Of the three new buildings that compose Tod Williams and Billie Tsien’s Center for the Advancement of Public Action (CAPA) at Bennington College in Vermont, it is the program-less “Lens” that best represents the iconoclastic institution where students have been designing their own curricula since 1932.

A 10,500-square-foot open-plan office with team rooms for group work, a conference room, a lounge, and a kitchen.

A three-level, 112,000-square-foot headquarters for the nonprofit global health organization PATH.

A 3,500-square-foot office for the nonprofit Taproot Foundation, an organization that connects resource-strapped nonprofits with businesses willing to offer pro bono services.

A public plaza featuring a 12-story, 86,004-square-foot office tower for the coffee trading company Neumann Gruppe, two 7-story towers at 52,689 square feet and 47,684 square feet, and 105,109 square feet of underground parking and mechanical space spread over three underground levels.

The free-form shapes and autumn-colored louvers of two sibling office buildings are studies in contrast to the surrounding business district, proving that chart-topping efficiency can be sleek and comfortable, too.

Program: A 108,000-square-foot mixed-use complex for Shop & Trade, a clothing import and distribution company, with offices, a supermarket, and 97,000 square feet of underground parking. Two four-story office blocks form an L shape around the supermarket and overlook a garden, which doubles as a green roof for the market. Shop & Trade's offices are housed in the larger block set behind the store; the other office block rises in a narrow tower to the west and includes leasable office space. The development is part of a ten-year effort to revitalize an industrial neighborhood; a mile down the road, Kokkinou

Julie Snow Architects saves a seemingly hopeless building while making a home for KNOCK, a young creative enterprise.

A 12-story, 350,000-square-foot office building with a health club and retail space on the ground floor and three levels of underground parking.