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Freeze Frame

A closer look at the hottest solutions from January

Staff -- Interior Design, 1/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

BMOC

The Illinois Institute of Technology has a prestigious design pedigree: Buildings on the Chicago campus are by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who served as director of architecture from 1938 to 1958. Nevertheless, today's administrators saw the need for an overhaul, to address the separation of dorm life from academic facilities.

In came another big gun: Rem Koolhaas, partner of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. His 115,000-square-foot McCormick Tribune Campus Center offers areas for students to eat, play Ping-Pong, and access the Internet—against a vivid backdrop of green, red, and orange.

Of course, Mies's contributions will never be forgotten. Oversize portraits of the master are printed on the main entry's glass doors as well as on the "founders' wall" in the lobby. "Too Cool for School," page 168. —C.C.

Let Them Eat Cake

For a restaurateur's house near the Lac d'Annecy, in eastern France, designer Matali Crasset came up with a playful solution to the perennial kitchen storage problem with three steel cupboards that spell out the word eat. An auto-body shop fabricated them to her specifications (61/2 feet high and 1 foot deep). Then she enameled the insides reddish-orange. "It's a strong statement," she says, "because the kitchen is the most important room in the house. That's where everyone hangs out."

Plenty of brute strength was required to install the cupboards, placed directly opposite the house's main entry, so they're not going anywhere else in a hurry. That's fine by the owner. He thinks they're fantastique. "All Together Now," page 178. —I.P.