Stata Center
The Ray and Maria Stata Center is a 430,000-ft² (40,000 m²) academic complex designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The building opened for initial occupancy on March 16, 2004.
Major funding for this project was provided by Ray Stata (MIT class of 1957) and Maria Stata. It is said that Ray Stata specifically requested that this project be a "center" and not a "complex" as the phrase "Stata Complex" sounds like a psychological disorder.
Other major funders are William H. Gates, III and computer science and artificial intelligence laboratories. Several classes, such as 6.001, the introductory computer science course, are held inside. The Forbes Family Café is also located in the Stata Center, serving coffee and lunch to the public.
In typical MIT style the names of the funders are recorded on the buildings and some maps, however the building is also widely known by its number, "Building 32", and the towers have already been reduced to the initial letter of the name: the "G Tower" and the "D tower".
Occupants
