The University of Chicago, long identified with its venerable Collegiate Gothic campus, has historically cordial relations with Hyde Park, the affluent enclave that surrounds it. But that rapport reached an urban design low in 1960, when Pierce Tower, Harry Weese’s 10-story red brick box adorned with bay windows and a mansard roof, and hovering on pilotis, was erected. The dormitory occupied the corner of 55th Street, a major east–west boulevard, and University Avenue, a leafy side street. Often maligned as a “fortress,” it blocked access and views, and a loading dock dominated its street presence.
The need for more and better-quality housing and the desire for a more hospitable connection between town and gown led the university to replace Pierce, which had fallen into serious disrepair, with Studio Gang’s North Residential Commons, a recently completed 400,000-square-foot set of residence halls. The $148 million complex provides housing and dining facilities for 800 students—compared to 320 at Pierce—in a design that architect Jeanne Gang describes as “four slender bar buildings in an urban fabric of plazas, gardens, walkways, and courtyards.” Together, she says, they “form inviting public and semi-private outdoor spaces for students and neighbors.”
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