Logan Center for the Arts

Chicago, IL, United States

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Logan Center for the Arts

Chicago, IL, United States

Firm

Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners

Type

Cultural › Hall/Theater
Educational › University Auditorium

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2012

SIZE

100,000 sqft - 300,000 sqft

Photos

Kate Joyce Studios (1), Tom Rossiter (1)

After a design competition, we were selected as architects for the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago. The building sits at the southern edge of the Midway Plaisance, a green space designed by Fredrick Law Olmsted in the early 1890s for the World’s Columbian Exposition. The center houses the departments of Visual Arts, Film, Music, and Theater under one roof. These disciplines were previously scattered throughout the campus in ad-hoc and ill equipped facilities. The building design consists of a two-story horizontal building, connected to an eight-story tower, a reference to the flat prairies of the Midwest and the great towers of Chicago.
The quiet, low building is lit by north-facing skylights and houses studios for teaching and individual work, a gallery for student and faculty exhibitions, music practice rooms and three theaters. Bathed in natural light, the artist studios are designed to meet both today’s modes of artistic expression and the technical complexities of tomorrow’s emerging forms. Windows in the music practice rooms frame distant views. The three theaters, including a formal proscenium theater, an apron stage theater, and a black box space, are each unique and flexible to accommodate a variety of performances from dance, theater, or music recitals.
The presence of the tower on the south side of the Midway announces a new home for creative life on campus and a public venue for residents of the city. The tower acknowledges the University of Chicago’s neo-gothic spires across the Plaisance and provides dramatic views of Lake Michigan and downtown Chicago. Space for teaching and exhibiting cinema, dance, and ensemble music are located on different floors and connected with generous elevators and dramatic stairways. Vertical circulation is encouraged by custom made tiles set into the concrete and custom felt panels that emphasize double height connections between two floors. Moving from floor to floor, students, faculty, and the residents of Chicago can find communal places with seating to gather and secret spaces to be alone. The top floor, with sweeping views of the campus, is used for lectures, dance performances, music recitals, and great parties are held.
The building is clad in a warm and multihued limestone from Missouri. The stone is cut into bars 4” x 4” x 36” long. The blocks are laid as limestone “bricks” relating to the limestone of the Neo-Gothic towers and to the elongated bricks of the Robie House, Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece located on the campus.
Dedicated to student practice and the synergy that is derived from the creative mixing of artistic disciplines, the Logan Center is a versatile and sophisticated environment for art making, critical inquiry, and a fruitful interaction between the two. The building is made to be explored and discovered over time. The Logan Center is a place where arts overlap, friendships are formed and the yet to be imagined happens.