It’s that I think the low-budget aesthetic is superior.
Despite, or because? Culture has an immense effect, and MIT is pulling from a very different crowd than the state school I’m referring to. Sometimes, as with Building 20, the ramshackle nature of the building gives room for experiments not allowed elsewhere; other times, like the crumbling edifice next door to my dorm, it’s just depressing, because MIT geniuses didn’t go there. The kind of EA activities presumably planned for Wytham aren’t going to be drilling through walls to run wire for some quirky experiment.
And they replaced Building 20 with a Gehry eyesore. Sad!
MIT has had lots of buildings, but Building 20 is probably the most famous. Building 20 suggests that if you hold the “MIT crowd” factor constant, the low-budget aesthetic wins.
The kind of EA activities presumably planned for Wytham aren’t going to be drilling through walls to run wire for some quirky experiment.
I suspect that a place like Wytham will have the opposite effect of Building 20, making attendees feel stuffy and self-important, and that is harmful.
I believe that the role of Building 20 as a incubator is really the right word, because people got together and shared ideas and words without really worrying about who you were or where you came from. And I think that’s the secret.
My basis for the fame claim was (a) as someone outside MIT, it was the MIT building I was most familiar with and (b) a Google search for famous buildings at MIT had Building 20 coming up more as a dedicated search result than any other building.
It could be that Building 20 was not famous before the nostalgia burst. But I think the nostalgia burst shows that Building 20′s fame is causally downstream of it being an innovation hothouse. How many other decommissioned university buildings receive a nostalgia burst of similar magnitude & character?
My headcanon was that part of the purpose of Wytham was to appeal to Important People people who already feel stuffy and important, who wouldn’t go to a cubicle venue.
Well, as an attempt to appeal to Important People, Wytham seems like a clear failure, given the public relations fallout.
Also, I think credibility with Important People is enhanced if you can say “We are renting a fancy venue for this particular event, but in general we work in low-budget accommodations because we want to do as much good as we can with our money”.
Despite, or because? Culture has an immense effect, and MIT is pulling from a very different crowd than the state school I’m referring to. Sometimes, as with Building 20, the ramshackle nature of the building gives room for experiments not allowed elsewhere; other times, like the crumbling edifice next door to my dorm, it’s just depressing, because MIT geniuses didn’t go there. The kind of EA activities presumably planned for Wytham aren’t going to be drilling through walls to run wire for some quirky experiment.
And they replaced Building 20 with a Gehry eyesore. Sad!
MIT has had lots of buildings, but Building 20 is probably the most famous. Building 20 suggests that if you hold the “MIT crowd” factor constant, the low-budget aesthetic wins.
I suspect that a place like Wytham will have the opposite effect of Building 20, making attendees feel stuffy and self-important, and that is harmful.
https://infinite.mit.edu/video/mits-building-20-magical-incubator
Was it the most famous before the nostalgia burst around its decommissioning?
I’m also not convinced it’s the most famous today. Above it I’d put at least:
The dome / Infinite Corridor
Green Building
Stata (mostly for being ugly)
My basis for the fame claim was (a) as someone outside MIT, it was the MIT building I was most familiar with and (b) a Google search for famous buildings at MIT had Building 20 coming up more as a dedicated search result than any other building.
It could be that Building 20 was not famous before the nostalgia burst. But I think the nostalgia burst shows that Building 20′s fame is causally downstream of it being an innovation hothouse. How many other decommissioned university buildings receive a nostalgia burst of similar magnitude & character?
My headcanon was that part of the purpose of Wytham was to appeal to Important People people who already feel stuffy and important, who wouldn’t go to a cubicle venue.
Well, as an attempt to appeal to Important People, Wytham seems like a clear failure, given the public relations fallout.
Also, I think credibility with Important People is enhanced if you can say “We are renting a fancy venue for this particular event, but in general we work in low-budget accommodations because we want to do as much good as we can with our money”.