Gehry's Flawed Design

Lots of talk this week about the MIT lawsuit against Frank Gehry. Apparently, the university has spent $1.5 million towards problems like drainage and cracking at the recently completed $300 million Stata Center. Some of the online articles don't tell the whole story. According to the former director of planning at MIT, the problems were not just due to a poor detailing, but also a rather amateur project management team, who had no idea what they were getting into.

As we are taught in school, the architect is always the first one liable for problems with construction. However, I think there must be some bad blood between MIT and Gehry, because MIT should have been aware that such an avant-garde design will have inherent issues. They commissioned Gehry to produce a Gehry building, so they should live with the consequences of that. Snow and ice falling from the building due to accumulations on horizontal faces is not a flaw- it's a result of a unique design. Old Victorian buildings with steep roofs have the same problem. I feel that the fallout from such publicity will be that clients will be less inclined to embrace innovative designs. Innovation in architecture in North America (N.A.) is being stifled by the threat of these kind of lawsuits, as well as special interest groups, an overly conservative building code, and planners. As a result, N.A. cities are built on time, on budget, and code compliant, but with little else to excite the spirit.

When certain restrictions and fears are lifted, architecture crosses into fresh territory, and new and interesting relationships form within the city (see this article about OMA's CCTV tower in Beijing). I don't advocate irresponsible architecture. But I think that, at least in N.A., we need to ask ourselves if we want an urban environment that is able to inspire and question, or one that just depresses us even more. It is a false assumption that the stringent building code makes the built environment safer. It does not. It creates a complacent society. We need to have more faith in ourselves and use our natural capacity to adapt, to navigate, to climb, and to watch out. MIT should be grateful for having an otherwise spectacular building, and should find more creative ways to adapt to problems rather than simply laying the blame on the architect.