Awards
2023 – AIA Chicago Design Excellence Awards Int. Arch. M – Citation of Merit
2023 – Fay Jones School Alumni Design Awards, Merit Award
2022 – Interior Design Best of Year Awards Government / Institutional – Honoree
2022 – Architizer A+ Awards, Educational Interiors: Special Mention
Publications
Art, learning, and community are at the heart of the newly renovated Ryan Learning Center (RLC) at the Art Institute of Chicago, where children, teens, adults, and educators drop-in for free educational experiences, resources, and creative activities.
Located within the iconic Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago, the RLC and its programming have grown and adapted throughout its ten-year history, resulting in the need for modifications to the original design. The result is a project employs a few strategic moves that address the Museum’s goals for the space while thoughtfully engaging with the architecturally significant structure.
Situated behind the main desk for the museum, glass doors on opposing sides open into to the space. Formerly, these entrances led into long, double-loaded corridors and visitors were unable to intuit the offerings of the RLC. The design team worked to open a new space–the David Vitale Art Exchange–into which visitors are immediately greeted.
Now, visitors enter a room instead of a corridor.
Designed on the structural module of the Modern Wing, new millwork components incorporate subtle curves that soften the open space while indicating different zones within the larger room—shifting from toy storage and nooks for children into a library with books and reference materials for adults.
Colorful flooring patterns and furniture define areas for sitting, gathering, and creating. The millwork interventions extend into the adjacent teen room and art studio. A soft blue paint unifies the spaces and complements the existing material palette. The millwork communicates both beauty and function, and seamlessly connects all the spaces, functions, and rooms together. These millwork interventions also include absorptive acoustic panels in key areas to meditate reverberation and allow multiple uses to happen simultaneously.
“When we first embarked on this project we had strong ideas about the principles that should guide the redesign of a Renzo signature space, more ambitions than the footprint could hold for the program, a tight budget, and a complex requirement for a process that involved many stakeholders and intensive user input along the way. Wheeler Kearns dealt with each challenge along the way.”
Jacqueline Terrassa, past Woman’s Board Vice President Learning and Public Engagement at The Art Institute of Chicago
Additional Images
Construction Manager: Pepper Construction
Graphic Identity Concept: Studio Blue
Graphic Identity and Environmental Graphic Design: Art Institute of Chicago Experience Design
Accessibility Consultant: LCM Architects
Evaluation: Uncommon Classrooms
Photography: Kendall McCaugherty, Hall + Merrick Photographers