A CONCERT HALL RESTORED TO LIFE

Severance Hall, although a beautiful 1930s-vintage neo-classical building, was less well known than its primary occupant: the Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by George Szell. Over the years, the world-class symphony grew in fame, while the building suffered from a series of misguided "renovations." Now the building has been restored to its original splendor by Washington D.C. architect, David M. Schwarz. The award-winning restoration has achieved a difficult balance between acoustic excellence and visual fidelity to the original.

WOOD CONSTRUCTION IN THE LANDSCAPE: PART II

This week we began a new series based on Seattle landscape architect Daniel Winterbottom's new book, Wood in the Landscape: A Practical Guide to Specification and Design. Among other topics, he has written about the art and science of building decks. Next week we continue the five-part series with Part II: Decks, Fundamentals of Foundations.

DESIGN COMPUTING: PROMISE AND REALITY

From its beginnings, the Bauhaus was the site of a debate over the relative influence of art and technology in design. This summer, 80 years after its founding, the school witnessed a new twist on the debate. Only this time the technology in question was digital. Weimar, Germany, home of the first Bauhaus School, was host in June to an international conference on design computing. The theme was the promise and reality of computing for the design and planning processes. Next week we'll see how students at Bauhaus University Weimar, like Peter Schueszler, are learning about both real and virtual architecture, and how the two come together in the digital realm.