About the Spertus Building
Awards and Recognition
Spertus is deeply honored to be the recipient of the following awards and recognition. We thank these prestigious organizations and publications for their acknowledgement of the design and realization of our new building!
Newcity names Spertus Best New Piece of Architecture.November 2008
While some buildings receive more media attention, few are as powerfully effective on so many levels as the new home of Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, opened at the end of 2007. Built in modest scale befitting its place on the historic southern stretch of Michigan Avenue across from Grant Park, this shimmering, multifaceted glass-walled ten-story building commands the attention of a building ten times its size.
» read more.
The Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects honors Spertus with its Distinguished Building Award and Chicago Divine Detail Award.October 2008
Read Chicago Tribune architect critic Blair Kamin’s review about the AIA Annual Design Excellence Awards here.
Chicago Architecture Foundation selects Spertus 2008 Patron of the Year.September 2008
Unique among architecture awards, the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Patron of the Year honors business leaders who, by commissioning and financing buildings, significantly contribute to Chicago’s outstanding built environment. Patron of the Year Award recipients are recognized for their creativity and innovation in both the conception and inception of their building design.
The Commission on Chicago Landmarks honors Spertus with the Chicago Landmark Award for Preservation Excellence.September 2008
Spertus was recognized for the construction of its new facility, which was designed to fit into a significant historic neighborhood while also targeting LEED Silver certification for meeting sustainable design and performance measures.
The Chicago Athenaeum recognized Spertus with a 2008 American Architecture Award.August 2008
The Chicago Reader voted Spertus the Best Building Built This Century.
June 2008
You don’t have to be Jewish to appreciate this dazzling Krueck & Sexton-designed building, which opened to the public last December. For starters, anyone can savor its glittering facade, made of 756 glass panels set in diamond-shaped projections. It brings new spirit and substance to a somber brick-and-masonry stretch of South Michigan. It also invites you to see what’s behind that pretty face, and doesn’t disappoint there either.
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May 2008
American Libraries highlights Spertus in its 2008 Architecture Showcase.April 2008
The 20th Annual Chicago Commercial Real Estate Awards name Spertus the
Build-to-Suit Project of the Year.
March 2008
Spertus received this award for how well it is designed to serve its clientele.
Chicago Magazine names Spertus a Modern Masterpiece.September 2007
The site: a rare vacant lot on a historic avenue. The client’s objective: up-to-date modernity with a respectful nod to the past—hardly a simple mandate, but an opportunity for architectural distinction, or better. Enter Krueck & Sexton, who competed for the commission by designing a striking glass exterior of many facets, symbolic of what Spertus calls its "multifaceted programming." The sculptural effect corresponded with complexity and asymmetry inside: floor "windows" open lower areas to light in surprising ways.
» read more.
Press
Like a cut diamond, Krueck and Sexton Architects’ Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies fits seamlessly Chicago’s downtown street wall
Architectural Record
May 2008
By Blair Kamin - This is an excerpt of an article from the May 2008 edition of Architectural Record.
Like the imposing towers lining the edges of New York’s Central Park, the street wall of historic skyscrapers fronting on Chicago’s Grant Park exist as built topography—a man-made cliff of stone and brick that includes such seminal structures as Adler & Sullivan’s robust Auditorium Building.
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Unconventional and on Budget
Wall Street Journal
April 3, 2008; Page B19
By Joel Henning
More like a glass sculpture than a wall, the 161-foot-high crystalline front façade of the new light-filled home of the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies is — like the rest of the structure designed by local architects Ron Krueck and Mark Sexton — an anomalous and successful addition to Chicago's landmarked Michigan Avenue.
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Creative Visions, but for Many Millions Less
New York Times
Published: March 12, 2008
By Thomas Mullaney
Museums have been called the cathedrals of the modern age. New construction projects trumpet a $100 million redesign here, a $300 million building there, totals worthy of a Carnegie, a Morgan or a latter-day Medici.
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Blades of glass
New Spertus Institute’s gemlike wall of glass a welcome counterpoint on South Michigan
Chicago Tribune
November 21, 2007
By Blair Kamin | Tribune architecture critic
Chicago’s rough-hewn cityscape, already studded with architectural jewels, has a sparkling new gem. It resembles an exquisitely cut diamond dropped into the great wall of stone that rises like a cliff across from Grant Park.
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Spertus now showcase from top to bottom
10-story Institute of Jewish Studies draws visitors inside
Chicago Tribune
November 21, 2007
By William Mullen | Tribune staff reporter
It used to be that you had to look pretty carefully at the buildings in the 600 block of South Michigan Avenue if you wanted to find the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, housed in a nondescript little office building next to a vacant lot.
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New Spertus a crowning jewel for Michigan Ave.
OPENS NOV. 30 | Glass Facade resembles irregularly cut gem
Chicago Sun-Times
November 21, 2007
By Kevin Nance
The new $55 million structure, just north of Spertus’ former home on one of the famous street’s last open spaces, also includes the Spertus Museum galleries, a great hall, a 400-seat theater, the Asher Library, high-tech classrooms, a gift shop and a kosher cafe operated by Wolfgang Puck. An interactive children's center and an educational resource center for teachers and parents will open next spring.
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