The Case of MIT v. Frank Gehry MIT is suing the architect because his $300-million Stata Center is a piece of junk.

All right, that's not exactly what the suit says.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has filed a negligence suit against world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, charging that flaws in his design of the $300 million Stata Center in Cambridge, one of the most celebrated works of architecture unveiled in years, caused leaks to spring, masonry to crack, mold to grow, and drainage to back up.

And here's something that you don't hear a lot: John Silber speaking...without foaming at the mouth.

"It really is a disaster," said former Boston University president John Silber, who sharply criticizes the Stata Center's design in a new book, "Architecture of the Absurd: How 'Genius' Disfigured a Practical Art."

After learning of the lawsuit yesterday, Silber said Gehry "thinks of himself as an artist, as a sculptor. But the trouble is you don't live in a sculpture and users have to live in this building."

In this case, I have to agree with Silber. Have you ever been inside the Stata Center? It's grim!

Also today, the New York Sun analyzes "the Bilbao Effect," the rush of building showcase art museums provoked by the success of Frank Gehry's Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain.

In 25 years, will this construction binge seem brilliant or foolish? Will it have advanced the mission of art museums, or merely diffused it?

  ¶ 7:07 AM