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MIT Simmons Hall
MIT Simmons Hall
Project Featured on May 09, 2014
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Other Projects by Steven Holl Architects
MIT Simmons Hall
Project Featured on May 09, 2014
Type
YEAR
2002
SIZE
500,000 sqft - 1,000,000 sqft
The
350 bed residence is envisioned as part of the city form and campus form with a
concept of "Porosity" along Vassar Street. It is a vertical slice of
a city ten stories tall and 330' long. The Urban Concept provides amenities to
students within the dormitory such as a 125 seat theater, as well as a night
cafe. House dining is on street level, like a street front restaurant with a
special awning and outdoor tables. The corridors connecting the rooms are like
streets (11' wide) which happen upon urban experiences. As in Aalto's Baker
House, the hallway can be more like a public place, a lounge.
CONCEPT:
The Sponge concept for the new Undergraduate Residence Hall transforms a porous building morphology via a series of programmatic and bio-technical functions. The overall building mass has five large scale openings. These roughly correspond to main entrances, view corridors, and the main outdoor activity terraces of the dormitory connected to programs such as the gymnasium. The next scale of opening creates vertical porosity in the block with a ruled surface system freely connected to sponge prints, plan to section. These large, dynamic
openings (roughly corresponding to the “houses” in the dorm) are the lungs of
the building bringing natural light down and moving air up through the section.
The “PerfCon” structure is a unique design, allowing for maximum flexibility
and interaction. Each of the dormitory’s single rooms has nine operable windows
over 2’ X 2’ in size. The 18’ depth of the wall naturally shades out the summer
sun, while allowing the low angled winter sun in to help heat the building. In
the deep setting of the numerous windows color is applied to the head and jamb creating identity for each of the ten "houses" within the overall
building. The night light from the 9-window rooms will be magical and exciting.
FOUNDATION
With bedrock too deep to reach and soil too unstable to support friction piles, the
building was designed to “float” like a boat in water. A volume of soil, equal
to the weight of the building above, was excavated. Once complete, the pressure
exerted by the building equals the pressure from the soil that had been
removed. A 4’ thick solid concrete matt foundation evenly distributes the
building load to the soil below.
INFILL WINDOWS
Computer generated Structural models of the PerfCon structure showed areas that were critically overstressed due to long spans and bent spans over open corners.
Select windows in these areas were filled in to resolve the overstressed
conditions.
COLORED WINDOW JAMBS
Based upon a structural diagram used to coordinate the size of reinforcing steel in
the PerfCon panels, the colored jambs express the anticipated maximum stresses in the structure. The colors reveal the size of the reinforcing steel cast
within the PerfCon Panels. Blue=#5, Green=#6, Yellow=#7, Orange=#8, Red=#9 and #10.
Uncolored areas are #5 or smaller.
NATURAL VENTILATION
9 operable windows per single room allow students options for ventilation, views
and privacy. Opening high and low windows takes advantage of the natural rise of warm air within the high-ceiling rooms.
350 bed residence is envisioned as part of the city form and campus form with a
concept of "Porosity" along Vassar Street. It is a vertical slice of
a city ten stories tall and 330' long. The Urban Concept provides amenities to
students within the dormitory such as a 125 seat theater, as well as a night
cafe. House dining is on street level, like a street front restaurant with a
special awning and outdoor tables. The corridors connecting the rooms are like
streets (11' wide) which happen upon urban experiences. As in Aalto's Baker
House, the hallway can be more like a public place, a lounge.
CONCEPT:
The Sponge concept for the new Undergraduate Residence Hall transforms a porous building morphology via a series of programmatic and bio-technical functions. The overall building mass has five large scale openings. These roughly correspond to main entrances, view corridors, and the main outdoor activity terraces of the dormitory connected to programs such as the gymnasium. The next scale of opening creates vertical porosity in the block with a ruled surface system freely connected to sponge prints, plan to section. These large, dynamic
openings (roughly corresponding to the “houses” in the dorm) are the lungs of
the building bringing natural light down and moving air up through the section.
The “PerfCon” structure is a unique design, allowing for maximum flexibility
and interaction. Each of the dormitory’s single rooms has nine operable windows
over 2’ X 2’ in size. The 18’ depth of the wall naturally shades out the summer
sun, while allowing the low angled winter sun in to help heat the building. In
the deep setting of the numerous windows color is applied to the head and jamb creating identity for each of the ten "houses" within the overall
building. The night light from the 9-window rooms will be magical and exciting.
FOUNDATION
With bedrock too deep to reach and soil too unstable to support friction piles, the
building was designed to “float” like a boat in water. A volume of soil, equal
to the weight of the building above, was excavated. Once complete, the pressure
exerted by the building equals the pressure from the soil that had been
removed. A 4’ thick solid concrete matt foundation evenly distributes the
building load to the soil below.
INFILL WINDOWS
Computer generated Structural models of the PerfCon structure showed areas that were critically overstressed due to long spans and bent spans over open corners.
Select windows in these areas were filled in to resolve the overstressed
conditions.
COLORED WINDOW JAMBS
Based upon a structural diagram used to coordinate the size of reinforcing steel in
the PerfCon panels, the colored jambs express the anticipated maximum stresses in the structure. The colors reveal the size of the reinforcing steel cast
within the PerfCon Panels. Blue=#5, Green=#6, Yellow=#7, Orange=#8, Red=#9 and #10.
Uncolored areas are #5 or smaller.
NATURAL VENTILATION
9 operable windows per single room allow students options for ventilation, views
and privacy. Opening high and low windows takes advantage of the natural rise of warm air within the high-ceiling rooms.
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