Frank Gehry’s new Stata Center at MIT “occupies historic, even mystical ground. It sits on the site of the former Building 20, a boxy wooden structure that was thrown up in 1943 and became known as the Magical Incubator for the breakthroughs that took place inside, including the invention of radar and Mr. Chomsky’s pioneering work in linguistics. This building is on the precise site of one of the major flourishings of innovation in the 20th century.”