IIT Buildings School Crews in Intricacy

Architectural visionaries have designs on South Side of Chicago campus
May 2003

by Craig Barner

Visiting the Illinois Institute of Technology is a little like walking through an outdoor museum.
The steel-and-glass structures designed to follow the less-is-more philosophy of legendary architect and German emigre Ludwig Mies van der Rohe have helped make the campus on Chicago's South Side famous.

The university grounds have an antique feel for another reason: No new building of significance has risen there in more than 25 years, said Edmund Newman, project manager in the university's Facilities Department.

"In the early- to mid-'90s, a realization was made that if the university is to continue and grow, some new commitments were needed to attract students and faculty," he said. "One of the things I did was commission a new master plan for the university to develop new planning ideas, figure out how to use land and what buildings were needed."

And now two structures under construction - the $29 million IIT State Street 2002 Project residence hall and the $35 million IIT McCormick Tribune Campus Center - might help reignite the school's legacy for architectural innovation.

The buildings located across from each other at 33rd and State streets have some things in common.

Architects with global reputations designed each: Rem Koolhaas of the Netherlands for the campus center and Helmut Jahn of Chicago-based Murphy/Jahn Inc. for the residence hall.

Each architect's distinctive vision resulted in unusual tests for the construction teams.

For instance, erecting the steel frame for campus center required precision because few right-angled lines make up the structure, and the roof pitches into the middle, said John Kelly, project manager for the Chicago office of Providence, R.I.-based Gilbane Building Co., the construction manager.

On the residence hall, care was required to install about 26,000 sq. ft. of aluminum curtain wall and 32,000 sq. ft. of storefront window, said Hans Thilenius, senior project manager for Chicago-based W.E. O'Neil Construction Co., the general contractor.

And, both projects had to figure out a way to muffle the roar generated by the nearby Chicago Transit Authority's Green Line elevated train. Passing trains can produce up to 100 decibels of noise, a level above the 85-decibel pain threshold, Newman said.

"One of the jokes of the campus is that an early greeting at IIT was to put both hands over your ears and yell 'Hi' as loudly as you can," he added.