A Vertical Campus

A dramatic two-story main lobby will greet visitors and students when they enter the building. With the offices of admission, registration and financial aid near one another, people will feel like they are in a series of interconnected neighborhoods. The first five floors of the building will be devoted to student services and student life activities, floors six through 13 will be for academic classrooms, laboratories and offices and floors 14 through 31 will be for residential life. The 32-story building will be completed in March 2012, and will be occupied and operational prior to the start of the 2012-13 academic year. The structure will be 469 feet tall, 100 feet across and 170 feet deep.

A Home For Students  The top 17 floors of the building will be an upscale residence hall for more than 600 Roosevelt University students. There will be 295 private rooms, 320 beds in double occupancy rooms and 18 rooms for resident assistants. And, by city of Chicago ordinance, no building near Grant Park can be erected east of Michigan Avenue. Consequently, the top 22 floors of the new building always will have unobstructed views of Lake Michigan.

A Great Place to Meet, Socialize and Keep Fit  Students, faculty and staff can exercise in the building’s recreation center and eat in the dining hall which will accommodate 300 people at one time. There also will be offices and meeting rooms for student clubs and organizations.

A Variety of Classroom Sizes  The building will increase classroom space at the Chicago Campus by 40 percent. It will contain seven regular-size classrooms with seats for 36 or fewer students, four tiered classrooms with seats for 60 to 80 students and three auditorium-style classrooms with seats for 78 to 108 students.

Space for the Sciences  Three floors will be devoted to science education. Biology, chemistry and physics professors helped design the state-of-the-art teaching and research laboratories. The science faculty also will have their offices here.

New Business College Headquarters  Roosevelt’s Walter E. Heller College of Business will move from the Gage Building into the new skyscraper. A special feature for business students will be a learning lab trading room.

LEED-Certified Building  In keeping with Roosevelt’s commitment to being a “green” university, the building will be one of the few high rise structures in Chicago that is LEED-certified, meaning it meets requirements for sustainability, water efficiency, energy usage, materials and indoor environmental air quality.

Two Architectural Gems  The façade of the former Fine Arts Annex, created in 1924 by renowned architect Andrew Rebori, will be preserved and will become part of the University bookstore entrance at the north end of the new building. Some of Chicago’s best-known firms are working on the project. VOA is the architectural firm; The John Buck Co. is the development manager and Power Construction Co. is the general contractor. A number of subcontractors, including many women and minority-owned firms, are also working on the project.

Counterpart to the Auditorium Building  The glass and steel building will be an architecturally significant counterpart to the grey limestone of the Auditorium Building, the University’s National Historic Landmark. The new building will complement the strength of the Auditorium Building’s appearance.

Naming Opportunities  There are numerous opportunities for alumni and friends of the University to support this exciting building. They range from naming the entire building to naming a lecture hall, the fitness center or one of the facility’s many other spaces. Contributions can also be allocated for the purchase of furniture and fixtures. For further information, contact Patrick M. Woods, vice president for Institutional Advancement at pwoods@roosevelt.edu.

News

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New! Sign up for a free Wabash Building Tour. Tours are held on Mondays, 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m between May 14 and August 6, 2012.

Read the Illinois House of Representatives Resolution

Videos

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Discussion with Lee Bey, Architecture Critic.

Discussion with the Editor of the Illinois Real Estate Journal.

Roosevelt's 65th Anniversary - ABC News

Wabash building groundbreaking - ABC News

Vertical Campus

Time Lapse: A Day at the Wabash Building Construction Site

Be a part of our housewarming.

The Wabash Project Gift Registry will help Roosevelt furnish and equip our new building with classrooms, a dining hall, dormitory rooms, offices, and social spaces. Each and every item will be an important part of creating this very unique educational environment.  There are requested donations at various price points, and we are sure you can find a piece or two that fits your budget.  Won’t you join the excitement by agreeing to donate a few things that we need? 

• Read more about the Wabash Gift Registry