Jeanne and John Rowe Village/ Chicago, Illinois/ 2003
Type: Institutional, Residential
Size: 110,000 sq ft / 10,220 sq m
Height: 5 floors
Beds: 367
Status: Completed 2003
Previously Named: State Street Village
Recognition: AIA National Honor Award; AIA Chicago Chapter Award; Chicago Magazine Ten Modern Masterpieces Award
At the turn of the millennium, the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) announced an architectural competition for new student housing on its expanding campus, with the goal of sparking a design approach as rigorous as the Miesian context. University officials selected Jahn due to our recognizable commitment to meet the needs of the students while transforming the appearance of State Street.
Completed in 2003, the building set a new standard in residential architecture, demonstrating that — with a rigorous integrated design strategy — it is possible to build a high-performance structure cost-effectively and still achieve remarkable sustainability goals.
“IIT now has another remarkable example of how to go 'beyond Mies' and build for the 21st Century.”
State Street Village responds to the quadrangle as a space-defining wall, yet is pervious to east-west movement across the campus. The campus is divided by the north-south barriers of State Street and the elevated train, and our intervention fills and softens this boundary.
The building forms a linear extrusion along the narrow site, with the mass alleviated by three entry courts and two courtyard passages. The curved west facade of profiled stainless steel panels transitions from the ground to the roof and visually unites the site into a single linear extrusion. Soaring glass screens along the ‘L’ tracks protect against the noise of trains and define the eastern boundary of the courtyard passages.
