SIMMONS HALL AT MIT

A new dormitory by Steven Holl that just opened at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology seems tailor-made for the school's "techie" culture. It's been compared variously to a giant Rubik's Cube and a 1950s computer punch card. This modestly sized building has 6,000 operable windows in square openings along the building's skin. Next week Boston writer James McCown will take us on a tour of this extraordinary building, explaining how it was built and why the students love it already.

TRICKS OF THE RENDERING TRADE

Architectural rendering has been a fine art delegated to specialists for decades. Even though recent advances in computer software have put more rendering tools into the hands of practitioners, there is still a fine degree of skill required to make images look real — or appealingly unreal — and stimulate design thinking. Next week San Francisco-based professional renderer Michael Sechman will describe some of the processes he's discovered and developed to make his images successful.

AIA GEORGIA AWARDS FOR 2002

In October 2002, the Georgia Association of the American Institute of Architects presented 14 design awards to Georgia architects. One of those went to Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects for the Herman Miller Cherokee Operations building. One of several architectural goals for the project was an expression of functional honesty in the furniture maker's manufacturing operations. The building opens up to reveal processes and forms and maximizes accessibility of offices to manufacturing spaces. Next week we'll take a look at some of the other Georgia award winners. (Photo: Timothy Hursley)