A Modern More or Less Humane
Since before its completion in 2002, Stephen Holl’s award-winning MIT dormitory, Simmons Hall, has been garnering praise from the architectural community. But assessing a building as a professional critic is different from living in and interacting with it. I wondered how the students who lived there felt about it.
According to his Web site, Holl’s intention was to produce a porous structure that would promote free-flowing social activity and energy. The building does indeed seem to be a refreshing change from the material palette, primarily brick, of the surrounding campus. The Simmons Hall facade is covered with hundreds of L-shaped metal panels that frame small square windows. As intended, the building’s monolithic form has the appearance of a permeable membrane.
