New Innovation Center at Illinois Institute of Technology to Feature Technologically Advanced Building Materials and Systems
Design by Architect John Ronan Will Add to the Legacy of the Mies Campus
Chicago, IL — May 26, 2015 —
The design for the new innovation center at Illinois Institute of Technology was unveiled today by John Ronan, architect for the project. Officially named The Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship, the technologically advanced building will provide flexibly adaptable teaching space for IIT’s project-based, undergraduate interdisciplinary courses and be the campus home of the university’s internationally acclaimed Institute of Design.
“The design for the Kaplan Institute is a thoughtful and sensitive contribution to IIT’s important architectural legacy yet is forward looking in its approach to the flexible and technologically advanced learning facilities needed today,” says Ronan.
According to Ronan, the design is also innovative in its own right, especially in its approach to sustainability. The second floor of the building, which cantilevers over the ground floor to provide sun shading, is enclosed in a dynamic façade of ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene) foil cushions, the first use of its kind in Chicago. The dynamic ETFE façade can vary the amount of solar energy entering the building through sophisticated pneumatics, and at one percent the weight of glass gives the building a light, cloud-like appearance.
Building systems are similarly advanced. Water-filled tubing embedded in a concrete-filled metal deck converts the building’s floor structure into a radiant heating and cooling system.
According to Bruce Watts, IIT’s vice president of facilities, “The goal of LEED Silver certification for the Kaplan Institute reflects IIT’s commitment to sustainability and is focused primarily on energy efficiency, abundant daylight and views, careful choice of materials, and easy access to four major public transit options.”
Located in the heart of IIT’s historic Mies Campus, the building’s location is intentional and designed to draw students and faculty in from all directions. The horizontal, open, and light-filled building is similarly designed to encourage encounters between students and faculty across disciplines.
Conceived as a hybrid of campus space and building, the innovation center is organized around two open-air courtyards through which visitors enter the building—and “collision nodes,” which will encourage chance meetings and information exchange across departments and disciplines. The courtyards serve as the building’s “eyes” and “lungs,” bringing in natural light and ventilation to create a comfortable and healthy interior environment for collaboration—and a continuous connection with nature.
Circulation inside the building is indirect and dispersed, designed again to promote collaboration and interaction. Large, open, horizontal floor plates allow visual connection to multiple spaces at one time while openings in the floor plate allow visual access from floor to floor to foster the feeling of a single collaborative community of users.
Interior space consists primarily of large, open, flexibly adaptive areas, which can be reconfigured easily and support a wide variety of uses. Assigned project spaces and meeting spaces that require sound isolation are enclosed with demountable partitions, which can be reconfigured over time, preserving the building’s future flexibility.
Groundbreaking for the 92,000-square-foot facility is expected to take place in spring 2016. The building will house the university’s Institute of Design, Idea Shop, the IPRO Program, and the Knapp Entrepreneurship Academy—as well as visiting entrepreneurs and community collaborators. All IIT undergraduates will take courses in the innovation center at some point in their educational experience.
About Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology is a private, technology-focused, research university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, architecture, business, design, human sciences, applied technology, and law. One of 21 institutions that comprise the Association of Independent Technological Universities (AITU), Illinois Tech offers exceptional preparation for professions that require technological sophistication, an innovative mindset, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Its Main Campus, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
About John Ronan:
John Ronan, FAIA, is founding principal and lead designer of John Ronan Architects. He is known for his abstract yet sensuous work, which explores materiality and atmosphere. Ronan holds a Master of Architecture degree with distinction from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a bachelor of science degree from the University of Michigan. His work has been included in numerous publications on design and covered extensively by the international design press. A monograph on his work, entitled Explorations, was published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2010, and a forthcoming book on the Poetry Foundation by Centerline Press at the University of Texas will be released this year. His firm has received two AIA Institute National Honor Awards, for the Poetry Foundation and The Gary Comer Youth Center. Ronan is currently professor of architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture.
About John Ronan Architects:
John Ronan Architects is an internationally recognized design firm based in Chicago known for conceptual innovation, exploration of materiality, and a rigorous attention to detail. The firm’s history is marked by a steady rise to prominence. In December of 2000, the firm was included by Architectural Record magazine in its inaugural Design Vanguard issue. In 2004 the firm was winner of the prestigious, two-stage international Perth Amboy High School Design Competition. In 2006 the firm was included in the Architectural League of New York’s Emerging Voices program and featured in the Young Chicago exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2010 Princeton Architectural Press published Explorations: The Architecture of John Ronan, a monograph on the firm’s work. The firm has received two AIA Institute National Honor Awards, for the Poetry Foundation and The Gary Comer Youth Center, and the firm’s work has been exhibited widely and covered extensively in publications.
