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The team updating Mies van der Rohe's Crown Hall had to contend with staff who remembered him personally, writes Catherine Croft
With its meticulous welded steel detailing, Crown Hall is the most significant building on Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) campus and the building in which he taught from 1956-58, in his final years as director of the IIT's architectural programme. Crown Hall was built between 1951 and 1956, and in 2003 the IIT commissioned an international team to safeguard the building's seminal status while transforming it into an environmentally friendly structure.
The team, which included Chicago-based architect Krueck + Sexton, Chicago conservation specialist Gunny Harboe, London-based environmental engineer Atelier Ten and Stuttgart engineer TransSolar, was required to make up for 50 years of poor decisions and ad hoc adaptations.
When it was first completed, Crown Hall was reasonably environmentally friendly. There was no air conditioning, and the glazing provided good light for the large free-span studio space, while the original sandblasted tempered glass and shading from surrounding trees reduced solar gain. Unfortunately, that glazing was replaced in the 1970s with a laminate with a white interlayer at low level, which absorbed more energy and heat. This problem was exacerbated by the advent of computers and problems with glare. As the blinds went down, task lights were turned...