art-in-architecture program

The Art-in-Architecture Program of the Capital Development Board is pleased to announce a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to Illinois professional artists to create permanent original public art for the Innovation Center at the University of Illinois Chicago.

PROJECT SUMMARY

The UIC Innovation Center is the home of interdisciplinary collaborative work on the University of Illinois Chicago’s campus. As the westmost building on the east campus, the center physically bridges the medical west campus and academic east campus. The new building is a 13,000 sq. ft. addition to the existing 18,000 sq. ft. facility. When traveling east down HWY 290, the Innovation Center and adjacent Student Services Building are the first landmarks of the UIC campus that a passerby sees.

The center works to solve problems for our corporate partners through sponsored classes and labs. Students, faculty, and recent alumni from 25+ departments at UIC come together to innovate, research, and learn. Since opening its doors in 2008, the Innovation Center has partnered with over 40 corporate partners in diverse fields from consumer electronics and medical devices to hospitals and insurance providers.

The design of the facility is a light-filled single-story addition that brings several thousand square feet of needed corporate lab space, professional presentation area, state-of-the-art conferencing rooms, and administrative offices to serve the needs of the growing department. The new building connects to the old building through a repurposing of a portion of the former parking structure, creating a solarium-like space that sits adjacent to a 3,400 sq. ft. courtyard. These two spaces create the core of the facility, connecting the old and new, and facilitating circulation around the building. Much of the facility is an open floor plan that allows the needs of any one project to adapt the layout of the space.