Updated plans have been revealed for the new Engineering and Science building at the University of Chicago in Hyde Park. Located at 5620 S Ellis Avenue on the corner with E 56th Street, the new structure will replace the historical Accelerator and High Energy buildings as the university looks to expand its offerings.
Site context map for new science and engineering building (red) – new cancer center (green) via Google Maps
The current Accelerator Building was erected in 1951 and designed by Schmidt, Garden & Erikson. While the structure has aged, it housed the first lab for Enrico Fermi of Fermilab and led to many groundbreaking discoveries. However in 2022 most programs were moved to the adjacent High Bay Research facility in preparation for this new expansion.
View of current Accelerator Building
Late last year renderings were leaked for a previous iteration of the new structure designed by HDR and Allison Grace Williams, now the same team has come back with an updated larger design. Like we reported last year, the new building will house the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the Chicago Quantum Exchange as the South Side prepares for Quantum.
Site map of new Science and Engineering building by HDR and Allison Grace Williams
To do this the building will contain spaces capable of tight temperature and humidity control for environments sensitive to vibration and electromagnetic interference, yet remain highly flexible. Within the eight-story and 182-foot tall structure will be various lab spaces, office space, collaboration areas, seminar rooms, classrooms, and underground labs as well.
Rendering of new Science and Engineering building by HDR and Allison Grace Williams
The lower levels of the building will take an L-shape hugging the street corner, with the mid-rise portion of the structure rising along 56th and cantilevering over the lower floors below. Aesthetically, the exterior will be mostly clad in glass, with the cantilevered mid-rise using an undulating form for its facade similar to the Laid Bell Law Quadrangle.
Section of new Science and Engineering building by HDR and Allison Grace Williams
Partnering with the University of Illinois to help create a quantum destination in Chicago, the building will be partially funded by state grants as well as by the university and donors. With design work already in the advanced phases, construction is scheduled to commence late 2025 and be completed in 2028 by Mortenson Construction Company.
A press release from the university can be found here.
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Hate to see a landmark like that go, but the new building will get a lot of science done.
Fits right in with their neo-Gothic campus
The current Landmarks significance is adequate enough to have this Science and Engineering building laid somewhere else in or around the Campus.
You got any idea what it’d cost to do new Neo-Gothic?
The new programs will certainly enhance the mission of the university and will keep Chicago as one of the premier universities in the world!
Having spent a few years working in the accelerator building, I can attest to its having aged quite a bit, to say the least… I was very happy to have been moved out of there. Don’t get me wrong, as a physicist I appreciate the remarkable science that occurred in the building, but I also think that the university will better honor Fermi’s legacy (and the legacies of all the great physicists who worked here) by building a modern science building equipped to facilitate today’s research needs.