With Dirk Denison Architects and Gilbane Building Company, the Illinois Institute of Technology has recently completed a $70 million housing project that has restored three Ludwig Mies van der Rohe buildings. With the completion of the Carman Hall residential facility, the three-building project has renewed Illinois Tech’s front door as it prepares for its highest recorded enrollment numbers—more than 25% higher than last year.
Located at the campus entryway and offering views of the Chicago skyline, all three buildings were designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a pioneer of modernist architecture. Historic preservation was a top priority for the project, along with ensuring energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.
Dirk Denison, the project’s lead architect, is also an architecture professor at Illinois Tech. His students regularly visited the job sites for a hands-on, up-close learning experience—aligning with the school’s philosophy around learning by creating. Denison’s firm includes five Illinois Tech alumni, and two recent graduates who studied under Denison now work full-time at Gilbane. Founded in 1870, Gilbane provides comprehensive construction and facilities-related services and has more than 45 office locations worldwide.
“It was rewarding for students to have the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills as part of this iconic project located on their campus,” Denison, founding principal of Dirk Denison Architects and professor and MCHAP Director at Illinois Tech, said in a statement. “It’s particularly gratifying to help deliver projects that acknowledge the timeless quality of modernist architecture and the value of preserving them. IIT has a respectful commitment to its Mies legacy and has led the way to recognize the original intent of the buildings by bringing them back to life through thoughtful reuse and sustainable strategies.”
On the Building Team:
Owner and developer: Illinois Institute of Technology
Architect: Dirk Denison Architects
Mechanical: State Mechanical Services, LLC
Electrical: Gurtz
Plumbing: The Hill Group
Structural engineer: Matrix Engineering Corp.
General contractor/construction manager: Gilbane Building Company
Related Stories
Market Data | Apr 16, 2024
The average U.S. contractor has 8.2 months worth of construction work in the pipeline, as of March 2024
Associated Builders and Contractors reported today that its Construction Backlog Indicator increased to 8.2 months in March from 8.1 months in February, according to an ABC member survey conducted March 20 to April 3. The reading is down 0.5 months from March 2023.
Laboratories | Apr 15, 2024
HGA unveils plans to transform an abandoned rock quarry into a new research and innovation campus
In the coastal town of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., an abandoned rock quarry will be transformed into a new research and innovation campus designed by HGA. The campus will reuse and upcycle the granite left onsite. The project for Cell Signaling Technology (CST), a life sciences technology company, will turn an environmentally depleted site into a net-zero laboratory campus, with building electrification and onsite renewables.
Codes and Standards | Apr 12, 2024
ICC eliminates building electrification provisions from 2024 update
The International Code Council stripped out provisions from the 2024 update to the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) that would have included beefed up circuitry for hooking up electric appliances and car chargers.
Urban Planning | Apr 12, 2024
Popular Denver e-bike voucher program aids carbon reduction goals
Denver’s e-bike voucher program that helps citizens pay for e-bikes, a component of the city’s carbon reduction plan, has proven extremely popular with residents. Earlier this year, Denver’s effort to get residents to swap some motor vehicle trips for bike trips ran out of vouchers in less than 10 minutes after the program opened to online applications.
Laboratories | Apr 12, 2024
Life science construction completions will peak this year, then drop off substantially
There will be a record amount of construction completions in the U.S. life science market in 2024, followed by a dramatic drop in 2025, according to CBRE. In 2024, 21.3 million sf of life science space will be completed in the 13 largest U.S. markets. That’s up from 13.9 million sf last year and 5.6 million sf in 2022.
Multifamily Housing | Apr 12, 2024
Habitat starts leasing Cassidy on Canal, a new luxury rental high-rise in Chicago
New 33-story Class A rental tower, designed by SCB, will offer 343 rental units.
Construction Costs | Apr 11, 2024
Construction materials prices increase 0.4% in March 2024
Construction input prices increased 0.4% in March compared to the previous month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data released today. Nonresidential construction input prices also increased 0.4% for the month.
K-12 Schools | Apr 10, 2024
A San Antonio school will provide early childhood education to a traditionally under-resourced region
In San Antonio, Pre-K 4 SA, which provides preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, and HOLT Group, which owns industrial and other companies, recently broke ground on an early childhood education: the South Education Center.
University Buildings | Apr 10, 2024
Columbia University to begin construction on New York City’s first all-electric academic research building
Columbia University will soon begin construction on New York City’s first all-electric academic research building. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), the 80,700-sf building for the university’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons will provide eight floors of biomedical research and lab facilities as well as symposium and community engagement spaces.
K-12 Schools | Apr 10, 2024
Surprise, surprise: Students excel in modernized K-12 school buildings
Too many of the nation’s school districts are having to make it work with less-than-ideal educational facilities. But at what cost to student performance and staff satisfaction?
