06 Nov 2007

  
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duh

MIT is suing Frank Gehry over a leaky building. The school asserts that the Stata center has drainage problems and mold growing on its brick exterior. Snow and ice fall from the windows and roofs, blocking emergency exits and damaging shit.

MIT_gehry.jpgReality check: And when MIT was thrilled at the unveiling, that the architect hadn't provided another dull box... and when MIT purchased this willfully strange building hoping to ride a free publicity wave... and when MIT's trustees used a snazzy model as bait to snare donors; all of them were able to look at this design and think "Yeah, this is going to be water tight and climate sensitive?"

Aggressively avant-garde buildings don't follow a body of knowledge, they buck it. So while the pricetag to build it is multiplied, the cost to maintain it is likewise astronomical. If they're peeved about the bldg, they can calculate the dollar vlaue for all the free exposure they got having a bldg that focused the worlds eyeballs on their campus.

They bought a publicity machine and they got one; a leaky one.


 
 
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Maybe MIT could put in a few slot machines and blackjack tables to offset the cost of upkeep.

Carl 06 Nov 2007

john, your argument is misguided - when you pay a hefty price for something, you expect it to be built properly. To suggest that "you get what you get and you can't get upset" when you trend avant-garde is nutty. who cares about the side benefit of its buzzworthiness? MIT has a fine rep, they didn't just roll the dice for a chance at greatness with Mr. Frank Gehry. doesn't give Gehry a pass, especially if he oversaw the build. admit it, you love him, you love him, you love him

pazen 10 Nov 2007

I am belatedly with Pazen on this one.

Just because you build a building that is aggressively avant garde, doesn't mean that it should be unsafe, moldy and functionally inoperable. The blocked fire exist alone should have prevented this building from being built to begin with.

It oddly reminds me of the Pontiac Fiero (wow that kind of ages me)....Pontiac built this small, sassy car with the engine I believe in the trunk in the 80s..It was the their low end sports car model and came with Miami Vice figurines (okay that was a little bit of a stretch)...The only problem was when you rear ended the car, it exploded and people died. So Pontiac basically had to admit their great looking car was a inoperabe flamey mess. All the good press they got for sassiness, was completely irrelevant because of the basic hazards of the car.

This building has alot of hazards and should not be rewarded for its looks alone.

Anyone get what I am saying, or am I just chattering on and on because I am bored at work.

Nora 27 Nov 2007

Buildings, including simple, dumb, conventional ones - leak all the time. I don't think the public knows enough yet to make a judgement as to why the building is leaking. I think everyone is merely presuming that Gehry's unconventional forms are prone to technical failure.

A building envelope is a complex skin made up of insulators, membranes which control air/water vapor, waterproofing, air cavities, etc...and the design of the skin is a science in itself. Without knowing the specifics of the project, I would place my bet on Gehry coming out clean on this one.

My two cents: I'm thinking the owner/contractor "value engineered" the quality of the waterproofing and decided to alter the envelope design to save cash. As an architect, I see this happen all the time. Architect's provide a design service, which owner's, contractor's, construction managers, owner consultants, facilities personnel (large entities at universities), often ignore.

Interesting interview:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16094600

Troy 01 Dec 2007

"value engineered" Ha! I am using that in the RFP I am working on right now! I think you nailed it, though. I don't mean to come down on FG, having gone to IIT, you can guess why I am just not a huge fan of his work... other than his appearance as a cartoon on PBS' "Arthur".

pazen 01 Dec 2007

 
 
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