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Spertus Institute
New Home Blooms
On Michigan Avenue
by Pamela Dittmer McKuen
When the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies decided to expand,
planners looked at dozens of sites in the downtown Chicago
area.
Ultimately, they chose the one next door. It is a tad smaller
than ideal, about a third of an acre, but the institute already
was part owner of the lot. Plus, it's got one of the best
views in town: overlooking Lake Michigan and Grant Park.
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Founded in 1924, Spertus is a cultural and educational center
dedicated to the Jewish experience. Among its offerings are
programs, exhibitions, collections, research facilities and
degree programs.
The new $55 million building at 610 S. Michigan Ave. nearly
doubles Spertus' size to 155,000 sq. ft. on 10 floors. Included
in the floor plan are a museum, library, classrooms, 400-seat
auditorium and kosher cafeteria. The building will be crowned
with a rooftop garden and is the first new construction in
the Historic Michigan Boulevard District, which runs from
11th to Randolph streets, since being named in 2002.
"The old building still has a lot of life in it, but
we were getting to the point where it was becoming harmful
to achieving our goals," said Spertus President
Howard Sulkin of its present home. It was built in 1906 and
has had multiple owners.
Work began on the new building in October 2005 and will be
completed in fall 2007.
There were numerous needs in the new building. A primary example
is the museum's collection of more than 500,000 books, artifacts,
maps and other pieces that require proper climate control
to ensure preservation. Other needs are better theatrical
space to showcase lectures, concerts and other live performances,
and a facade more welcoming >> than the wall of solid
masonry it has now.
"We want to be an open place that tells people of all
faiths we want you to come in, to learn about us and learn
from us-not a fortress mentality," Sulkin said.
A Contemporary Look
The contemporary design, by Chicago-based Krueck & Sexton
Architects, incorporates numerous tenets and traditions of the
Jewish faith, some more visible than others.
Most significant is the innovative jewel-faceted and multiplaned
glass curtain wall, which signifies the concept that light is
symbolic of learning and reveals the activity within.
As the architects studied the South Michigan Avenue streetwall
for inspiration, they noted a great amount of in-and-out movement,
including bays, cornices and other elements. They also saw that
the buildings reflect the design, technologies and materials
of the eras in which they were built.
Those observations were augmented by Spertus' progressive vision,
said project principal and architect Mark Sexton of Krueck &
Sexton.
"We don't borrow materials or composition from the historic
buildings," he said. "We believe that architecture
should be for the day and something that uses the technology
and materials of the day in the most efficient and expressive
ways. In our case, that means glass technology to shield and
create openings."
The curtain wall will be created from mostly parallelogram-shaped
panes measuring 4 ft., 4 in. by 7 ft. They will be assembled
to create three-dimensional diamond-like projections and held
in place against an aluminum support structure. The projections
and the size of the panes relate to architectural details found
elsewhere on the street.
"Rather than using glass in a pure vertical form, we started
to shape it," Sexton said.
What is not true is that the curtain wall symbolizes Kristallnacht,
or "Night of Broken Glass," the 1938 destruction of
hundreds of Jewish synagogues and businesses throughout Nazi
Germany. Also not true is that from certain angles, a Star of
David can be seen within the angles of the curtain wall.
"If people see those things, God bless them, but it was
never our intention to have a building that was a lot of explicit
iconography," Sulkin said. "We wanted more abstract
expressions of Judaism."
The first floor is recessed 8 ft. to create a canopy for visitors
and passersby, and the top two floors, with 16-ft.-high gallery
walls, house the museum. The auditorium, library, offices and
classrooms are planned for the middle levels.
The remaining three exterior walls are concrete masonry units.
Also reflecting Jewish belief, the building integrates numerous
efficiencies of construction and energy-saving technologies,
such as a 6,659-sq.-ft. green roof garden, energy-efficient
and nonpolluting lighting and glass coatings for solar control.
It will be in compliance with the U.S. Green Building Council's
LEED rating system at the Silver level.
"One of the major teachings of the Torah has to do with
respect for the environment," Sulkin said. "We are
trying to do what our heritage tells us to do and to do it in
a new way."
A Tight Squeeze
Ground was broken after several years of planning.
It's a tight squeeze for the construction crews, led by the
Chicago-based general contractor W.E. O'Neil Construction
Co. The site is midblock, and the building takes up most of
the lot.
The basement, however, does not. It was designed with a sophisticated
earth-retention system that helps secure the two adjacent
buildings, which belong to Columbia College Chicago. (Columbia
has agreed to buy the existing Spertus building.) The basement's
footprint is about two-thirds the building's footprint
Site planning and logistics have been among the complicating
factors of the project, said Roark Frankel, senior vice president
of the Chicago-based project manager U.S. Equities.
The alley on the west side of the property proved to be unhelpful.
For one, it is narrower than standard city alleys, and trucks
could not get through. Two, some of the buildings that back
up to it have active fire escapes that require access.
City officials helped devise a solution. They allowed a full-time
lane >> closure, and Spertus rebuilt a new temporary
lane into the wide median so that traffic continues to flow.
"We'll restore the lane when we're done," Frankel
said.
Even though the budget was set four years ago with a generous
line item for inflation, there's no money to spare. The building
is being paid for through fundraising and private donations,
and a 30-year bond issue covers the gap between the time the
bills are due and the pledges come in.
"There's never been a lot of (interior) ornamentation,"
Frankel said.
"Everything is in support of the mission and their programming.
The money, except for the curtain wall, has gone into such
things as the audiovisual system for the auditorium, flexibility
of classrooms and the air-conditioning and humidification
system for their archives."
The curtain wall will cost about 10 percent of the construction
budget, said Ken McHugh, president of Chicago-based Institutional
Project Management LLC, which is handling the process management
for Spertus.
"There are a lot of elements that down the road will
save Spertus money but place upfront burdens on construction
costs," he added.
With the foundation now in place, construction is on a roll.
The concrete core is climbing and the steel is following right
behind. The schedule calls for the building to be topped out
by the end of the year and some of the enclosure done by November.
"Putting all the time we did into the design and engineering
phases has made the construction piece pretty efficient,"
Frankel said. "That's really the fastest piece."
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