The Theatre School, DePaul University
By Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
DePaul Theatre School
Chicago, Illinois, USA
165,000 square feet / 15,000 square meters
2013
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The new Theatre School will be a gateway to DePaul University’s Lincoln Park
campus. Used for both instruction and performance, the building will welcome
students, faculty and staff during the day and theatergoers at night.
Emphasizing openness and transparency, the building puts the excitement of a
theater education on view for the neighborhood.
The five-story building is a composition of rectangular forms clad in
limestone, translucent glass and transparent glass. Projecting from the
building at the corner of Racine and Fullerton is the flexible theater, serving
as a sign for the university. The north façade softly glows at night, a beacon
for the Theatre School. Similar to a scrim, the translucent glass wall can
reveal the 100-seat theater behind it.
Behind-the-scenes activity will be visible to both theatergoers and passersby.
Floor-to-ceiling glass on the ground floor will place the scene shop, metal
shop and paint shops on display for the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Theatergoers
gathering in the glass-enclosed lobby for the 250-seat thrust theater will also
be visible from the street. Visitors coming to a show on the fourth-floor
theater will pass classrooms and rehearsal rooms, further minimizing
distinctions between performance and work spaces.
To engage pedestrians, façades are composed of vertical bands of glass and
limestone that vary in width. The building mass will step back at both
Fullerton and Racine to make the building appear smaller in scale.
Students and faculty will enter the building midblock at Racine, which connects
with paths to the heart of the DePaul campus. The school entrance opens into a
lobby, lounge and concessions space shared with the public entrance at the
corner of Fullerton and Racine. The thrust theater lobby is the “living room”
of the building, where theater patrons and students will congregate.
Throughout the building, wide corridors, open lounges and rooftop courtyards
will encourage interaction between students and faculty and among theatergoers.
An interior courtyard will bring light, views and air to offices and design
studios. Rooftop courtyards will be surrounded by all elements of the Theatre
School - administration, classroom and rehearsal spaces, public
lobbies, faculty spaces, and the script library.
The building is being designed for LEED certification. Strategies to reduce
energy consumption include frit glass throughout the building, daylighting for
offices, design studios, and classrooms, and a green roof.
Location: Chicago, USA
Architects: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
Partner: Cannon Design
Theatre Planning Consultant: Schuler Shook
Acoustics Consultant: Kirkegaard Associates
Area: 165,000 square foot
Cost: $72 million
Year: 2013
Client: DePaul University
