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The centerpiece project for last spring’s College of Architecture Open House has been named a finalist in the American Institute of Architects Chicago’s 2025 Design Excellence Awards. 

Titled “Change in Plot,” the project is a collection of more than 60 uniquely shaped forms designed for people to sit on, lean against, and meander through in the Center Core of S. R. Crown Hall on Illinois Institute of Technology’s Mies Campus. The parametrically generated forms offered a stark contrast to the building’s symmetrical Modernist design. 

Dozens of architects, firms, and schools submit projects to the AIA Chicago’s annual awards program, which will be celebrated at the organization’s Designight 2025 celebration, at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park on September 18. Projects large and small from AIA Chicago members are celebrated at the ticketed event for architects, designers, clients, contractors, students, and more. 

The project, a finalist in the Interior Architecture: Small category, was a success for Associate Teaching Professor Jennifer Park and the 10 students who designed and fabricated it. More than 700 visitors came to Open House, and many walked and rested among the shapes. 

The forms, some up to 10 feet tall, are lightweight fabricated frames wrapped in rope. Designed with the latest digital technologies, the objects were nevertheless crafted using pre-industrial traditions in order to meet a project goal of using renewable and recyclable materials: the natural sisal strands were dyed with coffee, onion skins, and hibiscus petals.  

Park has curated the college’s Open House, an end-of-year showcase for student projects, for the past four years. The overall exhibition includes everything from drawings to models to neighborhood mockups that showcase the work from all degree programs at the College of Architecture. This year, Park turned Open House preparation into a studio. Students took over the planning of the S. R. Crown Hall event, exploring what is needed to create an exciting and inviting architectural exhibition. A highlight was creating the centerpiece project, which greeted guests as they entered. 

“The prior two years, the Center Core projects were more pavilion-like,” Park says. “We looked at what we did in the past and challenged students to think outside of their comfort zones. It was in many ways the challenge of how could we make something dynamic within the limitations of Crown? How could we interact with the building in an unfamiliar way?” 

Brainstorming that included hanging items from the ceiling or walls fell by the wayside in favor of the interactive shapes. “What was great was the team had a lot of diverse perspectives and different strengths, and that really added to the richness of the end result,” Park says. The lightweight objects that can be moved easily to other venues has already been invited to showcases outside academia.

Image: “Change in Plot” displayed in S. R. Crown Hall’s Center Core.