While Tiffany was in Chicago we had some time to kill and I thought we should do some fun things. She had never been to IIT's campus and I thought it was worth seeing, and the weather was nice, so we went on a little adventure. Its right by the White Sox park (which I still call Comiskey) on the south side of town- a nice view. Its windy up on the bridge, which is over the 90/94 Dan Ryan Expressway, which also has the exit of the Red Line there. On the right is a red stone building that was built in the late 1800s, the original buildings of the original Armory Institute.
The pictures are out of order, but you'll never know. Here's one of three things we saw- the most interesting building on campus. The McCormick Tribune Student Center, built a couple years ago by Rem Koolhaas/OMA, one of the architecture firms we visited in Rotterdam, Netherlands. My professor Sarah Dunn worked on the project when she was working at OMA, pretty cool.
Anyway, you can see the "unfinished" drywall on the ceiling, left that way on purpose (and VERY carefully mudded since it wasn't getting painted) and the metal ribs coming through the ceiling are from the bottom of the tube encasing the El tracks, protecting the building from the sound and vibration.
One key feature of the building, which is definitely NOT up to code, though somehow got approved (maybe because it was considered amphitheater seating, who knows) is this stair-ramp, elegantly called a st-ramp. Its weird to walk on, and there are no railings for the ramp. Not good for a runaway wheelchair. But an interesting architectural feature for sure...
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