Columbia College Chicago designed by Gensler

Gensler Spotlight: North Central U.S.

Despite Columbia College Chicago’s 100-year history, this structure is the school’s first dedicated to serving as a home base for students to not only learn but also connect and recharge with one another, a critical role as universities navigate the pandemic era. Gensler Chicago based the concept for the five-story new-build on what principal and co-managing director Brian Vitale calls an “inside-out” version of the atrium, which is typically found at the center of a building, facing inward. Here, however, it faces outward to the street, linking with the surrounding urban buzz. “You see the atrium from the outside and you interact with it from the inside,” Vitale explains. “The energy and creativity within is magnified rather than just contained.”

The center’s 114,000-square-foot interior is utilitarian in feel, its open and airy ground level dominated by raw and polished concrete. “By using simple materials, we allowed the students and their work to shine,” Vitale adds. That’s particularly true in the second-floor maker space, which is wrapped in stained plywood and appears to float over the grand staircase; students can see what their peers are creating should they choose but also not be distracted by it. It’s slightly more challenging to miss the custom zigzags of long LED tubes meandering across the ceiling. Elsewhere, the center is populated with deliberately ambiguous, multiuse areas. Although it’s pretty clear what goes on in the fourth-floor billiards area.

Columbia College Chicago designed by Gensler
Columbia College Chicago.
Columbia College Chicago designed by Gensler
Columbia College Chicago.
Columbia College Chicago designed by Gensler
Columbia College Chicago.
Columbia College Chicago designed by Gensler
Columbia College Chicago.
Columbia College Chicago designed by Gensler
Columbia College Chicago.
PROJECT TEAM:
Gensler: Brian Vitale; David Broz; Meghan Webster; Scott Hurst; Stephen Miller; Allison Weber; Katie Smith; Alyssa Friedman; Linda Chavez

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