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Rise in Tornadoes, Floods Poses Risk to Colleges
What if the sort of extreme weather that has left the University of Iowa inundated in floodwaters is not a freak event? What if it is a sign of things to come? (Photograph by AP Images)
Art & Architecture Renovations Near Completion at Yale U.
Paul Rudolph's 1963 Brutalist icon is getting a makeover, plus an addition by Charles Gwathmey.
Guest Blogger: Anne Stephenson
Even the greenest construction project increases a college’s carbon footprint.
Other News
Land-Rich Universities Weigh New Options for Real-Estate Development
Universities are taking advantage of new ways to develop their holdings through corporate partnerships, a new report says.
U. of Iowa Begins Mucking Out and Assessing the Damage
The university's insurer spent the weekend starting to assess the damage to the auditorium and 19 other flooded buildings.
U. of Iowa Flooding Takes Costly Toll in Research and Equipment
Parking lots are under water, some roads leading to the campus are closed, and the campus utility infrastructure is damaged.
New campus buildings
Multimedia
A Green Building as a Billboard for Science
(A 2006 Chronicle video)
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About Buildings & Grounds
Buildings & Grounds is written by Scott Carlson (left) and Lawrence Biemiller (right). Scott Carlson writes about architecture, facilties, energy, and sustainability, among other topics. Lawrence Biemiller writes about architecture and facilities and contributes to Notes from Academe. What's happening on your campus? Let us know.
At the U. of Illinois at Chicago, an Unusual and Contemplative Structure
Chicago -- The Illinois Institute of Technology's subway-burdened McCormick Tribune Campus Center is by no means this city's only unusual campus structure. Just across the street is Helmut Jahn's bread-box-shaped dormitory complex, and just across the IIT campus is Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's only chapel. But the University of Illinois at Chicago's Skyspace may take the prize for inscrutability.
The outdoor structure (above) was designed by the artist James Turrell, who has created a number of similar structures around the world. Each skyspace offers visitors a place to sit and contemplate the sky through an opening in the ceiling, called an oculus, that hides all other points of reference. The sky appears not as a vast and distant dome but as a bright, flat oval fitted smoothly into the plane of the structure's ceiling.
That's the theory, at least. Experiencing the effect may require some effort, since the brain -- for the sake of convenience -- may see a patch of sky blue and automatically apply the normal assumptions about its location. Dawn and sunset are said to be the best times to visit. Skyspaces have proved popular with museums and other institutions. The latest is nearing completion at Pomona College.
The UIC Skyspace, in an unfenced plaza at the intersection of Halsted and Roosevelt, consists of an oval structure that is open on all sides at ground level. Benches offer seating for those who want to stare up into the roomlike space that has the oculus at its center. A curtain of water droplets falls into gutters around the perimeter, masking the sound of traffic. Nearby a circular fountain splashes up out of the pavement. Trees planted in a grid fill out the setting.
Last Sunday a few neighborhood residents took refuge from the heat in the Skyspace's shade. Several appeared to be waiting for rides, but at least one had brought a book and settled in to read. (Chronicle photographs by Lawrence Biemiller)
The sky is visible through an opening called an oculus.
The setting includes an at-grade fountain, additional benches, and a grove of trees.
Comments
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The name of the street is Halsted, not Halstead.
The Skyspace is actually one of the least-unusual buildings on the UIC campus, at least in terms of design. It’s certainly the most aesthetically pleasing.
— Jordan Stalker Jul 13, 02:38 PM #
What is the purpose of putting it on stilts? Does that make it easier to look at the sky than if it were set on the ground? No. Only more costly. Stupid. Never use this artist again.
— William Allin Storrer Jul 13, 06:57 PM #
I agree with the first comment. The purpose of “putting it on stilts” is to make it inviting, a quality which is uncommon in most of the older original buildings on campus. (Many of them have entrance doors placed in out of the way locations and are just not user friendly.)
I have been on campus since it opened and the design and feel have evolved since the early days when the campus seemed more like a walled compound in enemy territory.
If the Skyspace had brick walls, then casual passesrby would not be inclined to stop in, even if only to avoid the weather.
— Thomas Muscarello Jul 14, 07:47 PM #