| Actually, if you were into architecture, MIT would be a much more interesting place to study.
The ersatz "college gothic" architecture of Princeton or Yale is a pale imitation of the real stuff at Cambridge or Oxford and certainly does not win any awards for creativity or functionality. At least Harvard's colonial style brick building architecture exudes some sense of authenticity.
Many MIT buildings are designed by some of the most innovative architects of our time such as Alvar Aalto, Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, Kevin Roche, Steven Holl, Frank Gehry or Charles Correa. My D. who lives in Simmons Hall (the sponge) can't walk down her hallway without seeing some visiting architecture scholar or student. While some people may be confused by the absence of a unifying "Disneyland" theme park feel to the MIT campus, these buildings all have distinct personalities and are generally designed to serve a specific function. MIT, just as it encourages its students, likes to take risks. Some architectural efforts turn out better than others. None are boring. |