DANCING ABOUT ARCHITECTURE

A Chicago theatrical performance recently took over a vacant 90,000-square-foot (8400-square-meter) factory—and helped the mundane building shine like never before. Director Mary Zimmerman's "Eleven Rooms of Proust" momentarily transformed the series of working-class spaces into an architectural masterpiece of ideal programming, extraordinary lighting, complexly rewarding spatial relationships, and the delivery of a higher message than expected from the sum of its material parts. One day many years from now, the factory will be enjoying a cup of tea and French pastry while remembering its past, and it will happily realize it was never more architecturally fulfilled than when it hosted "Eleven Rooms of Proust."

E-COMMERCE SERVES FACILITY MANAGERS, OR DOES IT?

Construction industry pundits have estimated potential savings in the billions of dollars that might be realized from intelligent applications of electronic commerce. Similar savings might be found in the post-construction management of facilities through the outsourcing of common tasks, strategic partnerships with facility services, and the automation of routine transactions. But how is this potential being understood and applied? Next week we showcase a recent survey undertaken by the CRS Center at Texas A&M University and sponsored by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Foundation. Researchers Robert E. Johnson and Mark J. Clayton unveil their preliminary results showing the extent of industry adoption of e-commerce technologies.

ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS LEARNING TOOLS OF THE FUTURE

The Program of Computer Graphics at Cornell University is one of the world's leading research laboratories in its field, as we demonstrated this week. It's also a leader in undergraduate design education. Students are given state-of-the-art equipment to work with and are taught principles of design and computing that will transcend future technological changes. The outcome—enhanced design learning ability—is visible in their design projects. Next week we'll take a look at some of those student projects. We'll also track the careers of a few former students, now leaders in their own right in the many fields of computer graphics.