# 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:** 2
**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, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/21 "2004-05-10T16:26:22Z")
> [@astro](#): > > “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.” Well buddy, pal, unless YOU personally are paying for this building, I would suggest you zip your lip. Ants need architecture, too. ---
**Author:** ![Contrabass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Contrabass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrabass)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/22 "2004-05-10T18:33:31Z")
I’m going to have to go against the grain here, and say that I like it. I watched it get constructed over the last 2 summers or so when going to the MIT Flea monthly. (This is an electronics + computing flea market run by MIT and Harvard HAM radio societies.) It was interesting to guess what the finished product would look like from the steel frame that was being assembled. I think it’s a really neat looking building; quite daring. One of probably three MIT buildings that have any kind of distinctive look to them. On the other hand, I too have read that the indoor design is controversial at best. I don’t have to go in the building, so I guess that’s MIT’s problem. _shrug_. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/23 "2004-05-10T21:02:25Z")
It looks like crap. Literally. I think that must’ve been the inspiration. He even got the colours right. Oh ya, same goes for the new WTC design. Except it’s transparent crap. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/24 "2004-05-10T21:26:14Z")
It’s rather tame compared to the Gehry building we have here in Cleveland for the Weatherhead School…I think it’s the Peter B. Lewis building. That building, which gained fame of a sort last year during a shooting spree, is very sterile inside…they are not allowed to add any artwork for a year or two, it seems, at Gehry’s insistence. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/25 "2004-05-10T21:53:30Z")
- - - I think it’s dumb. It seems to me to be wasting a fantastic amount of money on the part of the building that the people inside can’t actually _see_. - I would much prefer wide symmetrically laid-out hallways with obvious building entrances and elevator/stair locations, with lots of large windows that are shielded from direct sunlight by balconies/overhangs. I am not holding my breath, however… * * * - And I have a local architecture-problem-related story: a couple years back it was decided to build a new junior-high school in my hometown. The old school was on a small lot in the center of town, and had problems with the 800+ students crowding hallways between classes. So… they selected a lot on the south end of town, and built the school of several buildings spread out over a few acres. But… most of the classes are still held in the one largest building… which is actually _smaller_ than the old school was. So all the money it seems was for naught: students between classes are _still_ swimming through crowded hallways. Everyone involved in the project is fairly certain that it’s _someone else’s_ fault. \<:D ~ ---
**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, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/26 "2004-05-10T22:05:44Z")
It leaks? The interior is not functional? Then I change my vote. If a building is not structurally sound, fitted to use, and easy to navigate, it’s (IMHO) a failure. Leaking is especially inexcusable. Since our ancestors dwelt in caves, a primary purpose of a building has been to keep out the elements. This is all the more important when the building in question contains laboratories. ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/27 "2004-05-11T06:23:31Z")
To me, it is the exact opposite of beautiful architecture. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/28 "2004-05-11T07:22:12Z")
There is some postmodern architecture I really, really like. [1250 René-Lévesque](http://www.oxfordproperties.com/fea-Rene.asp) here in town, for example, is among my favourites. Hell, I love Gehry’s Guggenheim. But honestly, when your buildings are looking like ladies’ hats circa 1920, it’s time to reevaluate your design philosophy. Recent things I’ve hated: \*[All](http://www.winnipeg.cbc.ca/imagegallery/museum/) of the propositions for the Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg \*[The big crystal thing](http://www.rom.on.ca/renaissance/architecture.php) being stuck on the ass end of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto \*This absolutely hideous thing I can’t find anymore, that was basically a gigantic pizza box on stilts. It was supposed to be some kind of design school in Toronto. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/29 "2004-05-11T10:38:45Z")
I _love_ this building. I can see it out of my office window, and granted while it was going up, I was highly sceptical (uh, it really did look on point of collapse due to the odd angles of the supporting pillars) but now the exterior is mostly finished, I just love it to death. It’s a high point of cheer for me to be able to go and look at it out my window. It has a real cartoon feel to it, yes. It makes me smile. I’d say the response in my office is about 50-50 love/hate toward it, some people can’t stand it for the reasons mentioned in this thread, other people think it’s fantastic. I guess I think the area is the better for a note of whimsy injected. I hope they can get the interior finished and everything shipshape though, of course. Not much good having a gorgeous, non-functional building. ---
**Author:** ![Starguard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Starguard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starguard)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/30 "2004-05-11T11:51:22Z")
> [@astro](#): > > 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)_ See, This is a prime example of why Drug use and lego blocks don’t mix ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/31 "2004-05-11T12:26:59Z")
I like his other work, but somehow this one looks contrived to me. It doesn’t hang together well. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/32 "2004-05-11T15:50:45Z")
**matt** , the building you’re thinking of is the addition to the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD). I have a friend who goes there, and he’s pissed because not only is it ugly, but they moved the doors so he has to walk farther. It was supposed to be covered in polka dots, too, but I think they ran out of money or something. They’ve started construction on the bloody new museum thing. Argh. Isn’t it enough that we have a giant turkey-shaped library? ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/33 "2004-05-11T23:15:13Z")
Hello fellow ROM-addition-haters! The ROM is such a beautiful example of gothic city architecture…why, oh why, must they ruin it with that awful mass of glass? ☹ And yes, that pizza box on stilts is OCAD. Although far more outlandish, and stupidly ugly, I don’t mind it as much as its not detracting from the surrounding buildings. As for the turkey library, I love it 😃 ---
**Author:** ![noname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@noname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noname)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/34 "2004-05-11T23:21:38Z")
Fantastic, cooooollllllll 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/35 "2004-05-12T01:41:00Z")
The [Tabletop](http://www.ocad.on.ca/images/large_OCAD_ext.jpg) at OCAD. Yes, it’s covered in those black-and-white checker-marks. I keep wanting to do a crossword puzzle on it. It’s finished now, but I haven’t been by it since it opened. Last weekend was the Doors Open architectural exhibit in T.O., and it was open to the public, and I _forgot_! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/36 "2004-05-12T01:52:06Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > The [Tabletop](http://www.ocad.on.ca/images/large_OCAD_ext.jpg) at OCAD. Yes, it’s covered in those black-and-white checker-marks. I keep wanting to do a crossword puzzle on it. Now that is a great building! It’s FUN!!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/37 "2004-05-12T02:47:18Z")
Oh, for the love of genetically enhanced Nova Scotian sex beasts, it’s worse than I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/38 "2004-05-12T03:11:25Z")
I’m convinced that someone will eventually erect a vast tea service on the roof, perhaps for April-Fool’s… ---
**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 12, 2004, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/39 "2004-05-12T11:36:36Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m convinced that someone will eventually erect a vast tea service on the roof, perhaps for April-Fool’s… I’d forgotten about this. Even though you weren’t referring to the MIT Stata Center, it’s appropriate. MIT students are renowned for their pranmks (“hacks”), especially about new buildings. One building on campus is covered with square tiles, mostly white, but some colored. It looks like a bathroom turned inside out. So one time they put giant “scrubbing bubbles” on the outside. Another time they put a pay toilet on the outside (the cost marked was a year’s tuition). So there should be some interesting hack to baptize this Gehry building. What? A giant inflatable Godzilla? Will they adorn one outer wall with the image of a squashed fly a la Al Jaffee’s Mad cartoon? We’ll have to wait and see. But I guarantee they’ll do _something_. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348/40 "2004-05-12T14:07:03Z")
Correction! The Toronto [Doors Open](http://www.doorsopen.org/) is on May 29th and 30th. We archi-Dopers still have time to meet at the Tabletop, gawk, and point! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-this-unusual-new-mit-building/244348.md?page=1)