The David Rubenstein Forum re-invents the typology of a vast and vacuous conference center into a vertically stacked, animated center of discourse. Undeniable in its form and presence, the Forum is a clear outward expression of the dynamic conversations and interactions of the interior.
The David Rubenstein Forum at the University of Chicago is a space of intellectual exchange aimed at fostering the outward engagement of visiting scholars, researchers and dignitaries from around the world. Prominently located on Chicago’s Midway Plaisance across from Rockefeller Chapel, the Forum offers expansive views of Downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan, as well as the University Campus and Woodlawn Community. Members of ParkFowler Plus teamed with lead design architects, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, to realize this project.
The building is composed of a two-story base and a slender, eight-story tower that provides the University with a 285-seat auditorium and much needed multipurpose meeting spaces for workshops, symposia and lectures, among other activities. The tower is organized as a stack of neighborhoods with meeting and communal spaces offering diverse environments—formal and informal, calm and animated, focused and diffused, scheduled and spontaneous. Each neighborhood coalesces around a central private social lounge that offers a sense of community and identity. The neighborhoods are vertically stacked, each rotated and oriented to their own unique perspective of Chicago, creating a panoramic, 360-degree form, rather than a building with a front and back.
