I spent seven years at MIT and managed to pick up two degrees before they kicked me out. I describe the place using the 10/40/50 rule. 10% of the people there are off the chart brilliant and nothing phases them. 40% of the people are extremely smart, figure out the system, and make it through with moderate but not life threatening scars. 50% of the people are extremely smart, but never figure out the system and their experience at MIT is a “daily assault on their self esteem.” Fortunately, I was in the 40%.
In 2004, Frank Gehry’s amazingly designed Stata Center (home of the MIT Computer Science AI Lab
) opened to much fanfare. It’s as fascinating inside as it is outside. Lots of really interesting people have offices there and wandering around in the place is like living inside a Dr. Seuss book (while looking at it is like staring at a Dr. Seuss world.)
The first time I actually saw the building (in the winter of 2004), my first thought was something like “man – this thing is going to be trouble.” I love architecture (I’m an architect in a parallel universe), but I lived in Boston for 12 years and all I could think about was stuff like “so – what happens when the ice falls off the roof and breaks through a window.”
Apparently that question is currently being addressed. On 10/31/07, MIT sued Frank Gehry (and Skanska USA – the construction firm) claiming negligence and a breach of contractual obligations. I’m not big on lawsuits, but I loved Joanne Wilson’s post on it titled M.I.T. and Gehry . If you’ve ever done a big construction project, I’ll bet you can identify with what Joanne said.
At the same time, I also loved John Maeda’s post on it titled Leaks Are To Be Forgiven*.* Maeda’s office is in the I.M. Pei designed Media Lab, the “bathtub building” that was built while I was in school there but that has nicely stood the test of time and is now being expanded by via a design from Fumihiko Maki.
It appears Frank Gehry is having his “MIT 50% experience.”