MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Campus and research center in Cambridge, US
The MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, known as CSAIL, is a research center and campus facility at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Located on Vassar Street, it brings together teams working on artificial intelligence, robotics, cryptography, computer networks, and theoretical computing.
CSAIL was formed in 2003 by merging the Laboratory for Computer Science and the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, two separate groups that had been operating at MIT since the 1960s. The merger brought together decades of work under one roof and made the center one of the largest computing research groups in the world.
CSAIL is known for research, but the Stata Center building that houses it draws visitors on its own merits. Designed by architect Frank Gehry, the structure features sharply angled towers and irregular metallic facades that make it one of the most talked-about buildings on the MIT campus.
The Stata Center sits at the corner of Vassar Street and Main Street, at the edge of the MIT campus, and is an easy walk from the Kendall/MIT stop on the Red Line subway. Public transit is the most convenient way to arrive, as parking in the surrounding streets is limited.
The Stata Center, which houses CSAIL, was the subject of a lawsuit shortly after it opened in 2004, when MIT sued architect Frank Gehry over construction defects. The case was settled out of court, but it made the building more talked about in architecture circles than ever before.
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