Master Plan projects activate campus spaces

Two recently completed projects from the 2018 UIC Master Plan Update provide vibrant new seating options and a UIC sculpture perfect for Instagram.

A 5-foot-diameter replica of UIC’s button logo was installed last week at the Grove, at the northeast corner of Morgan and Taylor streets. The sculpture helps identify one of UIC’s entry points, and more are planned across campus to highlight UIC’s perimeters, said Jonathan Fair, assistant director of campus architecture.

“The button logo is the core of the UIC brand,” Fair said. “It’s the first of hopefully many that we will be putting on campus. It’s a nice way for UIC to establish its perimeter and be a point of pride to have that Instagram moment or that graduation moment.”

Forty Adirondack chairs were added to the east and west sides of campus last week to provide new seating options. The chairs located near University Hall — in the green space where the old ComEd substation was located — are vibrant red, mirroring the color used in campus branding efforts. Chairs in the College of Medicine Courtyard are a shade of blue that reflects UI Health branding.

The chairs are not anchored so students and employees can move them around to collaborate or socialize, Fair said.

“It’s the first time we’ve used this type of furniture,” he said. “It’s our effort to activate some campus spaces through human activity and promote a vibrant, successful campus.”

The UIC Master Plan Update, which was approved by the university trustees in 2018, provides recommendations for physical campus development over 10 years.