The randomness they embody is the antithesis of nature's organized complexity. Deconstructivist buildings are the most visible symbols of actual deconstruction. Mathematician and architectural theorist Nikos Salingaros has harshly criticized the Stata Center:Īn architecture that reverses structural algorithms so as to create disorder-the same algorithms that in an infinitely more detailed application generate living form-ceases to be architecture. Though there are many who praise this building, and in fact from the perspective of Gehry's other work it is considered by some as one of his best, there are certainly many who are less enamored of the structure.
The 2005 Kaplan/Newsweek guide How to Get into College, which lists twenty-five universities its editors consider notable in some respect, recognizes MIT as having the "hottest architecture", placing most of its emphasis on the Stata Center.
The Stata's appearance is a metaphor for the freedom, daring, and creativity of the research that's supposed to occur inside it." Campbell stated that the cost overruns and delays in completion of the Stata Center are of no more importance than similar problems associated with the building of St. Everything looks improvised, as if thrown up at the last moment. Materials change wherever you look: brick, mirror-surface steel, brushed aluminum, brightly colored paint, corrugated metal. Walls teeter, swerve, and collide in random curves and angles. It also looks as if it's about to collapse. According to Campbell, "the Stata is always going to look unfinished. Above the fourth floor, the building splits into two distinct structures: the Gates Tower and the Dreyfoos Tower, often called "G Tower" and "D Tower" respectively.īoston Globe architecture columnist Robert Campbell wrote a glowing appraisal of the building on April 25, 2004.
In contrast to the MIT custom of referring to buildings by their numbers rather than their official names, the complex is usually referred to as "Stata" or "the Stata Center". It sits on the site of MIT's former Building 20, which had housed the historic Radiation Laboratory, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The building opened for initial occupancy on March 16, 2004.
The Ray and Maria Stata Center or Building 32 is a 720,000-square-foot (67,000 m2) academic complex designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).