Building? Sculpture? Failure?

MIT is suing architect Frank Gehry over the design of the Stata Center. (MARK WILSON/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2007)

I HAVE a master's in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and I predicted that Frank Gehry's freakish design for the Stata Center would be an albatross that the school would pour millions into maintaining ("MIT sues Gehry, citing leaks in $300m complex," Page A1, Nov. 6).

In the heady world of Globe architecture critic Robert Campbell, who is quoted in the story, Gehry may be a hero for building a monument to himself on a corner of the monotonous MIT campus.

Now the cognitive scientists working there have collected the samples, evaluated the data, and come to a consensus that indeed the building is leaking.

HERB ZELLER
Boston

I'VE SPENT most of my career of 43 years as a court reporter in public buildings, both old and new. It never ceased to amaze me and others how many of the new buildings, though beautiful to look at from the outside, were not functional inside.

Few, if any, of the people who had to work in these buildings every day were ever consulted or asked for their opinions.

I've often thought that there should be a master architectural plan for government buildings, colleges, and the like. When something doesn't work well in the first building, the next structure would be changed accordingly. Sooner or later, perfection would be bound to occur; costs would be a known factor; money would be well spent; and the end product would be practical and efficient.

But that's just too simple.

ERNEST J. DUTRA
Rumford, R.I.