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. It sits on the site of MIT's former Building 20, which housed the historic Radiation Laboratory.
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 Bill Gates and Alexander Dreyfoos (MIT class of 1954). Above the fourth floor, the building splits into two distinct structures: the Gates tower and the Dreyfoos tower.
Contained within the building are 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, although the names of the funders are recorded on the buildings and some maps, 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".
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