This is an interesting AP story where the famed Massachusetts Institute of Technology is suing an architect of one of their new buildings for breach of duties for providing “deficient designs”. MIT is also suing the builder over the leaking building. Naturally, the builder is claiming that they built it right; It’s the design that was screwed.
This is a great example of the need to understand the difference between “quality of design” versus “quality of manufacture”. If you take a look at the building that is the focus of the law suit (see below), you’ll see that it is an unorthodox design. Thus, there will probably be all sorts of forensic engineers testifying whether the building was designed properly (e.g., did the unusual angles properly allow for water drainage?) or whether it was constructed properly (e.g., did the builders fasten the flashing material properly to avoid leakage?).
