The Ray and Maria Stata Center for Computer, Information and Intelligence Sciences is built on the site of MIT's legendary Building 20, a "temporary" timber-framed building constructed during World War II that served as a breeding ground for many of the great ideas that were born at MIT. Designed by renowned architect Frank O. Gehry, the Stata Center is meant to carry on Building 20's innovative and serendipitous spirit, and to foster interaction and collaboration across many disciplines. The building is home to the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) and the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. Its striking design—featuring tilting towers, many-angled walls and whimsical shapes—challenges much of the conventional wisdom of laboratory and campus building. When the building opened in 2004, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Robert Campbell wrote in the Boston Globe that the building is "a work of architecture that embodies serious thinking about how people live and work, and at the same time shouts the joy of invention."
