in 2015, the university of chicago announced that diller scofidio + renfro (DS+R) would design the ‘david rubenstein forum’, a new facility for collaboration, discourse, and intellectual exchange. revealed in 2017, the building’s design comprises a two-story base and a slender, eight-story tower that will provide the university with a 185-seat auditorium as well as multipurpose meeting spaces for workshops, symposia, and lectures. now, with the project nearing completion, DS+R has shared a preview of the much-anticipated scheme.

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
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the new video by brett beyer, shared on DS+R’s youtube channel, serves as a preview of the exterior and interior spaces at the david rubenstein forum. prominently located at the southeast corner of woodlawn avenue and 60th street, the structure offers expansive views of downtown chicago and lake michigan as well as the university of chicago campus. the ‘city view’ room on the building’s 10th floor offers a strong visual connection between the university and the city, and has been designed as a setting that is capable of hosting a variety of special events.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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the tower is organized as a stack of ‘neighborhoods’ with meeting and communal spaces offering a diverse range of environments. departing from the ground floor, a grand staircase leads first to a keynote event in the ‘university room’, the largest room in the facility that seats more that 600 guests. the third and fourth floors are home to ‘friedman hall’, a 285-seat auditorium. these floors and other neighborhoods are connected by a two-story lounge. meanwhile, meeting rooms and boardrooms are found on the eighth and ninth floors. see designboom’s previous coverage of the project here.