Stata Center (Frank Gehry conceptual design)

Stage-business case. Tom crumples four sheets of paper to demonstrate how Frank Gehry presented the conceptual design of the Stata Center to MIT physical-plant head Vicki Sirianni. Budget went from $115M to $430M; MIT froze salaries for two years. Used to illustrate how informal conceptual designs become consequential.

[Tom crumples up four sheets of paper and tosses them on the desk.] This is a conceptual design right here. Anyone who hasn't heard this story before — does anyone know what that is the conceptual design for? You know the Stata Center, the building over here that has all the weird shapes. I know this story for a fact because Vicki Sirianni, an architect who was head of MIT physical plant, and her team were about to build the Stata Center, and they hired Frank Gehry, one of the world's renowned architects. I happened to meet with her the morning after she got back from Los Angeles meeting with Gehry in his office. She was in the conference room with some of the other people, and Gehry walks in and starts crumpling up paper, and he throws it on the table and says, that's what your new building's going to look like. So there's the conceptual design of the monstrosity we call the Stata Center: crumpled paper.