Three years after suing Gehry, MIT settles with architect in Stata Center dispute
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It was a big story in late 2007: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was suing celebrated architect Frank Gehry, alleging serious flaws in the design of his Stata Center, a science building of boldly angled walls and swooping curves on the Cambridge, Mass. campus.

Among the alleged problems: leaks throughout the building, mold growing on its brick exterior, and poor drainage in the center's amphitheater.

Gehry's critics quickly piled on, charging that the suit proved that the avant-garde Los Angeles designer, a winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, cared more about form than function. Gehry, whose firm was paid $15 million for its work on the $300 million project, denied that he was at fault.

“These things are complicated,” he told The New York Times, “and they involved a lot of people, and you never quite know where they went wrong....I think the issues are fairly minor. MIT is after our insurance."

Nearly three years later, the MIT student newspaper has quietly reported that the university has settled its suit against Gehry and the builders of the Stata Center, including Beacon Skanska Construction (now known as Skanska USA Building Inc.).

The newspaper, The Tech, reported in its online edition of March 19: "Most of the issues of design and construction cited in the lawsuit have been resolved. "The lawsuit....was officially dismissed by the Massachusetts Superior Court on Monday, March 8."

The story, written by one of The Tech's news editors, John A. Hawkinson, added: "MIT retained outside consultants to examine the construction for defects, and those consultants produced reports which are not publicly available."

The account does not say whether any money changed hands in the settlement. When the lawsuit was filed, a Skanska executive charged that Gehry ignored warnings from the contractor that the design was flawed.

In an email Tuesday, Gehry said no money was involved in the settlement.

On March 30, the university's news office issued a joint statement from MIT, Gehry's firm (Gehry Partners) and Skanska saying that the lawsuit had been "amicably resolved."

Officially known as the Ray and Maria Stata Center, the building houses classrooms, meeting rooms, labs and offices. Gehry's other projects include the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and BP Bridge in Chicago's Millennium Park.