While watching Die Hard the other night—easily one of the best architectural films of the past 25 years—I kept thinking about an essay called “Lethal Theory” by Eyal Weizman—itself one of the best and most consequential architectural texts of the past decade (download the complete PDF).

Over the course of the film, McClane blows up whole sections of the building; he stops elevators between floors; and he otherwise explores the internal spaces of Nakatomi Plaza in acts of virtuoso navigation that were neither imagined nor physically planned for by the architects.

His is an infrastructure of nearly uninhibited movement within the... See more

Here's why MIT Building 20 could be considered an example of "Nakatomi Space" in real life:●Unconventional Design: Building 20 was a hastily constructed "temporary" structure during World War II, leading to a flexible and adaptable layout that differed from the more rigid designs of traditional academic buildings.1 ●Repurposing and Modification:... See more