/ i am doing a biology phd on sponges at harvard university; could i enter the competition? any student at mit or harvard university may enter the competition, provided he or she teams up with at least one simmons hall resident. the simmons hall resident must have an active role in the competition and will have to be involved in defending the project during the public jury session. news 31march 2005: groups are strongly encouraged to team up with simmons hall residents but this is not anymore a strict requirement to enter the competition.

/ i study at the other place down the river and i do not know anyone at simmons hall; how do i team up with a simmons hall resident? you can send an e-mail to the simmons hall resident list <sponge-talk@mit.edu>, describing yourself and explaining your ideas. you can also pin up a poster in simmons hall.

/ may i submit more than one entry? no, each student may submit only one entry. the number of 11x17 inches sheets per entry, however, is not limited.

/ is this just an idea competition or are you actually planning to build the winning designs? in addition to the $500 awarded to the winning design, the expectation is that it will also be implemented. however, it will first have to be approved by mit. anyhow, the winning team will have eternal glory.

/ could there be more than one winning design? the plan is to have only one winning design, although the jury might make alternative arrangements.

/ cost is one of the parameters that will be considered by the jury; how do i estimate it? cost will be an important parameter, but not the most important one. a rough estimate could be obtained from cost estimation handbooks.

/ where could i find the plans of the building? the plans of the building can be found from the mit websites: http://whereis.mit.edu/mapjpg? mapterms=w79&mapsearch=go. access is restricted to members of the mit community; if you need help please send an e-mail to <drill-a-hole@simmons.mit.edu>.

/ wouldn’t it be awesome to drape the outside of the dorm in saffron (think central park and christo)!? it certainly would, but bear in mind that the mit housing director sits on the jury, and you will need to convince her as well.

/ i am a simmons resident and have some great ideas for the competition. how can i find an architect student to work with me? please e-mail the grad/undergrad lists in the mit departments of architecture or the grad list at harvard gsd. if you have problems, please send an e-mail to <drill-ahole@ simmons.mit.edu>.

/ this competition is bogus. they will never let us put anything up on the walls or do other things to make the halls less bleak, will they? the first two floors of simmons are largely public areas, so it may be difficult to do anything major there. we expect more flexibility with the upper residential floors. let your imagination go wild!

/ we want to propose some lounge furniture in the hallway - because our floor is in a tower and it doesn't have a lounge. if plaster blobs can project into the hallway, why can't a couch or table? yes, they can.

for additional questions please write to <drill-a-hole@simmons.mit.edu>.