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News Release

Contact: Joe King, NIU Office of Public Affairs
(815) 753-4299

October 18, 2003

Alumni Center will create
stunning new gateway to campus

DEKALB — In designing the proposed NIU Alumni and Visitors Center, architects sought to create a building that will serve as a gateway to the university’s future while paying homage to its century-long history.

The resulting design accomplishes both goals in dramatic fashion.

“We wanted to design a building that is visually emblematic of the campus – something that honored the university’s tradition, while capturing the spirit of an institution moving forward,” said architect Mark Hopkins of HKM Architects + Planners, Inc. of Arlington Heights. The firm previously designed Barsema Hall (home to the College of Business) and the Campus Life Building.

  

Rendering of the new building

Alumni House and Visitors Center Renderings

 

The two-and-a-half-story Alumni and Visitors Center harkens back to the past, borrowing its dramatic peaked roofs from the neo-Gothic style that was prevalent at NIU and campuses across America from the 1800s through the 1940s. However, the architect’s take on this style is much crisper and cleaner, with a distinctly modern feel.

The centerpiece of the building will be the soaring glass and steel Great Hall. Oriented east-west, and flooded with natural light, the hall will offer a view of Huskie Stadium at one end and the Altgeld tower in the distance to the east. The hall will serve as the main gateway to campus for potential students and other visitors, immersing them in NIU’s history through exhibits, displays and plaques that will highlight the accomplishments of some of the university’s more than 180,000 alumni.

“That space will be formal, monumental. It is meant to evoke the quality, status and character of NIU while pointing the way to the university’s future through visual image,” Hopkins said.

The Great Hall will form the spine of the building, its modern lines providing a striking visual counterpoint to the brick and stone structures that will comprise the remainder of the structure.

To the south of the Great Hall, the building’s high-peaked gabled roofs will create a dramatic series of angles when viewed from the outside. Inside, that portion of the building will house a ballroom and a faculty library.

The 4,100-square-foot ballroom will provide the university with a facility for formal entertaining on a scale and at a level that cannot currently be found on campus. Designed to complement the heavily booked facilities at the Holmes Student Center, the new ballroom will provide an upscale setting for weddings, anniversaries, luncheons, conferences and corporate meetings. The room will have a modern catering kitchen, built-in bar facilities and a large fireplace.

The ballroom will open out onto a large terrace, which will overlook the Oderkirk property.

“The terrace was designed to dovetail with the beautiful grounds of the Oderkirk property and its stand of majestic, mature oak trees. By incorporating that space the building will have room to host large outdoor events, with thousands of people – such as homecoming,” Hopkins said.

Adjacent to the ballroom will be the faculty library.

Designed with a clubby feel, the library will include a fireplace and intimate conversation areas. The walls will be lined with bookshelves and display cases showcasing publications and artwork produced by NIU faculty. Plans also call for the room to include some sort of permanent recognition for recipients of the university’s top teaching and research awards. The room will be available for formal and informal faculty gatherings and will be an appropriate forum for speakers, readings and other academic events.

The library will have its own patio. Smaller and more secluded, it will be screened from the main terrace by shrubbery to create a more private area.

The north side of the building will reflect the more modern aspects of the university. While built of the same brick and stone as the south side, its appearance will be more like that of a contemporary office building, with a flat roof and simpler lines. It will house several meeting rooms, one of which can be configured as a boardroom. All of the meeting rooms, as well as the ballroom, will be equipped with the latest in audiovisual capabilities. Plans for that portion of the building also call for a small retail shop on the main level that will specialize in NIU merchandise.

T he mezzanine level will be dedicated to offices for the NIU Alumni Association, the Student Alumni Association and for orientation tour staff.

The lower level of the building will be set aside for office space and storage. It will open out into a terraced courtyard connecting the building with Stadium Drive.

“This building will create a new crossroads where our past and our future intersect,” said Bob Fioretti, president of the NIU Alumni Association. “It will immediately become an NIU point of pride.”

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