Building 20 was, quite literally, designed in an afternoon. In the spring of 1943, Don Whiston, a young architect and former MIT student, received a call from the university asking for preliminary plans and building specs for a 200,000-square-foot building by the end of the day. Whiston delivered. So did the builders who erected this squat, ugly, sprawling structure in plywood, cinder block, and asbestos with remarkable speed.
