Building 20
It has been called one of America's "two prominent shrines of the triumph of science during the war" (along with the desert installation at Los Alamos, where the atomic bomb was born).
[1] A former Rad Lab member said, "At one time, more than 20 percent of the physicists in the United States (including nine Nobel Prize winners) had worked in that building".
[1] After the Rad Lab shut down after the end of World War II, Building 20 served as a "magical incubator" for many small MIT programs, research, and student activities for a half-century before it was demolished in 1998.
The three-floor structure was framed with large wooden posts and beams, supporting massive floor planks which creaked and groaned underfoot.
Over time, the interior walls became a hodgepodge of Transite, Masonite, and gypsum wallboard as various occupants grew, shrank, or repurposed their spaces.
The roof was flat, covered in tar paper and gravel, and emitted radiant heat into the top floor whenever the sun shone.
The outer sheathing consisted of asbestos-cement shingles painted a dirty white in a vain attempt to reduce solar heat load.
The windows were leaky, rattling wooden sash, and bristled with numerous large window-mounted air conditioners, since the interior spaces would otherwise become unbearably hot during warm weather.
[5] Opening a windowless corridor door would disclose a blaze of light, or a dark gloomy space, depending on the occupancy of the room.
[6] In 1945, as the Rad Lab prepared to close down, these temporary buildings were not taken down immediately, since post-war student enrollments were increasing dramatically and more space was still needed.
As described by MIT professor Paul Penfield, "Its 'temporary nature' permitted its occupants to abuse it in ways that would not be tolerated in a permanent building.
Institute Professor Emeritus Morris Halle commented that the abundance of space in Building 20 meant that "many quite risky projects got off the ground.
"[7] Noam Chomsky pioneered modern linguistics and generative grammar in a "shabby" nondescript-looking "miserable hole" of an office in Building 20 for several decades.
As a result, Building 20 served as an "incubator" for all sorts of start-up or experimental research, teaching, or student groups on a crowded campus where space was (and remains) at a premium.
[3] Prolific analog circuit designer and technical writer Jim Williams had an electronics lab here for a decade, before moving on to National Semiconductor and then Linear Technology.
[13] On March 27, 1998, "The Magic Incubator", an all-day farewell celebration, was held in honor of Building 20, its former occupants, and the feats accomplished therein.
[15] The time capsule along with several large informational panels about the history of Building 20 are located on the first floor of the Stata Center, near the Dreyfoos Tower elevators, and may be viewed by visitors during normal office hours.
