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MIT's decision to go for of-the-moment architecture is also exemplified by the nearby Stata Center, designed by Frank Gehry and now under construction. Simmons and Stata are part of the institute's $1 billion-plus building program, wrapped under the name "The Evolving MIT Campus."

In commissioning works by architects like Gehry and Holl, MIT is bucking a trend among many prestigious colleges to "brand" themselves with collegiate Gothic, stately Georgian, or some other traditional campus design style.

"Don't use the word 'typical' in describing this building," says Jonathan Himmel, who oversaw the Simmons project for MIT.

Distinctive Skins

Indeed a modestly sized building with 6,000 operable windows could hardly be called typical. The many square openings in the building's skin are part of an exoskeleton system called PerfCon.

The structural facade elements, composed of concrete, steel, and aluminum, were prefabricated and then snapped together on site like Lego blocks. Because this outer skeleton is load-bearing, the architect was able to carve openings out of various parts of the building to preserve the views from surrounding buildings and to prevent the structure from appearing as an arrogant wall.

Further, as if in a nod to MIT's collective love of technology, Holl and the engineers of record, Simpson Gumpertz and Heger, keyed the exterior color scheme to structural stress levels along the facades, with red-framed squares indicating the highest stresses and blue the lowest.

In addition, as in brise-soleil systems, the 10- to 12-inch (25- to 30-centimeter) thick perforated skin keeps the high summer rays from penetrating while allowing lower winter rays in. The dorm rooms each have at least nine operable windows, and some have more than twice that many. A system of chilled water running throughout the building is used in place of traditional air conditioning.

Circulating Inside

The building's exterior angularity does not prepare the visitor for what takes place within. The main entrance lobby, at the east end of the building, is of rough, board-form concrete, light wood, and chrome. This is the first sign that Holl's modernist sensibility will prevail throughout.

Proceeding through a series of spaces, one glimpses views of the Charles River and the Boston skyline. At various points are multilevel common rooms defined by free-form gray walls made of Structolite. These sensuous volumes look and feel like a dolphin's skin, and they fold and curve upward to skylights. At night the spaces are visible through the building's rectangular exterior, like free-form sculptures surrounded by a metal grid box.

Like some of his modernist predecessors, Holl insisted on designing everything that would go in the building. The natural wood-color furniture in the dorm rooms was custom made in Denmark and features randomly-sized "swiss cheese" circular cutouts. The stair railings continue this theme with machine-cut round perforations in a combination of brushed stainless steel and shiny chrome.

The only jarring elements are the rather dainty sheer white curtains for the dorm room windows and equally effete looking sconces on the free-form gray walls, which seem to detract from the sky wells' spare fluidity.

Holl is certainly aware of the legacies that Aalto and the Finnish-born Saarinen left on the MIT campus. But he has no qualms about working alongside these masters, having completed the Kiasma Museum in the heart of Helsinki several years ago. "Most of my life I've been designing next to great Finnish architects," he says.

Students living in Simmons Hall seem to be aware of the special nature of their new home. Says Elizabeth Gooding, a freshman from Providence, Rhode Island: "This is like living in a piece of art."

James McCown is a Boston-based architectural journalist. His work appears regularly in Boston Magazine, ArchitectureBoston, and Metropolis.

Simmons Hall on the MIT campus. In the foreground is the Kresge Hall by Eero Saarinen. Photo: James McCown Simmons Hall has been compared to a giant Rubik's Cube and a 1950s computer punch card. Photo: Andy Ryan Night view of Simmons Hall. Photo: Andy Ryan Construction workers putting finishing touches on the Simmons facade. Photo: James McCown Inside the building, sensuous volumes resembling a dolphin's skin fold and curve upward to skylights. Photo: Andy Ryan Free-form volumes with curves broken only by sconces. Photo: James McCown Architect-designed dormitory furniture with circular cutouts. Photo: Andy Ryan The facade is color coded to express structural stress levels, with red-framed squares indicating the highest stresses and blue the lowest. Image: Simpson Gumpertz and Heger   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.