Interdisciplinary Space
As the name implies, the Gordon Center for Integrative Science is a space designed specifically to function as a crossroads of modern scientific knowledge. With an open breezeway, shimmering glass panes that allow for a sense of connectedness, and inviting, light-filled atriums that open both minds and dialogues, the structure of the Gordon Center feeds directly into its purpose. However, the building not only encourages dialogues, it also creates one. By bounding the University’s sciences quadrangle and acting as a keystone between the Kersten Physics Teaching Center and John Crerar Library, the Gordon Center for Integrative Science creates a community of collaboration between the biological and physical sciences.
21st Century Sheen, 19th Century Cues
Though it is in many ways separate from the Neo-Gothic main quad, the Gordon Center for Integrative Science still manages to be highly referential to its predecessors. The structure features broad walls of the same Indiana limestone that adorns the crockets and cornices of the main quad to create a material cohesion. Further, the colonnade of six-story steel columns acts as a modern interpretation of the famous Cobb Gate just a block and a half to the East on 57th street. In this synthesis of new and old, the Gordon Center’s architecture cites its precursors while encouraging its inhabitants to look forward to solutions for the problems of the day.