View source for Stata Center

{{Short description|Academic building in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US}}
{{Infobox building
| name = Ray and Maria Stata Center
| alternate_names = Building 32
| image = Ray and Maria Stata Center (MIT).JPG
| image_alt = View of Stata Center from Vassar street
| caption = Stata Center in November 2013
| address = 32 Vassar Street
| location_town = [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]
| location_country = [[United States]]
| opened_date = March 16, 2004
| architect = [[Frank Gehry]]
| owner = [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]
| architectural_style = [[Deconstructivist]]
}}
The '''Stata Center''', officially the '''Ray and Maria Stata Center''' and sometimes referred to as '''Building 32''', is a 430,000-square-foot (40,000&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup>) academic complex plus 290,000-square foot (27,000&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup>) underground garage
designed by architect [[Frank Gehry]] for the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT). The building opened for initial occupancy on March 16, 2004. It is located on the site of MIT's former [[Building 20]], which had housed the historic [[MIT Radiation Laboratory]], at 32 Vassar Street in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]].

==Description==
[[File:View out the window of the Stata Center (20 July 2004).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|View from an upper-floor window]]
[[File:MIT Stata Center self-reflection.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Stata Center self reflection]]
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" (though the building number is still essential in identifying rooms at MIT). 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.

The building has a number of small auditoriums and classrooms used by the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department (EECS, Course 6), as well as other departments and on-campus groups.  Research labs and offices of the [[MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory|Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]] (CSAIL), the [[MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems|Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems]] (LIDS), as well as the Department of [[Linguistics]] and [[Philosophy]] (Course 24) occupy the upper floors. Academic celebrities such as [[Noam Chomsky]], [[Ron Rivest]], and [[World Wide Web Consortium]] founder [[Tim Berners-Lee]] also have offices in the building.

A wide main passage running the length of the building on the ground floor is called the [[Charles M. Vest]] Student Street, in honor of the former MIT president who died in December 2013.<ref name=Chandler>{{cite news|last=Chandler|first=David L.|title=MIT community celebrates the life of Charles M. Vest|url=http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/mit-community-celebrates-the-life-of-charles-m-vest-0307|access-date=2014-05-17|newspaper=MIT News|date=March 7, 2014}}</ref> The Student Street is often used as a more-spacious substitute or extension for the Memorial Lobby located in Building 10 on the [[Infinite Corridor]].  The monthly "Choose to Re-use" community recycling swap fest, and a weekly fresh produce market are other events regularly held in the Stata Center. One of five MIT Technology Childcare Centers (TCC) is located at the western end of the ground floor.  The Forbes Family Cafe is located at the eastern end, and serves coffee and lunch to the public during office hours.

The [[MIT Museum]] maintains some historic displays on the ground floor of the Stata Center. A few selected larger relics of past [[MIT hacks|hacks]] (student pranks) are now on semi-permanent display, including a "fire hose" drinking fountain, a giant [[slide rule]], and full-size replicas of a cow and a police car that had been placed atop the Great Dome (though not at the same time). In the ground floor elevator lobby of the Dreyfoos Tower are located a large [[time capsule]] box plus informational panels describing MIT's historic [[Building 20]], which the Stata Center has replaced.

A large [[Digi-Comp II]] mechanical digital computer which operates with [[billiard ball]]s is located in the ground floor elevator lobby of the Gates Tower. Also located there is ''Flow'', a large multicolor art display created by Karl Sims (an MIT alumnus and [[MacArthur Fellow|MacArthur "genius"]]), which is activated by visitors' movements as detected by a [[Microsoft Kinect]] sensor.<ref>{{cite web |title=F L O W by Karl Sims |url=https://www.csail.mit.edu/about/stata-center/flow |website=MIT CSAIL |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |access-date=2023-05-08}}</ref><ref name="Sims">{{cite web |last1=Sims |first1=Karl |title=Flow - interactive visual effects by Karl Sims |url=http://www.karlsims.com/flow.html |website=www.karlsims.com |access-date=2023-05-08}}</ref>

Major funding for the Stata Center was provided by [[Ray Stata]] (MIT class of 1957) and Maria Stata. [[Bill Gates]] donated US$20 million, causing MIT to name one tower the "Gates Building."<ref>{{cite web |last=Chun |first=Matthew G.H. |title=Bill Gates Donates $20 million to MIT |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1999/4/14/bill-gates-donates-20-million-to/ |work=The Harvard Crimson  |access-date=April 6, 2014 |date=April 14, 1999}}</ref> Other major funders included [[Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr.]] (MIT class of 1954), Charles Thomas "E.B." Pritchard Hintze (an MIT graduate, and of [[JD Edwards]], now [[Oracle Corporation]]), [[Morris Chang]] of [[TSMC]]. and [[Michael Dertouzos]].

==History==
{{Main|Building 20}}
The Stata Center is located on the site of the former Building 20, demolished in 1998. Building 20 had been erected hastily during World War II as a temporary building to house the historic [[Radiation Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology|Radiation Laboratory]]. Over the course of 55 years, its "temporary" nature allowed research groups to have more space, and to make more creative use of that space, than was possible in more respectable buildings. The building also provided permanent rooms for official Institute clubs and groups, including the [[Tech Model Railroad Club]] and the MIT Electronic Research Society (MITERS).

Professor [[Jerome Lettvin|Jerome Y. Lettvin]] once quipped, "You might regard it as the womb of the Institute. It is kind of messy, but by God it is procreative!"<ref>{{cite journal |last=Garfinkel |first=Simpson |title=Building 20: the Procreative Eyesore|journal=Technology Review|volume=94|issue=November/December 1991|pages=MIT11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Quotes and Stories about Building 20|url=http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/building20/quotes.html#lettvin|publisher=MIT Libraries, Massachusetts Institute of Technology|date=1998-03-02|access-date=2007-09-23}}</ref>

== Architectural criticism ==
Robert Campbell, architecture columnist for ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', wrote a glowing appraisal of the building on April 25, 2004. According to Campbell, "the Stata is always going to look unfinished. It also looks as if it's about to collapse. Columns tilt at scary angles. Walls teeter, swerve, and collide in random curves and angles. Materials change wherever you look: brick, mirror-surface steel, [[brushed metal|brushed]] aluminum, brightly colored paint, corrugated metal. Everything looks improvised, as if thrown up at the last moment. That's the point. 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 Paul's Cathedral]].<ref>{{Cite news |author=Robert Campbell |title=Dizzying heights&nbsp;— In Frank Gehry's remarkable new Stata Center at MIT, crazy angles have a serious purpose|work=The Boston Globe|url=http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2004/04/25/dizzying_heights/ |date=April 25, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040624132532/http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2004/04/25/dizzying_heights/ |archive-date=24 June 2004}}</ref> The 2005 [[Kaplan, Inc.|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.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Kantrowitz, Barbara |title=America's 25 Hot Schools|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5626574/site/newsweek/|work=Newsweek via MSNBC.com|publisher=Microsoft Corporation|date=August 2004|access-date=2007-09-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070903110639/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5626574/site/newsweek/ <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-09-03}}</ref>

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. Mathematician and architectural theorist [[Nikos Salingaros]] has harshly criticized the Stata Center:

{{Blockquote | style=font-size:100% |An architecture that reverses structural algorithms so as to create disorder&nbsp;— the same algorithms that in an infinitely more detailed application generate living form—ceases to be architecture. Deconstructivist buildings are the most visible symbols of actual deconstruction. The randomness they embody is the antithesis of nature's organized complexity. This is despite effusive praise in the press for "exciting" new academic buildings, such as the Peter B. Lewis Management Building at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, the Vontz Center for Molecular Studies at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, and the Stata Center for Computer, Information, and Intelligence Sciences at MIT, all by Frank Gehry. Housing a scientific department at a university inside the symbol of its nemesis must be the ultimate irony.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Anti-Architecture and Deconstruction|last=Salingaros|first=Nikos|year=2007|publisher=Umbau-Verlag|isbn=978-3-937954-09-7}}</ref>}}

Former [[Boston University]] president [[John Silber]] said the building "really is a disaster".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Architecture of the Absurd: How "Genius" Disfigured a Practical Art |last=Silber |first=John |year=2007 |publisher=Quantuck Lane |isbn=978-1-59372-027-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/architectureofab00silb}}</ref> Architecture critic Robert Campbell praised Gehry for "break[ing] up the monotony of a street of concrete buildings" and being "a building like no other building".<ref name="globe20071106" /> The style of the building has been likened to [[German Expressionism]] of the 1920s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lienhard|first=John H.|url=http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2521.htm |title=No. 2521: Radical Buildings |work=Engines of Our Ingenuity|publisher=University of Houston (www.uh.edu) |date=2004-08-01 |access-date=2012-03-24}}</ref> The building has also been described as "reminiscent of a [[Dr. Seuss]] creation".<ref>{{cite web |title=Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |url=https://cascade-architectural.com/content/massachusetts-institute-technology-mit |website=Cascade Architectural |publisher=Cascade Coil Drapery, Inc |access-date=2023-05-08 |language=en |date=26 August 2020}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" center mode=packed>
Image:MIT Strata Center.jpg|Stata Center
Image:The Ray and Maria Stata Center galawebdesign.jpg|View from the 7th floor
Image:Stata Center-20050310-2.jpg|Interior, ground floor, Gates tower
Image:MIT-Building32-from-54-at-night.jpg|Building 32 at night
Image:Bldg 20 time capsule.jpg|Building 20 time capsule, on display in the Stata Center
</gallery>

==Lawsuit==
[[Image:MIT Stata Center-sprinker explosion-2007.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Water spray from a [[fire sprinkler system]] failure in 2007]]
On October 31, 2007,<ref>{{cite news|author=Dey, Arkajit|title=MIT Sues Gehry Firm Over Stata Problems; Lawsuit Describes Persistent Leaks, Sliding Ice and Snow, and Cracking Masonry|work=The Tech|url=https://thetech.com/2007/11/09/lawsuit-v127-n53|page=1
|date=November 9, 2007|access-date=2024-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202210915/http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/11/06/mit_sues_gehry_citing_leaks_in_300m_complex/ |archive-date=2 December 2008}}</ref><!-- if someone wants to add them, there are some good quotes and info in this The Tech piece, that were not in the articles in the Boston Globe or NY Times --> MIT sued<ref>{{cite news|author=Glahn, Lisa F. of Mintz Levin|title=Massachusetts Institute of Technology v. Frank O. Gehry & Associates, Inc., n/k/a Gehry Partners, LLP and Beacon Skanska Construction Company, n/k/a Skanska USA Building, Inc.|work=The Tech|url=http://tech.mit.edu/V127/N53/lawsuit/stata_lawsuit.pdf
|date=October 31, 2007|access-date=2007-11-09}}</ref><!-- someone might want to see if the court case is on line at the court and add a {{cite court|...|,,,}} citation--> architect Frank Gehry and the construction companies, [[Skanska]] USA Building Inc. and NER Construction Management, for "providing deficient design services and drawings" which caused leaks to spring, masonry to crack, mold to grow, drainage to back up, and falling ice and debris to block emergency exits.<ref name="globe20071106">{{cite news|author=Murphy, Shelley|title=MIT sues Gehry, citing leaks in $300m complex; Blames famed architect for flaws at Stata Center|work=The Boston Globe|url=http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/11/06/mit_sues_gehry_citing_leaks_in_300m_complex/|publisher=The New York Times Company|date=November 6, 2007|access-date=2007-11-06}}</ref> A Skanska spokesperson said that, prior to construction, Gehry ignored warnings from Skanska and a consulting company regarding flaws in his design of an outdoor [[amphitheater]], and rejected a formal request from Skanska to modify the design.<ref name="globe20071106" />

In a 2007 interview, Gehry, whose firm had been paid $15 million for the project, said construction problems were inevitable in the design of complex buildings.  "These things are complicated", he said, "and they involved a lot of people, and you never quite know where they went wrong. A building goes together with seven billion pieces of connective tissue. The chances of it getting done ever without something colliding or some misstep are small". "I think the issues are fairly minor", he added. "M.I.T. is after our insurance." Gehry said that [[value engineering]], the process by which elements of a project are eliminated to cut costs, was largely responsible for the problems. "There are things that were left out of the design", he said. "The client chose not to put certain devices on the roofs, to save money."<ref>{{cite news|author=Robin Pogrebin and Katie Zezima|title=M.I.T. Sues Frank Gehry, Citing Flaws in Center He Designed|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/us/07mit.html|page=A19|date=November 6, 2007|access-date=2007-11-07}}</ref>

The lawsuit was reportedly settled in 2010 with most of the issues having been resolved.<ref>Hawkinson, John A. [https://thetech.com/2010/03/19/statasuit-v130-n14 "MIT settles with Gehry over Stata Ctr. defects"], ''The Tech'', MIT, v.130, issue 14, March 19, 2010</ref>{{clear left}}

==Occupants==
* [[MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory|Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]] (CSAIL)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csail.mit.edu |title=MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory &#124; CSAIL |work=Csail.mit.edu |access-date=2012-03-24}}</ref>
** [[World Wide Web Consortium]]
* [[MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems|Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems]] (LIDS)
* Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
* Childcare center
* Fitness center
* Forbes Cafe
* MIT Library Information Intersection cube<ref>{{cite web |url=http://libraries.mit.edu/stata/ |title=Information Intersection - Stata Center: MIT Libraries |work=Libraries.mit.edu |access-date=2012-03-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414203616/http://libraries.mit.edu/stata/ |archive-date=2012-04-14 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of works by Frank Gehry]]
* [[Marqués de Riscal Hotel]], Spain

== References ==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist|30em}}

'''Bibliography'''
* {{cite book |first=Nancy E.|last=Joyce|others=afterword by William J. Mitchell, photography by Richard Sobol |title=Building Stata: The Design and Construction of Frank O. Gehry's Stata Center at MIT|publisher=[[The MIT Press]] |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|year=2004
|isbn=978-0-262-60061-3}}
* {{cite book | first=William J.| last=Mitchell| title=Imagining MIT: Designing a Campus for the Twenty-First Century | year=2007 | publisher=[[The MIT Press]]|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | isbn=978-0-262-13479-8}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Stata Center (MIT Building 32)}}
* {{cite web|title=Stata Center|url=http://web.mit.edu/facilities/construction/completed/stata.html|publisher=MIT Department of Facilities, Massachusetts Institute of Technology|access-date=2007-09-23}}
* {{cite web|title=A multimedia walking tour of the Stata Center|url=http://www.untravelmedia.com/tours/1/untravel_mit_stata_center/|publisher=Untravel Media, Massachusetts Institute of Technology startup|access-date=2008-06-19}}
* {{cite web|title=Ray and Maria Stata Center|url=http://www.csail.mit.edu/events/news/stata.html|publisher=MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology|access-date=2007-09-23 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070918230328/http://www.csail.mit.edu/events/news/stata.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-09-18}}
* {{cite journal|author=Reiss, Spencer|title=Frank Gehry's Geek Palace|url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.05/mit.html|journal=Wired, CondéNet Inc.|date=May 2004|issue=12.05|access-date=2007-09-23|doi=10.1007/s11916-004-0076-y|volume=8|pages=518–522|pmid=15509468|s2cid=22507905|url-access=subscription}}
* {{cite news|author=Beam, Alex|title=After buildup, MIT center is a letdown|url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/05/04/after_buildup_mit_center_is_a_letdown/|work=The Boston Globe|publisher=The New York Times Company|date=2004-05-04|access-date=2007-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040507033804/http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/05/04/after_buildup_mit_center_is_a_letdown/ |archive-date=7 May 2004}}
* {{cite news|author=Ted Smalley Bowen|title=MIT's Stata Center Opens, Raises Questions about Cost Control|url=http://www.construction.com/NewsCenter/Headlines/AR/20040519r.asp|work=Architectural Record|publisher=The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (construction.com)|date=2004-05-19|access-date=2007-09-23 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929091636/http://www.construction.com/NewsCenter/Headlines/AR/20040519r.asp <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-09-29}}
* {{cite web|author=Wollman, Garrett A.|title=Building MIT's Stata Center: An IT Perspective|url=http://www.usenix.org/event/lisa05/tech/wollman/index.html|format=KPresenter|work=Lisa'05 Conference Proceedings|publisher=USENIX (usenix.org)|date=2005-12-20|access-date=2016-11-28}}
* Virtual tour: {{cite web
 |author     = MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
 |title      = CSAIL Lab Virtual Tours - Information Desk
 |date       = n.d.
 |url        = http://www.csail.mit.edu/tours/virtual/02_Infodesk.html
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060427120216/http://www.csail.mit.edu/tours/virtual/02_Infodesk.html
 |url-status   = dead
 |archive-date = 2006-04-27
 |access-date = 2006-12-26
}}
* {{Structurae | id = 20010295 | title = Ray and Maria Stata Center }}

'''Maps'''
* {{cite web|title=Campus Map: Building 32 (Ray and Maria Stata Center)|url=http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?selection=32;selectfield=facility;selectlayer=Buildings|publisher=MIT Department of Facilities and Information Services & Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology|access-date=2007-09-23}}

{{Coord|42.361640|-71.090255|type:landmark_region:US|display=title}}

{{MIT}}
{{Frank Gehry}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 2004]]
[[Category:Deconstructivism]]
[[Category:Frank Gehry buildings]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology buildings]]
[[Category:Modernist architecture in Massachusetts]]