Gehry's Dadaist Campus

[Mandrew]

I'm not sure what to think about Frank Gehry's Cambridge Campus at MIT, especially considering his recent Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

My immediate reaction was that it looked like a hypercolor version of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (German Dada movement silent film of the 1920's), what with all the skewed perspectives and "impossible" architecture. The movie's set design was daring for the day, with not a single 90 degree angle anywhere on the lot. It's a world seen through the eyes of a madman. My favorite set detail: sunlight painted on the floors as if streaming in through the window panes.

Perhaps this is the sequel: The Campus of Dr. Cali-Gehry...

[Chuck Rachal]

When i frist arrived in Boston, the buildings structure of the Stata Center was being errected. It looked almost as a beautiful mistake. Steel beams and columns bending in every which way, fresh concrete, the building could have been left in the construction phase and the project would have saved a few millions. I got the chance to visit the site while construction
But now with the Stata Center recently opened to the public, i went to view the interior. It was beautiful as much as it was disturbing. It was the frist time i felt as if a wall was going to collapse on me. I consider the building like gorgeous, but unstable woman; ready to cave in on you any moment, but too beautiful to keep away. With that said, i don't know what to think of the building. Residents, architects, and arch students seem to also have many different opinions on the bulding, as with most of gehry's work. No doubt the building is atractive, but is it justified? Does it even need to be justified?
This is a website where construction photos can be viewed.

http://www.csail.mit.edu/events/news/stata/constructionphotos/photos.html