The Ray and Maria Stata Center /steɪtə/ STAY-ta or Building 32 is a 720,000-square-foot (67,000 m2) academic complex designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The building opened for initial occupancy on March 16, 2004. It sits on the site of MIT's former Building 20, which housed the historic Radiation Laboratory, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Major funding for the project was provided by Ray Stata (MIT class of 1957) and Maria Stata. Other major funders include Bill Gates, Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. (MIT class of 1954), Charles Thomas "E.B" Pritchard Hintze (a graduate and of JD Edwards, now Oracle) and Morris Chang of TSMC. Above the fourth floor, the building splits into two distinct structures: the Gates tower and the Dreyfoos tower.
Contained within the building are the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, as well as the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. Academic celebrities such as Noam Chomsky and Ron Rivest have offices there. World Wide Web Consortium founder Tim Berners-Lee and free software movement founder Richard Stallman also have offices within.
Several MIT classes, including many taught by the computer science and electrical engineering department (Course VI) are held inside. The Forbes Family Café is also located in the Stata Center, serving coffee and lunch to the public.
In contrast to the trend at MIT of referring to buildings by their numbers rather than their official names, the complex is usually referred to as "Stata", or "the Stata Center". The two towers are often called "G Tower" and "D tower".
Read more about Ray And Maria Stata Center: Building 20, Critical Response, Lawsuit, Occupants, Bibliography
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