ARCHITECTUREWEEK HOLIDAY

Next week ArchitectureWeek will take a little time to smell the roses. We'll return on May 19 with ArchitectureWeek No. 193, including the articles previewed here, and more.

EXCELLENCE IN SAN FRANCISCO ARCHITECTURE

The San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects has announced its 2004 design awards winners. One of them is the Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View, California, designed by Mark Cavagnero Associates (pictured, photo by Tim Griffith). In addition to housing music classrooms and studios, the building provides visual arts studios, a recital hall, and an outdoor performance area. Next week we'll examine this and the other selected projects.

MAKING DAYLIGHTING DESIGN A WHIZ

To foster the use of daylighting concepts throughout the design of a building, the Lighting Group at the Institute for Research in Construction has developed an online support service called Lightswitch Wizard. Its simulation results are based on IRC's expert software DAYSIM. The application can help architects design perimeter offices with "enough but not too much" annual daylight. It enables lighting designers to assess the energy of lighting and window blind controls. Next week author Christoph Reinhart will show us how it works.