Architects for DePaul arena soon to be announced

Published:Monday, September 16, 2013

Updated:Monday, September 16, 2013 02:09

Dennis Georges

DePaul president Dennis H. Holtschneider unveills the arena plan to the media May 16.

Major progress was made over the summer regarding the new DePaul arena in the South Loop, as plans to find an architectural firm to design the arena took shape.

In the process of finding a lead architect, a three-man panel composed of veteran architects was chosen by the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority Group, also known as McPier. Joe Caprile, Tom Ventulett and Thomas Beeby have advised a nine-member panel made up of three representatives from McPier, DePaul and the city respectively.

After the panel was formed, the group narrowed down six firms to oversee the project.

The final firms in the running are John Rohan Architects, Krucek + Sexon Architects, Ross Barney Architects, Grimshaw Architects, Rotterdam and Clark Pelli Architects.

Its a very good list. This is not the usual suspects when it comes to stadium design, Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin said. These are very talented firms. We can expect some outof- the-box design solutions from them.

DePaul athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto added that opinions about who should take on the job are beginning to come clear. Were at the point right now where everyone kind of has their ideas about who their number one option is. I think there was a lot of excitement, and the proposals were just great.

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Architects for DePaul arena soon to be announced