Northwestern University Kaplan Institute for the Humanities

Evanston, Illinois

The Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, a part of the Northwestern University's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, fosters interdisciplinary conversations among Northwestern's faculty, visiting faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and the public.  Its new home at the heart of Kresge Hall has an intimately scaled reading lounge with travertine walls, bronze portals and bamboo ceiling. The lounge opens to the surrounding academic community through a full-height wall of frameless glass and is flanked by a bamboo-paneled seminar center, a "smart" classroom,and  offices for staff and scholars. One floor below, there is a flexible studio/exhibition space for visiting artists. The studio has continuos baseboard power strips, a robust unistrut ceiling grid from which to suspend light fixtures and heavy objects, and fully blocked walls for universal hanging. Rolling shades can close its open corner for work and instruction privacy or open to create a vitrine-like gallery space that showcases the work installed inside.

Project Data

Area/Budget: 4,000sf / $750,000

Scope: 4,000sf renovation in NU’s Kresge Hall for interdisciplinary humanities center with flexibly interconnecting spaces for seminars, classes and receptions; offices for visiting scholars and Institute staff; & visiting artist’s studio/gallery

Project Team: David Woodhouse, Andy Tinucci (project architect), Brian Foote, Rea Koukiou

WMA Engineers (mep); Schuler Shook (lighting); Vistara Construction Services (cost); Tenant Development Corporation (contractor)

Photographer: Woodhouse Tinucci Architects; Schuler Shook