Enhancing Chicago’s Theater Experience

Enhancing Chicago’s Theater Experience

STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY’S NEW ART AND EDUCATION CENTER BLENDS THE OLD WITH THE NEW TO CREATE A DESTINATION FOR THE COMMUNITY

BY BILL ESLER

Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, regarded as a trailblazer in theater circles for nearly 50 years, has just opened a new $54 million, 50,000-square-foot theater and education center, named the Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Arts and Education Center.

Steppenwolf is known for the dynamic productions developed by its ensemble of actors and creatives, which employ an unvarnished veracity that reflects the gritty style of its home city, where its campus is situated in a semi-gentrified aging industrial neighborhood. Founding players—such as Laurie Metcalf, John Malkovich, and Gary Sinise—are now big stars of stage and screen.

The design of this new project and its integration into existing theater buildings was developed by a local team that channeled the goals of Steppenwolf’s ensemble and creative leaders. That team collaborated continuously in this second part of an ongoing three-phase program that will reach $74 million when completed. In interviews, it became apparent that the designers involved are also big fans of Steppenwolf.

The theater is a significant economic driver in Chicago, with more than 200 venues generating millions of dollars in economic activity for the region. Though the pandemic suspended many performances, more than 80 theaters reopened in fall 2021, signing on to citywide policies allowing them to operate safely despite the constraints of COVID-19.

FACING PAGE: THE NEW BUILDING WAS DESIGNED BY CHICAGO ARCHITECT GORDON GILL FAIA OF ADRIAN SMITH + GORDON GILL ARCHITECTURE THIS PAGE: LOBBY, UPSTAIRS BAR AND DOWNSTAIRS BAR AT THE LIZ AND ERIC LEFKOFSKY ARTS AND EDUCATION CENTER, DESIGNED BY FC STUDIO INC.

This vibrant theater arena has resulted in a growing number of recent design projects, ranging in scale from converted storefronts like the 119-seat The Edge Theater and larger adapted movie palaces like the Nederlander. Significant performance space projects include the $98-million DePaul Music Center [see Surface & Panel Q3 2019]; the $34-million Writers Theatre by Studio Gang Architects; and The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, an innovative design costing $35 million.

But growing arts organizations face a challenge integrating building expansions since it’s hard to predict what will happen in the decades ahead. For Steppenwolf, this presented design challenges in its latest expansion of what is now a half-block long edifice on a busy street. The first building on Steppenwolf’s campus, brick and cement, was completed in 1991. Later an adjacent steel and glass Ethan Allen furniture store was annexed to the north end of the 1991 structure and turned into a cafe and small theater space. Finally, the new structure, which will soon premiere its first show, was built on an empty parking lot at the opposite end of the site.

“It was our goal to provide a welcoming public space with clear visual signals to direct theater goers toward improved building amenities, address the needs of the theatergoers, box office staff and theater staff.” FC STUDIO PRINCIPAL JULIE FISHER

MATERIAL MATTERS The design of the new building was by world-renowned Chicago architect Gordon Gill FAIA of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. Notable for his firm’s soaring towers in Asia, Gill’s home is within walking distance of Steppenwolf. Like many creatives engaged for the expansion, Gill himself is a fan and patron of the theater.

As with many contemporary architectural projects, the interior is visible from the exterior, and elements of each pierce through the exterior walls. For the structure’s core, Gill selected panels of offwhite glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) which were molded with textured surfaces and erected to form the main building, with a glass and steel “greenhouse” enfolding it. GFRC has sound insulation properties, which helped shield the interior spaces from traffic on the busy thoroughfare and a subway and elevated transit lines next to the structure.

“We needed a material that could be inside and outside because it kind of slips through the side of the skylight there, both externally and internally,” Gill said. “We wanted something that was rugged but not indifferent. We wanted it to play a slightly more artful role, let’s say, rather than simply utilitarian. And so, we came upon this GFRC— glass fiber reinforced concrete.”

This fiberglass-like material, cast by local firm Bridges & Blocks, substitutes cement for the resins in conventional fiberglass, allowing it to be molded, and provides texture and sound dampening properties that are significant given Steppenwolf Theatre’s location adjacent to a subway, an elevated rapid transit line, and a busy thoroughfare. “So, the sandwich of the GFRC was going to be great from a sound insulation standpoint and a constructability standpoint, and from a weathering standpoint,” he explained.

Mark Cerone, a materials expert at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, says recurring use of perforated panels for metal ceilings and theater surround, and again for veneer panel partitions in public spaces, “allows light to permeate. It allows for depth and for patrons to see and sort of experience what’s behind them. We didn’t want to just cover surfaces up; we wanted to layer surfaces.” So, for example, in using Armstrong Custom Commercial Ceilings (the former Armstrong Architectural Components Group) baffles of oak, “You can see through and see ductwork. It’s very honest, and it’s not just a cover.”

During focus sessions, Steppenwolf leaders conveyed to the designers that it sees itself driving a “collision” of the ideas informing its plays with the community that makes up its audiences. UK-based Charcoalblue’s new Chicago office designed the theater space, which is the heart of the new building. It is a sizable yet surprisingly intimate 400-seat theater in the round that puts no patron more than 20 feet from that stage. During focus sessions, ensemble actor and playwright Tracy Letts told the team he wanted the audience “to see me sweat” when on stage. And they will be able to do that.

As the project progressed, materials selection for everything from the exterior and interior walls assembled from glass fiber reinforced concrete to the veneer panel corridors and ceilings of materials such as perforated steel and ranks of oak baffles on the ceiling (sourced from Armstrong Custom Commercial Ceilings) helped tie the old and the new structures together in a broad manner.

A WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT And at the final stages, fc Studio inc delivered the goods on aspects of the interior design, the parts of the theater that ticket holders see on arrival, at intermission, and perhaps for a drink afterward. This included bright new lobbies, refreshed oak veneer paneling in many public areas, and two new full-service bars. At each juncture, materials define and unify the overall Steppenwolf project elements.

“It was our goal to provide a welcoming public space with clear visual signals to direct theater goers toward improved building amenities, address the needs of the theatergoers, box office staff and theater staff,” said fc Studio Principal Julie Fisher, whose firm designed a vibrant new bar on the second floor along with flexible conference and meeting spaces.

A signature aspect of Fisher’s work was the design and coordination of the first-floor lobby bar and light fixture in the new structure. Visible from the street, it beckons passersby to a cozy corner under a walnut canopy with integrated lights that give the bar a distinct sense of place.

The bar itself is wrapped in bright blue tiles from Quarry Tile. It is adjacent to the grand staircase that leads to the new theater entrance above. The fc Studio second-floor bar at the theater entrance level ties the two bars together by again working in solid walnut and walnut veneers, with millwork by Wm. Huber Cabinet Works, a nearby millwork firm that is noted for reception areas and corporate centers for global brands like Akzo Nobel, Kraft Heinz, and Grubhub in the nearby West Loop loft district.

FACING PAGE: DOWNSTAIRS BAR AND LOBBY AT THE LIZ AND ERIC LEFKOFSKY ARTS AND EDUCATION CENTER, DESIGNED BY FC STUDIO INC. THIS PAGE: THE LOFT REFLECTION GALLERY AT STEPPENWOLF'S LIZ AND ERIC LEFKOFSKY ARTS AND EDUCATION CENTER.

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Fc Studio is also an architectural firm and was attentive to reflect the direction of the overall building while also building in practical details, such as hidden access panels to building mechanicals and storage for beer kegs that matter much in the operation of a bar. The design of both bars was respectful to the surrounding architectural approach but distinguished each area to give patrons a cozy feeling.

“Natural materials were very important to us,” said Fisher. “And we specifically work with manufacturers where we feel like they take pride in care in what they do.” In addition to the millwork by Wm. Huber Cabinet Works, fc Studio incorporated a slat design walnut ceiling by Architectural Systems Inc, above the second-floor bar, and a walnut veneer panel below a display case of props from historic Steppenwolf productions that sits opposite the bar. In addition, natural glazed tiles from the artisanal factory Fireclay Tile in Aromas, California, were used to face the bar.

To refresh and integrate the hallways that incorporate guest services, box office, coat check, and the corridors connecting the existing building and the new theater, fc Studio used a refreshed white oak veneer, rift-cut and rift-cut and slip matched, the same veneer style that Gill employed for massive theater doors and surrounding wall that houses the main entry into the theater. This is inserted into an opening designed into the textured interior concrete walls. Cain Millwork, another local firm, produced these.

The theater itself was designed by Charcoalblue, including its acoustics.

SUPERIOR ACOUSTICS Eric Magloire, Charcoalblue’s acoustics expert, said the theater is unique in that the seating area is surrounded by vertically hung metal panels, perforated, and painted, a materials theme also used on ceilings in public places. It is meant to evoke corten steel, ordinarily, an exterior element that develops a coating of protective rust on its outside. (Chicago’s famous Picasso statue of a woman is made of corten.)

“When we think of room acoustics, geometry and vibration are key,” said Magloire. “But there is a third aspect: materials.” The theater space itself is surrounded by metal panels instead of a more conventional wood surface in a theater setting. Also intended to mimic corten, the panels are backed with sound-absorbing material. Each panel is light enough to be moved by two people to adapt the space to various types of shows.

“We designed the room for an unamplified voice,” Magloire explained. One of the main concerns was creating volume for when the actor is facing away from the audience. “The in-the-round format is a very special experience in terms of space. We provided a series of surfaces, some of them unseen, that are seamlessly integrated into the architecture.” These include simple plywood boxes, painted black and suspended from the ceiling at strategic points, and felt linings behind the partitions of metal panels surrounding the upper row of seating. Felt lining behind the panels absorb sound to avoid echoes.

The effort represents the second phase of a $73 million Building on Excellence program that began perhaps auspiciously with the acquisition of an adjoining Ethan Allen furniture store. This twostory steel and glass shop was incorporated into the existing Steppenwolf campus as a “black box” (the term denotes a strippeddown setting for shows.) In addition, a coffee shop and bistro were included, operating in the daytime, even when the stages are dark.

The Front Bar was a significant step in creating a congenial gathering spot for theater staff and creatives working with Steppenwolf and represents an obeisance to the creatives and administrators who work each day to develop the shows at night. The Front Bar has since become a destination for theater lovers, actors, and producers.

A LOVE LETTER TO THE WINDY CITY This newest project has been described as Steppenwolf’s” love letter” to Chicago. And in building up its campus just north of Chicago’s central downtown theater district, the creative team has sent a love letter back, with the design partners drawn from neighboring talents in architecture and design, among the city’s best and brightest.

With components assembled over decades and originating for different purposes, the designers have tied the nearly a half-block long campus through the use of materials—concrete, glass, steel that was custom microperfed and painted to simulate corten, timbers, lumber, veneers, paneling, wood baffles and ceiling boards, textured wallpaper and flooring, fabrics, vibrant clay tiles—that beckon passersby through the fenestration and establish themes that define interior spaces as they enter the Steppenwolf buildings.

At each juncture, materials define and unify the overall Steppenwolf project elements. In working with the Steppenwolf creative directors and its actors, Gill found a client deeply invested in expressing itself through the architecture and design—just as it is in its stage productions. Steppenwolf’s creative directors distilled the core dynamic of Steppenwolf as “collision,” with audiences experiencing the performances very dynamically, very “in your face.” And the design of the new building carries on that theme through unexpected adjacencies of wood and concrete, ceramics and fabrics, metals, and veneer laminates. s p

STEPPENWOLF'S LIZ AND ERIC LEFKOFSKY ARTS AND EDUCATION. CENTER INCLUDES BRIGHT NEW LOBBIES, REFRESHED OAK VENEER PANELING IN MANY PUBLIC AREAS, AND TWO NEW FULL-SERVICE BARS.

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