has nothing to say, except “LOOK AT MEEEE!!!” :smack: A Troll, but with steel & concrete, instead of on the WWW. Buy him a home computer, & tell him to shove off. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348.md?page=2)