Illinois Tech
Illinois Institute of Technology
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe directed IIT's architecture school for two decades and designed much of its campus, making it one of the largest collections of his buildings anywhere.
- 4Buildings
- 3Traditions
- 1952Oldest · Carr Memorial Chapel
- 2003Newest · McCormick Tribune Campus Center
Campus map and Look Around
Tap a numbered pin to see that building from the street with Apple Look Around.
Planning the visit
- Fly intoChicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
Midway, on Chicago's South Side, is the closer of the city's two airports. O'Hare International (ORD) has far more long-haul flights but is a longer trip across the city.
- Getting aroundWalking / CTA Green and Red Lines
The CTA Green Line runs straight through campus, wrapped in a stainless steel tube where it passes over the Campus Center, and the Red Line stops just west of campus.
- Colors and teams
Students call the Mies-designed Carr Memorial Chapel the 'God Box', after its plain brick shape.
4 buildings to stamp
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Photo: Arturo Duarte Jr., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons S. R. Crown Hall
3360 S State St, Chicago, IL 60616
Mies van der Rohe's glass-and-steel hall for the architecture school he led is one big open room: the roof hangs from four girders on four pairs of columns, leaving no interior columns at all. It is a National Historic Landmark.
- Built
- 1956
- Architect
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
- Style
- Modernist / International Style
- Today
- College of Architecture
-
Photo: AlphaBeta135, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Carr Memorial Chapel
Michigan Ave and 32nd St, Chicago, IL 60616
The only religious building Mies van der Rohe ever designed is a simple one-story brick box, finished in 1952. Students nicknamed it the 'God Box'.
- Built
- 1952
- Architect
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
- Style
- Modernist
- Stories
- 1
- Today
- Chapel
-
Photo: Richard Duncan, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons McCormick Tribune Campus Center
S State St, Chicago, IL 60616
Rem Koolhaas's first building in the United States, opened in 2003, traced students' shortcuts across an old parking lot to create its diagonal interior streets. A 530-foot stainless steel tube carries the CTA Green Line over the roof to keep out the noise.
- Built
- 2003
- Architect
- Rem Koolhaas
- Style
- Contemporary
- Stories
- 1
- Today
- Campus Center
-
Photo: Joe Ravi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Rowe Village
State St, Chicago, IL 60616
Helmut Jahn's residence hall, completed in 2003 and first called State Street Village, looks like one long building but is really three, sharing a single facade.
- Built
- 2003
- Architect
- Helmut Jahn (Murphy/Jahn)
- Style
- Contemporary
- Stories
- 5
- Today
- Residence Hall
3 traditions to check off
Stamped! keeps these as a checklist, so you can tick each one off on the visit.
Pumpkin Launch
Every October during family weekend, student teams build catapults and trebuchets and compete to fling pumpkins for distance and accuracy on Ed Glancy Field. The event draws spectators from across Chicago.
S. R. Crown Hall
Crown Hall, home of the College of Architecture, is widely considered Mies van der Rohe's finest work and seems to float above the lawn on travertine steps. Visitors can see this landmark of modern architecture up close.
The Tube over the Campus Center
Rem Koolhaas's McCormick Tribune Campus Center has a stainless-steel tube carrying CTA Green Line trains right over its roof. Visitors can watch trains pass through the tube overhead.
Know Illinois Institute of Technology well?
Students and alumni know the traditions best. Suggest one we're missing, a building worth a stamp, or a fix. Every suggestion is checked against a source before it goes into the app.
Stamp all 4 on your visit.
Tour Illinois Institute of Technology in 3D before you go, add it to a college road trip and earn a passport stamp at every building. Free on iPhone and iPad.
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