Rooms With a View

Moving to new offices?  You might want to visit MIT first.

The 1,000+ people in MIT's computer science labs are moving from the WWII-era "NE43" building to the $285-million, 719,000 square-foot, Frank Gehry-designed "Stata Center." 

Computer science engineers are, in many ways that matter, much like lawyers:  Solitary specialists who must also collaborate, confronting real-world problems and dreaming of paradigm-shifting solutions, perhaps not naturally gregarious but benefiting immensely from interaction and cross-disciplinary pollenization.  Whereas NE43 was one enormous rectilinear box, there is scarcely a right angle to be found at Stata.

"It's a people building," says Chris Terman, associate chair of CSAIL, who asserts that the Stata Center's layout promotes conversation and interaction among people. It's designed for ease of movement. It promotes collaboration. It welcomes change.

Unless you're Skadden, you may not have $285-million to spend (and you're renting not buying in any case), but MIT is nothing if not confident that it's giving its crown-jewels department a powerful new platform for innovation in the 21st Century.

Take a look: Food for thought.