LOFTY LIVING

In Atlanta, Georgia, a city known for sprawl and indifference to pedestrians, a new model for downtown living has made an appearance. The "MidCity Lofts," designed by Lord Aeck Sargent Architecture, are up-scale, sunlit, two-story apartments (photo by Rion Rizzo/ Creative Sources Photography) that are attracting smart urbanites to downtown. Next week, Atlanta writer Lisa Ashmore will show us around and speculate on whether the lofts point toward a new trend for this Southern city.

PATTERNS IN SURFACES

As architectural researchers explore ways to exploit digital technologies in design and construction, their computers are shifting from representational devices to instruments for simulation and fabrication. Professors Bradley Bell and Andrew Vrana have been experimenting with adding material properties to a more familiar array of design data. For instance, measuring the degree of curvature in a surface can help determine the bending stress in a material. Next week we'll learn more about their findings.