Essay 1: Simmons Hall Use Michael Plasmeier 3/4/2013

I’ve lived in Baker House for the past seven semesters I’ve been at MIT. Last semester, I was the

student president of Baker House. I’ve grown to know the patterns of the Baker community pretty well.

In 2002, Simmons Hall joined Baker House as one of the architectural gems of the MIT campus. In some

ways Simmons is very similar to Baker: they are both undergraduate dormitories with between 300 and

350 beds, are both architecturally notable, and both are culturally pretty similar. However, in other

ways they are completely different. Baker was built 53 years before Simmons. Baker is made primarily

out of Brick, while Simmons is made out of concrete. Baker cost less than one-fourth the cost of

Simmons, even after adjusting for inflation. 1

The two buildings have a similar purpose, but the pattern of use is very different. On February

20, 2013, I received a tour of Simmons from their current President, Cosmos Darwin.2 He provided

details about the use of the building from his perspective, having lived in Simmons for the past three

semesters. While this assignment is to discuss one building, Simmons, the lens I have from living in and

leading Baker is inescapable.

1

Baker Simmons

Actual $2.5 million in 1949 $78.5 million in 2002

Inflation Adjusted $23.7 million in 2012 $99.3 million in 2012

http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20040501/mit-v-holl http://mit81.com/baker/sites/default/files/baker-confidential-1965-1966.pdf 2 http://www.cosmosdarwin.com/

Location

Most of the undergraduate dormitories at MIT are located west of Massachusetts Ave, near the

gym and other student life facilities, and away from the main campus. All of the dorms except Simmons

are located along Amherst Alley, whereas Simmons is located on Vassar Street, across Briggs Field from

the other dorms. The walk to Simmons from campus is along a chain-link fence with an empty field on

one side, and a parking garage, temporary Facilities department lot, and a construction site on the other

side. Other dorms, such as Next House are actually located further from 77 Mass Ave, the main meeting

point at MIT, but the walk to Next feels shorter because the walk to Next is past the other dormitories

located on Amherst Alley. Students can reach Simmons from Amherst Alley by cutting across Briggs

Field, but that path is unlit at night.

At an Institute committee meeting, I heard Simmons Hall associate housemaster Steven Hall

joke that Simmons is “in the middle of nowhere” and “on the other side of the universe.” Indeed, one

of the derogatory slanders towards Simmons is that one has “more windows than friends.” Simmons

sought to fight that association with their recent REX t-shirt which implied that people in Simmons have

plenty of windows and plenty of friends.

Figure 1 Aerial view of “Dorm Row” and Briggs Field. Source: Google Maps.

After meeting my host at the front desk, I walked down the length of the building to the dining

hall, where we ate dinner.

Figure 2 The Main Hallway of Simmons. Photo: Michael Plasmeier.

Figure 3 Simmons 1st Floor Plan. Arrow indicates the location of the pictures. Source: MIT Facilites Department.

Dining

Simmons, like Baker, is one of the five dorms at MIT with a dining hall. Since mid-2010, students

living in Simmons must buy into the dining plan. This brings members of the community together.

While getting our food, and all during the meal, Cosmos ran into people he knew. Interactions ranged

from just saying hello, to coming over and sitting with us for dinner. Cosmos even shared with me his

desire to change the dining hall from being open 5 to 8pm every night to having two fixed seatings, so

that the community would be more likely to eat together.

Figure 4 Simmons Dining. Photo: Michael Plasmeier.

After dinner, we headed up one of the elevators to look at the layout of Simmons.

Lounges/Study Spaces

Simmons has a number of sponge-like lounge areas. Most of the lounges have large multi-story

atriums with abstract shapes. The lounges often have a staircase connecting two floors. One could

almost climb the building by moving between the stairs in each lounge. Most lounges are divided into

two halves. The space under the atrium, which makes up about 60% of the space is for relaxation, while

the other side has a table for schoolwork and sometimes has a kitchen. Likely due to fire regulations,

the lounge is a space is separate from the hallway with a door. This is in contrast to Baker, where the

lounges are part of the hallway, and there are substantially more work tables. From what Cosmos had

told me, it appears that the lounges are mostly used by people who live in Simmons in the surrounding

rooms. Although it fluctuates from year to year, Baker has a fair number of outsiders who study in

Baker.

Figure 5 6th Floor Lounge. Arrows indicate the view of previous figures. Photo: Michael Plasmeier; Plan: MIT Facilites Department.

The atriums can lead to weird results on other floors. For example, figure 6 shows a lounge

extending into the 6th floor’s hallway.

Figure 6 Lounge atrium spills into the hallway. Photo: Michael Plasmeier.

Rooms

Simmons has a mix of single and double rooms. There are a vast number of different layouts for

each room type. Some rooms have bathrooms inside them. Other rooms share a bathroom in the

hallway with other nearby rooms. Because bathrooms are private or semi-private, students are

responsible for cleaning their own bathrooms. This is different from Baker, which has common

bathrooms.

Figure 7 Simmons 6th Floor Plan. Source: MIT Facilites Department.

Furniture

The furniture in both Baker and Simmons has been designed by the architect. However,

whereas the furniture in Baker was custom designed to fit in specific rooms, the furniture in Simmons is

designed to be modular. Cosmos and some of the residents I met described to me how the shelves

could be rearranged to create a lofted bed or any number of other combinations.

Figure 8 Simmons Modular Furniture. Photo: Andy Ryan Source: Simmons book, p. 78.

Lighting

One thing which the students complained to me about was the lack of light in the student

rooms. Many of the rooms do not have ceiling-mounted lighting. Instead, a recessed track casts light

onto the rooms. Cosmos told me that MIT just found out that the lighting does not meet Cambridge City

ordinances and is in the process of being updated.

Communities

Simmons is weirdly structured in that not all floors are connected. Only floors B, 1, 2, 5, and 6

span the length of the building. Simmons is split into three “towers” labeled A, B, and C. Each has a

separate elevator. The layout of Simmons allows smaller, isolated communities to form. For example,

Cosmos showed me a group of students who like to play loud music on the upper floors of B tower. On

the 9th floor of B tower there are only seven rooms. This lets the students play their loud music without

impunity because the Simmons rooming community makes sure to only room students interested in this

type of experience in these rooms. In contrast, Baker has six long, continuous floors with about 40

rooms per floor. Although small communities do form in contiguous blocks of rooms, these

communities are not isolated to the extent the Simmons communities can be.

Governance

The smaller communities are also reflected in Simmons’ governance structure. Simmons allows

individual groups of people to form “lounges” which receive funding of $25 per person to plan events

autonomously. This further helps to support independent small social circles. Baker does not have a

structured program like that.

Noise

In Baker, the proximity to the lounges and relatively thin doors, allows a moderate amount of

noise to sneak into rooms. While this sometimes distracts from sleep, it reminds one that other people

are present in the building. Over one summer, I stayed in a very well-insulated dorm at 101 Ludlow St in

New York. It was always super quiet and isolating. I didn’t ask Cosmos about noise. However, the

broken up floors, prevalence of elevators, and separated off lounges suggest that the hallways are more

quiet than Baker.

Weird Quirks

Cosmos also shared some of the weird quirks of Simmons with me.

Some of the rooms are above open areas. Cosmos pointed out how the floors of these rooms

feel cooler. He recommended that I walk across an area without socks to feel the difference.

Not all elevators access all floors. For example, the A tower elevator does not reach the public

space on the first floor. This means that residents in the A tower must take two separate elevators to

reach the dining hall. There are also stairs that do not stop on every floor. This is because Cambridge

Fire Code requires two exits from every floor. Since there are three towers, that means there needs to

be six sets of stair on the upper floors. However, not all stairs must reach the bottom individually. Only

five stairwells reach the bottom. The sixth stairwell merges with another one on the 5th and 6th floors.

Figure 9 Study of Simmons Hall. Steve Holl3 The red line indicates how the stairs merge.

There are also examples of akward layout. For example, this air hockey table is in an isolated

corner on the second floor. As a result, Cosmos tells me that it receives little use.

Figure 10 Pool Table Nook Photo: Michael Plasmeier; Plan: MIT Facilites Department.

3 http://www.floornature.com/projects-learning/project-simmons-hall-mit-steven-holl-cambridge-massachusetts-

usa-2002-4129/#.UTRPt1fK3X9

Students

At MIT, freshmen are able to request where they want to live using a ranked-choice preferential

voting system. Dorms use CPW (Campus Preview Weekend) and other forums to try to attract students

by communicating their dorm’s “brand” to prospective students. One of those formats is an annual

video, called the i3 video, which gives insight into each dorm’s culture. In 2012, Simmons produced a

documentary-style video featuring interviews with current students about their close groups of friends

at Simmons.4 The style of this video diverges from the typical pattern of making a music video or

narrative.

The results of these efforts are reflected in the Summer Housing Lottery results. In 2011, the

last year statistics are publically available; Simmons attracted approximately 80 first choice requests to

live in Simmons, placing it behind Baker, Maseeh, Burton-Conner, MacGregor, and East Campus.

Figure 11 2011 Summer Housing Lottery Stats. The Tech Volume 131 Issue 33.5

4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEEb8ahWCOY

5 http://tech.mit.edu/V131/N33/graphics/dormstats.html

Conclusion

Baker and Simmons are both architecturally notable undergrad dorms at MIT. Both are beloved

by their individual communities. However, their architecture means that they are used differently.

Baker has long floors connected by a long cantilevered stairwell. Simmons has three towers with

elevators. This leads to differences in communities. Whereas Baker thinks of itself as one big

community, with some divisions by floor; Simmons had smaller, separate communities.

However, the ultimate goal of both of these buildings is to provide shelter from the pressures of

MIT. In that respect, both seem to be doing a very good job, relative to the other MIT dorms. In a

recent survey in The Tech, the students living in Baker rated their happiness as the highest of any dorm.6

Simmons was not far behind, third on the survey.

Baker 5.04

Next 4.97

Simmons 4.9

Burton Conner, Maseeh 4.76

East Campus 4.72

MacGregor 4.71

New 4.63

Bexley, McCormick 4.56

Senior 4.51

Random 4.4

Table 1. Please rate your general level of happiness. (1 being least happy, 7 being most happy).7

6 This is not the ultimate comparison metric between dorms, in part because happiness is not the sole goal, and

because the entering sample is far from random. 7 http://tech.mit.edu/V132/N59/pressure/breakdown/residence/index.htm