Three years later: Does Gehry’s Stata Center really work?
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| Stata center in MIT by Frank Ghery |
When I went to Boston during winter vacation, I visited Frank Gehry's work - Stata Center in MIT. I was astonished at the exterior design of the building. Indoor spaces were even more complex than I expected, I felt chaos as if l'm wandering in a big complex maze. After this experience, I want to know more about Stata Center.
Three years later: Does Gehry’s Stata Center really work?
A lot of people who interested in architecture worried that this building is going to really work like Robert Campbell who is an author of this article, when it was in progress.The author asked in his critique,
"Does the Stata work? Or is it merely an act of self-expression? Is it architectural sculpture? Or is it—to use a word that now sounds quaint—functional? What were its purposes, anyway?"
When I got this place, I couldn't imagine indoor spaces, floor plans at all. I thought that there should be a lot of wasted spaces.
Gehry said “The main problem I was given was that there are seven separate departments that never talk to each other. [But] when they talk to each other, if they get together, they synergize and and make things happen, and it’s gangbusters.”
The biggest goal of this project was that MIT scientists and students will be able to meet in these creatively arranged indoor spaces. For me, It seemed it was working amazingly. There were some interesting spaces where people study, play, socialize, and run experiments - labs, apartments, and classrooms. The most interesting space for me was horizontally opened space which looks like a lab through two or three stories.These space would make people work connected both horizontally and vertically. After I wandered around this building, I was able to love the complexity of this building.
In addition, I think scientists have a tendency to think too logically or in too simple way. Gehry used various materials such as raw metal, glass, plywood, industrial lamps, exposed wires, and raw concrete. According to the author, "Sometimes it’s narrow, sometimes wide, sometimes high, sometimes low. Sunlight falls from high windows. Walls angle in and out, often in bright colors". I believe that these various elements could make scientists not only think creatively, but also cool down their brain. It seems to me that Ghery gave them something to be solved or
New words :
Chamber - a room used for a special purpose, especially an unpleasant one
Fractal - a pattern, usually produced by a computer, that is made by repeating the same shape many times in smaller and smaller sizes
Meander - if a river, stream, road etc meanders, it has a lot of bends rather than going in a straight line
Images of :
Stata center in MIT by Frank Ghery
Woman with a Manloin by Pablo Picasso (in 1910)
Questions;
ReplyDelete- what was the biggest goal for this building?
- what materials are mainly used in this building?
- why does Noam Chomsky have a voice of disagreement?
- why does people think that there are so many wasted space?
- Do you think this building is perfectly suitable for MIT students?
answer-
ReplyDelete1. The biggest goal for the Stata was to make people together, share, corporate.
2.The stata used raw metal, glass, plywood, industrial lamps, exposed wires, and raw concrete.
3. The wall was too sloping, so that he could not put book shelves on the wall. He couldn't reach to sunshade. He misses squirrels come into his old office.
4. There was no specific limited area. Every places were open, so that people can use 'waste' space as their experiment area or use as other ways.
5. I think this building is perfect for scientist. Scientists need to communicate and talk while they're doing their project. They can save time to go different floor to give test result by wide 'share' space. And by conversation with many people, they can get more ideas and learns which they didn't know.
Great questions and answers! Did Chomsky really say that he missed the squirrels coming into his office?
ReplyDeleteI'd love to visit this space and see what it's like. It seems so chaotic inside, but people seem to really like it.