Masonry Magazine April 2009 Page. 30
Case Study
Chicago State University's Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center
Chicago State University (CSU) is a fully accredited public, urban institution located on 161 acres in a residential community on the south side of Chicago, 12 miles from the Loop. The current student enrollment is nearly 7,200.
The 160,000-square-foot Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center at CSU was designed as a multi-functional facility, primarily seating 6,000 spectators for intercollegiate athletic events or 7,000 for convocations and educational and entertainment events. The main floor is designed for a full NCAA-standard basketball court, or two cross courts of basketball/volleyball. The facility also accommodates a stage for non-athletic events. Athletic department offices, concession areas, a lobby, ticket booths, an athletic training center, dressing rooms, lockers, and storage and service areas support the multiple functions of the center.
Overall goals
The University's Strategic Plan, developed in 1999-2000, called for a new Convocation Center to meet not only the university's needs but also regional cultural needs. The facility would be available for community use and needed to be flexible to accommodate multiple kinds of events. CSU also wanted a unique, exciting building that fit within the context of the existing campus.
Existing site conditions
The site selected for the Convocation Center is located immediately south of the existing Athletic and P.E. Center, east of the major academic parking lots. Accounting for the diversity of academic, athletic and entertainment programs, the need for 600 spaces to serve Convocation Center functions was satisfied by higher utilization of the existing lots, particularly in the evening. Locating the Convocation Center on the south side of the campus had four distinct benefits:
* It facilitates interaction with the adjacent Dickens Athletic and P.E Center
* The building's massing and scale both complement and reinforce the eastern edge of the campus
* Its location serves to identify its presence from the adjacent Interstate 90/94, assisting in marketing its potential for community use
* Siting it there preserved heavily landscaped areas elsewhere on the campus.
Due to its location in an urban area, there are multiple transportation modes serving CSU. A major transit line and a number of bus routes have stops near or on the campus. This contributes to the Convocation Center's ability to serve the surrounding community effectively. The site selected for the Convocation Center completes the campus master plan, which is based on a network of closely interrelated structures each directly accessible to parking. Outdoor athletic facilities are located immediately south of the center, including new tennis courts replacing those previously located on the Convocation Center site.
Unique design
Building volume, form and height were derived from programmatic (rational) influences. Building materials, texture and color, glass versus Five, separate "houses" surround an outdoor courtyard: three academic houses, a central house with core functions, and a multipurpose conference wing. Masonry façades on the north, east and west sides present a formal face to the community.
"Large and small recesses within and between the masonry houses break up the massing and suggest a multi-building campus," says project manager Scot Parker of Legat Architects, the architectural firm of record on the project. The south façade, which curls around the courtyard, is clad in metal and glass.
The three-story facility contains 30 formal teaching spaces, including two fully equipped computer labs, two distance learning labs, a science lab, a tiered lecture hall, and a theater-style lecture hall with rear projection technology. Additional