MEDICAL RESEARCH IN STYLE

The firms of BNIM Architects and Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann & Associates have partnered to design a research facility at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. This new home of the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases is a six-story structure (photo by Farshid Assassi) that is elegant in design and pure in function. Next week Elizabeth Bollinger will show how the building is a departure, in several ways, from conventional research facilities.

VENERABLE BRICK

In July 2006, the Brick Industry Association announced the winners of its annual Brick in Architecture Awards, recognizing outstanding works of nonresidential architecture in which clay brick features prominently in construction. One of those so honored is the Concord Hospital designed by TRO/The Ritchie Organization (photo by Gary Kessel). The building's primary material of brick evokes the vernacular architecture of this New Hampshire town. Next week we'll see some of the other award winners and hear why brick was the chosen material.