MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

MIT's Building 20: The Magical Incubator Story, Anecdote, or Reminiscence

A Mystery and the H.B. Lasnik Memorial Hole

Gary Milsark
MILSARK@VM.TEMPLE.EDU

In response to the request for bldg 20 stories, here are two from the early '70's, when I was a linguistics grad student. Both, I think illustrate the protean character of the structure.

1. One day as I walked down B wing toward C to collect my mail in the linguistics office, or for some other errand I don't recall, I noticed that something was different about the corner where B and C join. After a moment's consideration, I realized that an office door that had been right at the end of B wing had disappeared and moved about 6 feet to the right. There was no sign of recent construction, the paint was not visibly disturbed or patched, all seemed the same as ever, except that the door was in a different place. Since I was at the office virtually every day, the change must have happened overnight or at most in a day's time. It's hard to imagine something like that being possible in any conventionally constructed building I have ever known.

2. In a paroxysm of frustration at the progress of his thesis, a colleague burst from his cubicle one afternoon and began to kick one of the composite board partitions in 20D102, to the accompaniment of a rhythmic chant: "deep structure! (WHACK!) surface structure! (WHACK!) semantic interpretation! (WHACK!). The third whack put his foot through the board and into the wall space, leaving a hole that quickly sprouted a sign reading "The H.B. Lasnik Memorial Hole". In a couple days' time, two workmen arrived, cut, fit and painted a new panel, and were gone in half an hour. Bldg. 20 triumphed again, invincible as always. It would not surprise me to hear that wrecking balls bounce off its sides,or perhaps pass through cleanly, leaving negligible damage. I devoutly hope so.