While the peacocks of IIT’s Mies Campus—S. R. Crown Hall, The McCormick Tribune Campus Center/Exelon Tube, and State Street Village, to name a few—may command center stage, there are many less-showy places that are attention-grabbing in their own right. Heading south from the campus’s northwest corner across from Stuart Field, here are eight you can become acquainted with—at least online.
IIT Facilities Building
Once part of a three-building complex that comprised the research center of the Association of American Railroads, this building now serves as a storage depot for the IIT Department of Facilities and Maintenance Management. To help keep Main Campus roads and paths clear over winter 2014–15, Facilities unloaded more than 100 tons of rock salt in the building.
Photo: Scott Benbrook
VanderCook College of Music
Last year VanderCook College of Music completed the first phase of a renovation plan that added space to rehearsal areas, ensemble rooms, and practice/teaching studios used for private lessons, individual practice, and small chamber ensemble rehearsal.
Photo: Scott Benbrook
Machinery Hall
The IIT Department of Facilities and Maintenance Management as well as the Office of Sustainability are located in one of the earliest-constructed (1901) buildings on Main Campus, Machinery Hall, designed by the architectural firm of Patton & Fisher. A Chicago Landmark, Machinery Hall was the first Armour Institute building completed in the twentieth century.
Photo: Scott Benbrook
Siegel Hall Rooftop
A 1.4-megawatt rooftop smart solar photovoltaic array at Siegel Hall is just one of more than 15 installations in various stages of completion across IIT Main Campus as part of the Robert W. Galvin Center for Electricity Innovation microgrid project.
Photo: Scott Benbrook
IIT Archives
Located in the lower level of Paul V. Galvin Library, the IIT Archives features about 4,000 linear feet (shelf space) of processed materials. There are more than 1,000 catalogued collections—and nearly 1,000 linear feet of materials awaiting processing.
Photo: Scott Benbrook
Shimer College
Established in 1853 as a small liberal-arts institution, Shimer College has been a part of IIT’s Main Campus since 2006, when the school relocated from Waukegan, Ill. Its curriculum is based entirely on primary sources from the classics and contemporary masters.
Photo: Scott Benbrook
Co-Gen Plant
Built to generate steam and electricity, IIT’s co-generation plant was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and first began producing energy on May 23, 1991. The plant is now looped into the Main Campus microgrid project.
Photo: Scott Benbrook
Site of the First Industrial Nuclear Reactor
A portion of the lower level of the 3424 S. State Street building housed the first industrial nuclear reactor, which went into use on June 28, 1956. Nicknamed “the atomic furnace,” the reactor produced short-lived radioisotopes for a variety of projects until it was decommissioned in the mid-1970s.
Photo: Scott Benbrook