MIT Stata Center

The museum area is super awesome. I picked up some project ideas too.

As a grad student in MIT EECS/​CSAIL, I had an office in the Stata Center, so I spent a lot of time here in the past 4 years.
The building is large, with 9 floors, and architecturally unique. However, the building itself is somewhat inefficient, in terms of both layout and operations. The stairs are all over the place, and it can be very confusing/​tedious to find your way to the next floor. There are only two sets of elevators, one set in the Dreyfoos («D») tower, and one set in the Gates («G») tower. I haven’t used the D elevators much, but the G elevators always take a really long time. The combination of slow elevators and inefficient staircase layout is really frustrating, since many events take place not on the first floor.
There are some classrooms/​lecture halls on the first floor, which are VERY large and nice. There are also various conference rooms located in the upper floors as well. The administrators are very friendly and helpful. Plus, many world-​renowned researchers’ offices are in the building, and there are plenty of great seminars and talks happening all the time here.

I’m a bit of an architectural geek. When I visit a new city I’m not as interested in the shopping as I am the architectural jewels hidden downtown. So when the Hubs and I made a pit stop in Boston a few weeks ago I had to get over to MIT to see the Stata Center.
It was amazing. And everything I thought it would be. Unique. Geometric. Metallic. Colorful. Another glorious Frank Gehry building. So glad I was able to see it.

I’ve never been inside, but I love biking past the Stata Center. It’s just so cool in contrast to the brick buildings that surround it. My favorite is the one in the middle that looks like a face!

I love the Stats Center. I was fortunate to be there when it first finished construction in 2004 and fully enjoyed it during my undergraduate years.
The irregular yet geometrically inspired architecture needs little endorsement, from a distance, its one-​of-​the-​kind exterior is enough to attract all the attention in the world. The inside of the Stata center is truly the haven for a student, magnificently lighted, with white boards and benches spread out to fill its spaces, intervening with classrooms and some of the largest lecture halls in MIT on the lower levels. It is also home to the laboratories of the prestigious CSAIL, housing the tremendous amount of compute power and intellectual minds in the upper floors. It is also the site of conferences and events, quickly becoming one of the busiest buildings on campus.
Till today, when I’m showing friends around Boston, Stata center is still my favorite spots to show. The reactions I get is always one of wonder, creativity and amusement.

Meet awesome people at a awesome place. There are often lots of talks and seminars happening here as well. So great place to learn new things and at the same time get access to free food!

I love Frank Gehry! This building was a must-​see on my tour of Boston. I was only able to check out the outside, but I was certainly amused with the architectural mind of Mr. Gehry.

MIT what can I say. This is a great place to meet up, have lunch or dinner and get a table to sit and study or have a meeting. Décor is great, you wont be bored from any plain walls around you.

I read an article once about the Stata center, deriding it for being the exact antithesis of everything MIT stood for — reason, logic, engineering excellence, and so on… and it is probably true. The building is impossible to navigate, impractical (except the first floor which is brilliant), and inefficient in many ways.
But you know what? Stata is exactly what MIT needs — a little chaos.

Def a cool site to see on MIT’s campus. Reminiscent of an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ whimsy thought, Strata brings some color to MIT’s concrete and steel, glass biotech jungle. Inside, its comfy and interesting as there are some public art displays to MIT pranks of past and some vistas to be see from upper level balconies open to the public (Gerhy is fond of raised public gardens, see the Disney Concert Hall in LA).

It finally dawned on me today, what building the Stata Center has always been suggesting to me, if perhaps in a subconscious way: The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California.
I visited the WInchester House with my sister and niece in 1973 and, at that time, was amazed at all of the weird things that had been built into it. The story goes, that Mrs. Winchester (the widow of the rifle manufacturer) was convinced by her personal psychic, that in order to ward off hostile spirits, she needed to keep her house under construction 24 hours a day.
The result is a structure that never looks finished, has strange shaped rooms that waste space and serve little purpose, and lots of useless staircases that lead nowhere at all. (Sound familiar?) Oh, and there’s the tourist gawkiness factor too; trolly busses, duck tours, etc., all slow down for people to stare at the strange place.
As a kid, I was rather dismayed to see that while Mrs. Winchester obviously had paid a lot of money for the high-​end materials and construction techniques that were used, she didn’t get a very good value because everything was so impractical.
Such is the case for many features of the Stata Center. I’ve always felt a similar dismay when exploring it’s Winchesteresque staircases. They look impressive, and sometimes even inviting. But if you actually take the stairs to see where they go, they never seem to lead anywhere useful.
There is a system of useable staircases in the Stata Center, but they are practically hidden, out of the way and difficult to find amidst the confusing layout on all floors except the parking garage (see pictures). As a result, everyone uses elevators to go from floor to floor. By contrast, the staircases of Building 46 across the street are very well utilized and are in fact a common place where passing friends say hello to one another.
Also in common with the Winchester House is the Stata Center’s eternal «non finished» look. But with the Stata Center, it was intentional. The interior furnishings have a «Home Depot» look to them, like uncompleted projects of rough lumber and industrial hardware. Even the canopies over the street entrances look like temporary pieces of non-​matching sheet metal.
Only the first floor corridor of the Stata is a successful common space; with few exceptions, the many balconies, outside terraces and problematic amphitheater are seldom used by anyone.
The Stata center does have some gorgeous classrooms and lecture halls, and the laboratories housed within are as notable as any at MIT. Another plus is that some windows can actually be opened for natural ventilation.
Perhaps the most practical features of the Stata Center are hidden out of sight underground. On the basement level is the main receiving dock for this part of campus. Packages from UPS, etc. are delivered there en masse, sorted, and delivered by MIT facilities employees to individual labs and offices. This level also connects to MIT’s underground tunnel system via Building 26 and now, Buildings 76 and 68. Below the basement level are two additional subterranean parking levels where hundreds of cars park each day. It’s the best parking garage on campus, especially in the winter.
Love it and/​or hate it, the Stata Center is definitely one of the more interesting buildings at MIT. I wonder if Mr. Gehery ever visited the Winchester Mystery House?
(Oh wait… on that 1973 trip to California, I also went to the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot. It’s harder to explain than the Winchester House, but anyone who’s been there probably knows what I’m thinking…)

I think this is a great thing to show friends/​guests when they come to town. It looks pretty cool if you’ve never seen anything like this before. I’m no architect and I don’t really know much of anything about it… so for people like me, looking at buildings like this makes me excited!
I wouldn’t spend hours here (I didn’t even bother trying to go in) but just passing through (maybe on the way to brunch?) and snapping a couple of pictures will brighten my day!~

I actually agree with Tom E and Ligaya. With so much space, Gehry could have produced a much more impressive work. I have seen what he’s done in Prague and it flows beautifully for a small lot.
I’m still going to give it 5 stars though because I think that everyone should go and see it. Whether you like architecture or not, the beautiful thing is that you’ll have a strong opinion of the Stata Center. And MIT likes to show it off staffing an information desk inside for visitors.
In addition it’s inner design is supposed to flow like a street, and it flows like a crowded one.
LOOK UP! If you look up you’ll see two old MIT hacks, a replica MIT Police car and a steer. Both have been up on the great dome at one time. One other thing that’s cool is that the building houses a lot of MIT’s world renowned Elec. Eng. and Comp. Sci. department.
Go and explore the perimeter and first floor, then figure out whether you love it or hate it.

It’s a weird building. It kind of looks like a weird futuristic city built into the middle of MIT. It’s also a little weird to go through if you’ve never been there before, as there’s so much going on and so many different entrances and exits.
I like it primarily because my primary gym is here (the Alumni Center), and I can easily work out midday without any wait for a machine.
There is a lot of construction going on outside of it, so the parking’s decreased, and I don’t know what they’re building there (maybe a building that looks like a futuristic park or something…)

The Stata Center sucks and here’s why.
1) It’s freezing
2) It’s ugly outside and inside
3) There’s never anywhere to sit down that’s comfortable
4) The wireless never works
5) There’s no place to sit and comfortably study
I hate this place.

Architectural critique time… this building is 4 stars compared to most of the new builds in Boston but zero stars compared to:
a) buildings Gehry has done before
b) buildings that have cost such a ridiculous amount
So it gets two stars.
What shocks me is that the combination of huge amounts of money, Frank Gehry and (the usually stellar) MIT came up with such a relatively bland and uninspiring building both inside and outside — especially the paint job. This is almost certainly Gehry’s career low — especially after Bilbao’s Guggenheim and LA’s Disney Hall. It feels utilitarian — inside and outside — and it strikes me as a weak compromise — probably by MIT of all people.
Want to see a great MIT building — go to Simmons Hall.
Want to see a better Gehry building — go to
and tell me the Stata isn’t the weakest of the lot.

Funky looking but ugly.
Very dark and pessimistic internal design. Feels like a random high school.

Very mod, at the cost of $ 285 million! (Almost 3x as originally planned.)
Wasted structural material for functionless forms and poorly designed for everyday use.
Great design is a collaboration of form and function, not just an odd-​looking «eclectic» building, just for the sake of it. Contrary to the advancement of technologies, buildings will stay around for a long time; hence it’s better to make it timeless and elegant.
Simplicity, elegance, and beauty, as well as easy to use– that’s my design philosophy.
The colors inside remind me of fruit loops.
OK, now I want cereal. But not fruit loops, too artificial.

Much of the MIT population loves to dis the Ray & Maria Stata Center (founded Analog Devices, which has its own building just around the corner) and Frank Gehry. I love the originality of the outside, there’s nothing that looks like it. The inside will blow your mind too — remember that all the strange angles on the outside lends to the undulating shape of the interior.
Most of the CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab) students that the Stata Center houses can’t get past that it looks like it’s falling down. However, there are several odes to New England architecture motifs, such as the use of brick and steeple-​like towers. Wildly innovative, but raised on the shoulders of the past, it represents the spirit of what MIT is all about.
Tied for my favorite building in Cambridge with the Kresge Auditorium, and beats the pants off anything Harvard has.

Don’t understand all the people who can’t stand this building.
Finally, Boston (well, Cambridge), has a fancy colorful avant-​garde building; by Frank Gehry no less! At least we didn’t get one of his endless «Look What I Made Out Of Tin Foil, Mommy!» buildings.
Now, sure, it looks like it came out of a Chagall painting, but it adds a highly appropriate whimsical quality to the MIT campus, like a permanent IHTFP.
T info:
Red Line — Get off Kendall, and walk north. It will be on your left, you CAN’T miss it. Trust me.