THE BROWN CENTER AT MICA

The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is one of the cultural gems of Baltimore, a city that seldom receives the recognition it deserves for its rhythmic 19th-century classical architecture and occasionally edgy 20th-century modernism. To bring architectural focus and identity to a spread-out campus of diverse styles, MICA commissioned architect Charles Brickbauer, FAAR, AIA to design a building that would house the school’s innovative graphic arts department. Next week photographer and architectural historian William Lebovich will give us a tour.

ENGINEERING INNOVATION IN BEIJING

To support the rapid expansion of China Central Television (CCTV), an international design competition was launched in 2002 for a headquarters building in Beijing. Winning the commission was Rem Koolhaas (Office for Metropolitan Architecture, OMA), teamed with engineering firm Arup and the East China Architecture and Design Institute as architect and engineer of record. Next week, Arup structural engineers will describe how they applied computer technology to analyze the unusual form, a "continuous tube."