"It's such a good example of the city as a theater - where you can use the steps to sit and people-watch," she wrote. She was recently hanging out at the Spanish Steps. … Now kids have started using the steps for studying after school, and the theater company is contemplating other uses for the space," including a cafe.įortuitously for the purposes of this column, Gang wrote from Rome, where she's doing research. "We thought that making the steps … into a social space where people could congregate and hang out would serve this function and at the same time they could connect the theater to the street life for people-watching. "They really wanted to encourage discussion about the plays, before and after the shows," Gang said in an email Friday. "We were interested in blurring the line between gathering informally and the library," said Kevin Havens, Wight & Co.'s design director.Ĭhicago architect Jeanne Gang has used bleacher seating to enliven buildings like the year-old Writers Theatre, where the stairs help furnish a striking wood-framed atrium. A ring of small meeting rooms separates the bustling area from the core of the school's library. The design features an intimately scaled, oval-shaped set of bleacher stairs that connect the school's ground-floor cafeteria with an informal study zone where students are allowed to eat and whispering isn't necessary. Gathering Stair, New Trier High School, Winnetka campus, Wight & Co., ChicagoĪ sprawling high school that used to lack a social hub, New Trier now has one, courtesy of its just-dedicated addition. We were setting out to make a community," said Brad Zizmor, a founding principal at A + I. Like their counterparts at Northwestern, the stairs form an indoor town square, but this one regularly features TV shows that are projected onto an adjoining wall. This year's opening of the Marshall's Landing restaurant, just off the stairs on the Mart's second floor, only increased their drawing power. The Mart's owners, the Vornado Realty Trust, inserted the stairs to improve the flow of traffic between floors and bring more activity to the building's western half.Ĭlad in travertine marble that matches the lobby's stonework, with an underside of perforated bronze that evokes the Mart's beautifully crafted art deco ornament, the stairs have been a hit with the building's workforce since they were completed last year. Once the world's largest building, the Merchandise Mart now has a heart too - a fancy set of bleacher stairs that connect its splendid, street-level lobby to its heavily trafficked second floor and the building's CTA elevated station.
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