Simmons Hall - Steven Holl

MIT Campus

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Instead of a brick urban wall, we envision...a porous membrane
made up of four or five individual building. - Steven Holl1
Nathan Steeber

Simmons Hall, designed by Steven Holl and

architects, is an undergraduate dorm that
holds 350 students. In addition, it also contains a night cafe, street level dining, and an
125-seat theater. The building is 382 feet long
and ten stories tall. Each single room or the
dorm contains a grided pattern of nine operable windows. The depth of these windows
18 into the wall provides shade from the hot
summers sun and allows ample heat gain in
the winter.5 One explanation for the different colors coated on the head and jamb of
the windows is to denote the different houses
within the building.7 Another deals with stress
which will be discussed along with structure.
The colors are very visible from some angles
and not as visible from others.
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Background Information
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The model at the bottom was

an early model depicting the
sponge or porous concept idea
behind Simmons Halls design.
The porous parts of the building
serve as atria to allow ventilation
to flow up through the building
and to serve as a common area
for students to gather. Shown
here are two atria within the
building.2

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Background Information
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Much of Holls idea for Simmons Hall can be traced to

a single word - porosity.4 The idea was supposedly inspired by the sponge he was bathing with one morning. 9
The Sponge concept allows for the transformation of the
building into a series of programmatic and bio-technical
functions.5 Sculptural fluid spaces within the building
connect residential houses vertically and promote student interaction. These large porous sections also serve
as lungs for the building by allowing light to enter and
serving as a means of vertical ventilation.1

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Designing the Hall

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12

18
14

22

12
14

19

18

24

14

14

14

23

16
EIGHTH FLOOR

20

17
14
19

12

17

13

14

17

21

SEVENTH FLOOR

19
12

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18
18

Model of Simmons Hall before

construction began.

17

13

17

16

14
19

SIXTH FLOOR

26

You can see through the floor

plans that similar holes begin
to link floors together vertically
within the different houses in the
building. You can also begin to see
how systems work together as a
whole. 2

18

26

12

12

14

12
16

14
13

12

17

15

17

THIRD FLOOR

12

29

30

18

30

19

12

28

14
12

14

14

27
12

25

12

14

SECOND FLOOR

Floor Plans

9
10

11

13

7
8
GROUND FLOOR

1
6

N 0

20 FT.
6 M.

210

Architectural Record 05.03

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Although it was not an integral part of Holls original

design, Simmons Hall is made of precast concrete
panels that form an exoskeleton and bring the
buildings heavy structure to the exterior. This solution
was made possible by the structural engineer, Guy
Nordensen, who created a high-strength pre-cast
system specifically for this building, known as Prefcon.
Prefcon is essentially a bearing wall that allows the
regular patterns of windows on a small scale and large
openings/cantilevers on a larger scale.1 These 10 x
10 or 10 x 20 foot panels
work as a rigid frame and
Vierendeel truss, to carry
lateral forces and gravity.4

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Structure
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A Vierendreel truss is a special truss developed

in 1896. This sort of truss consists of a rigid upper (fixed connections between chords and
webs) and lower beam connected by vertical
beams. This truss is seen a lot in bridges, but has
been seen in buildings as well. (Ex: the World
Trade Center Twin Towers. 10 This design is a
unique design and a perfect selection for Simmons Hall because the rectangular openings in
the truss allow for the 5000+ windows on the
building.

Structure
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Structure

Simmons Hall was designed to float as a result of

an unreachable bedrock and the unstable soil. To
achieve this a 4 concrete matt foundation was created for the building to sit on. In addition an amount
of soil equal to the entire weight of the building was
excavated and the building replaced it to fool mother
nature into thinking nothing happened. 7 From the
concrete matt, the Prefcon pieces were built upwards.
As mentioned before, they were made into 290 precast panels and were lifted into place and attached
together. The joints were made extremely strong
so that the members would yield before the joints
would. To do this spliced sleeve joints with 1-inch
dry-packed grout was used to connect pieces vertically, and wet joints and bar-lock couplers were used
to connect pieces horizontally. 3 It doesnt end there.
Not all the panels are the same. The colors of the
windows correlate to the stress within them. Each
color (blue, green, yellow, orange, & red) represents
the size of the reinforcing steel needed in the concrete (5, 6, 7, 8, & 9/10 respectively). This idea was created as a result of computer generated stress models that showed parts of the building that would be
overstressed.7 Even with these higher strength steel
bars, there are some parts of the building where the
panels had to be sealed as a result of accumulating
stresses.4

The interior structure of Simmons Hall consists

of two rows of columns running the length of
the building. They run along the walls of the
central corridor so as not to interrupt the open
spaces. Although these columns exist, they are
not as important as the Prefcon. The interior
columns are necessary, but the Prefcon carries
most of the weight of the structure.3

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Structure

Along with beams and slabs, the Prefcon and

columns work to resist lateral loads. First of all,
the Prefcon resists a majority of the lateral loads
because of its stiffness. However, the loads are
still transferred through the Prefecon into the
ground and to the interior columns and then
into the ground . The floor slabs also work as a
diaphragm to resist lateral forces. The diagram
to the left shows a shear diagram of the entire
building caused by gravity and lateral loads.3

Works Cited
(1) Amelar, Sarah. Simmons Hall. Architectural Record May 2003: 204-215.
(2) Astbury, Julian, Leroy Le-Lacheur, and Mark Walsh-Cooke. Simmons Hall, MIT. The ARUP Journal Febuary
2003: 42-46. 29 April 2007. < http://alumni.imsa.edu/~falcon12/arup_simmons.pdf>.
(3) Baker, Alison, William Fowler, Alexander French, Rusmin Soetjipto, and Elizabeth Wayman. Alternative
Structural Systems for Simmons Hall. Fall 2003 Massachusettes Institute of Technology. 5 June 2007 < http://
www.wilrf.us/pdf/work/simmons/simmons.htm>.
(4) Guy Nordenson and Associations. Structural Engineers LLP. 29 April 2007 < http://www.nordenson.com/
project.php?id=16&l=name&offset=1&loffset=1>.
(5) M.I.T. Simmons Hall. Steven Holl Architects. 29 April 2007 < http://www.stevenholl.com/PT173_5CR.
htm>.
(6) Offering a Wide Range of Plumbing and HVAC Services. NB Kenney Mechanical Contractors. 29 April 2007
< http://www.nbkenney.com/portfolio.html>.
(7) Simmons Hall. Architectook. Ed. AM Putra. 24 May 2007. 5 June 2007 < http://architectook.net/simmons-hall>.
(8) Steeber, Nathan. Photographs. Taken Fall 2007.
(9) Steven Holl: Simmons Hall at the MIT. 2000-2007. Designboom. 29 April 2007 < http://www.designboom.com/portrait/holl_simmonshall.html>.
(10) Truss. April 2007. Wikipedia. 29 April 2007 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truss#Vierendeel_truss>