IT’S TIME TO VOTE! FGM invites you to vote for the recently completed Gordon Parks Arts Hall of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, a joint effort between FGM Architects and Valerio Dewalt Train. The Architizer A+ Popular Choice Awards allows you to vote for your favorite architecture and we need your help! Vote for the Gordon Parks Arts Hall under the Primary & High Schools category.
Now in its fourth year, the Architizer A+Awards is the largest awards program focused on promoting and celebrating the year’s best architecture and products, allowing the public to vote in over 100 categories. Its mission is to nurture the appreciation of meaningful architecture in the world and champion its potential for a positive impact on everyday life. The voting for this year’s architecture closes on Friday, April 1, with winners to be announced on Tuesday, April 12.
The 94,000 sf Gordon Parks Arts Hall was built as an expansion of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools’ facilities, dramatically increasing the ability to support theatre and music programs. The renovation and expansion includes two new black box theaters with associated support spaces and a 700-seat assembly hall, designed as the center of the Hall’s primary programmatic functions. Art studios and music classrooms were built to take advantage of the views of Scammons Garden, directly north of the new wing. Completed in August 2015, The Gordon Parks Arts Hall supports programs in theater, music and the visual arts with three new performance halls, studios, rehearsal and practice rooms and a digital media room.
The building’s namesake provides inspiration to students. Gordon Parks, a noted African-American photographer, musician, writer and film director of humble beginnings, became a prominent U.S. photojournalist in the 1950s through the 80s for his civil rights, poverty and African-American focuses. Most notably, Parks was the first African-American photographer and writer for Life magazine, capturing iconic images of the civil rights movement and portraits of public figures including Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X. As students familiarize themselves with the new building, they are also becoming acquainted with the artist for whom it was named.