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MIT sues architect

2007-11-06 23:52:20.885157+00 by Dan Lyke 3 comments

Since I just spent two days in the previously maligned here Marin Civic Center, where running jokes about the deficiencies of Frank Lloyd Wright's design abilities are the norm and the courtrooms look like you're in the process of being abducted by aliens, this seems like it's good that they got it early: MIT sues architect Frank Gehry and his design firm over problems in new Stata Center building:

The suit says that MIT paid Los Angeles-based Gehry Partners $15 million to design the Stata Center, which was hailed by critics as innovative and eye-catching with its unconventional walls and radical angles. But soon after its completion in spring 2004, the center's outdoor amphitheater began to crack due to drainage problems, the suit says. Snow and ice cascaded dangerously from window boxes and other projecting roof areas, blocking emergency exits and damaging other parts of the building, according to the suit. Mold grew on the center's brick exterior, the suit says, and there were persistent leaks throughout the building.

[ related topics: moron Current Events Architecture Architecture - Frank Lloyd Wright ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2007-11-07 05:31:09.642332+00 by: Diane Reese

My kid, who has taken classes in, and extensive photographs of, Stata Center for the past two years, says he didn't notice any of the aforementioned leaks inside nor mold on the exterior. He does say, though, "I had noticed some of the winter overflow of snow, but it was truly an epic experience." Ah to be 20 again.

#Comment Re: made: 2007-11-07 20:43:00.075692+00 by: Dan Lyke

giggle. Remembering my 20s, I guess I'd kind of figure that blocked exits and random ice falls on entrances were just there to weed the weak ones out of college. Grades don't go far enough.

#Comment Re: made: 2007-11-09 14:45:34.596874+00 by: Dan Lyke

Philip Greenspun has more on working in the Stata center.