The Le Mans and Johnson Residential Halls are… residential halls, designed and constructed by Alejandro Aravena. The buildings in many way continue the themes seen in other works by Aravena of modern architecture, with very airy construction, albeit in a controlled manner. From the outside, the buildings actually look very oppressive, with plain, polygonal concrete facades with the only features being rectangular windows that almost look like they’re crying because of the effect of rain on the façade.

However, the interior area surrounded by the buildings, an open courtyard, is the polar opposite: displaying glass facades made up of a mixture of red, black, and white panels. The buildings also overhang much of the area surrounding the courtyard, only supported by thin columns, broadcasting a light appearance, in stark contrast to the exterior façade of the building. As far as I can tell, the dorms themselves are pretty standard for college dorms, but then again that’s what I thought about Couch Tower before I lived there.