Awards
2016 – AIA Chicago Interior Architecture, Citation of Merit
2016 – SEED Award for Excellence in Public Interest Design
2016 – BD+C Reconstruction Awards, Silver Award
Publications
Founded in 1987 in a one-room art studio, Marwen has a mission to educate and inspire under-served youth through the visual arts. Marwen offers free, professional-caliber after-school arts programming and college and career support to students in grades 6-12, filling the void left behind by the gutting of public school arts programs.
For 15 years, Marwen’s physical presence to the public and neighborhood went largely unnoticed. As an internalized tenant on two floors of a four-story industrial loft building, the ambitious and inspiring center for visual arts wasn’t apparent from the outside. The purchase of the total building and adjacent lot allowed Marwen to expand its site to create a more visible Arts Campus, providing a beacon for the arts and education community.
The new campus aims to be a cohesive learning community and a cornerstone of arts education for diverse communities across Chicago. The expansion includes a new entry and parking court, a 950-square-foot loggia addition, 15,000 square feet of new and renovated studio space, and building upgrades such as new windows, HVAC, roofing, a solar panel array, and updated signage.
Marwen’s steel-and-glass loggia creates a safe, inviting entryway that immerses visitors in the organization’s mission from the moment they arrive. This welcoming front porch also serves as a flexible gallery and teaching space, allowing creativity to flourish.
The existing masonry, heavy timber loft building was mined for its beauty. Against a canvas of simple, elegant interventions and refined materials, students find an inspiring backdrop that lets their artwork take center stage, instilling in them a profound sense of pride and aspiration.
Tooled concrete floors, a floating glass and blackened steel staircase, and a millwork-clad reception area complement the Douglas fir beams and brick masonry.
The program includes a renovated main public gallery for student work, a student and family lounge, alumni gallery, library, administrative offices, and nine state-of-the-art instructional studios for painting, printmaking, photography, graphic design, film, animation, textile arts, sculpture, and ceramics.
Creative solutions were implemented to maximize program spaces throughout the building, such as borrowing natural light via clerestory windows in the lower-level studios. Carefully inserted new walls around the Douglas-fir beams accentuate the robust structural elements and contribute to an inspiring environment for students and teaching artists.
“We found the project to be creative, innovative, direct engagement of the organization with community with layers of integrated programming to enrich the lives of young people throughout Chicago. Showing a strong heart and soul, Marwen will touch people’s lives by going beyond the Arts to provide opportunities for many people. It meets the SEED principle to conserves materials and reduce waste. This is highly replicable in other places.”
2016 SEED Awards Jury
Additional Images
Architect: Wheeler Kearns Architects
Structural: Thornton Tomasetti
General Contractor: Power Construction
MEP: Design Build
Civil: Terra Engineering
Landscape: Wolff Landscape Architecture
Lighting Consultant: Lux Populi
Photography: Steve Hall / Hedrich Blessing, Maria Murczek
Aerial Photography: Soaring Badger Productions