Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

The Main Campus of Illinois Institute of Technology is an outstanding example of the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), architect and educator and one of the 20th century's most influential architects. His design of the Main Campus and of other important buildings--such as the apartment towers at 860 and 880 North Lake Shore Drive in Chicago and the Seagram Building in New York--helped set a new aesthetic standard for modern architecture. In 1976, the American Institute of Architects designated the campus as one of the 200 most important works of architecture in the country. S.R. Crown Hall, which houses IIT's College of Architecture, was granted national Historic Landmark status in 2001. Other Mies buildings on the Main Campus include Perlstein Hall, Alumni Memorial Hall, Wishnick Hall, Seigel Hall, Robert F. Carr Memorial Chapel of St. Savior, The Commons, and three IIT residence halls: Bailey Hall, Carman Hall, and Cunningham Hall.

Two new buildings completed in 2003 further enhance the architectural significance of IIT's Main Campus.

Rem Koolhaas
The McCormick Tribune Campus Center, designed by Dutch architect and Pritzker Prize Laureate Rem Koolhaas opened its doors in October 2003 at 33rd and State Streets, in the heart of the Main Campus. Koolhaas was chosen for the project as a result of an international design competition in 1998. Among his completed buildings are the Lille Grand Palais and the Maison a Bordeaux in France, the Netherlands Dance Center in The Hague, and the Educatorium at the University of Utrecht. Koolhaas's design for the campus center arranges various areas around diagonal pathways, resembling interior streets, that are extensions of the paths students had used to cross the campus. The design includes a concrete and stainless steel tube that encloses a 530-foot stretch of the Green Line elevated railroad ("L") tracks, passing directly over the one-story campus center building. The tube dampens the sound of trains overhead as students enjoy dining areas, student organization offices, campus bookstore, recreational facilities and auditorium.

Helmut Jahn
State Street Village is a new student residence hall designed by Helmut Jahn, which opened in Fall 2003, offering state of the art, on-campus living for undergraduate and graduate students. The new residence hall complex is situated at the corner of 33rd and State Streets, just south of the McCormick Tribune Campus Center. The building is composed of three separate five-story buildings, joined by exterior glass sound walls that muffle noise from passing trains on the adjacent "L" tracks. The entire structure houses 367 students in apartment-style and suite-style units. Jahn studied architecture at IIT under Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the late nineteen-sixties. His designs include the State of Illinois' Thompson Center in downtown Chicago, the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, and the United Airlines Terminal at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Jahn was voted one of the Ten Most Influential Living American Architects by the American Institute of Architects in 1991.