The Stock Pavilion occupies a prominent site, terminating the major axis of the University of Illinois’ chain of quadrangles, yet it currently sits empty for all but a few days out of the year. For this reason, this project proposed to reclaim the Stock Pavilion as a library for the College of Fine and Applied Arts, considered within a larger context of planning in the south-central area of the campus.

On this part of the campus—where the realized fragments of Charles Platt’s visionary plan imposingly define both intimate courtyards and infinite vistas—there is a need to possess visionary convictions if new projects are to succeed in the existing fabric. This is not to suggest that all new projects must adopt the architectural language or materials palate chosen by Platt and codified in the Campus Design Guidelines. Instead, designers must accept the attitude of confidence and aspiration to collective monumentality that Platt’s vision embodies and express it in plan, form and detail.

In addition to renovating the Stock Pavilion for use as a Fine & Applied Arts library, the project included a southern addition to Temple Hoyne Buell Hall connecting to the new library underground and allowing for relocation of several units within the College (including Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Industrial Design and Art History) to space adjacent to the new library. The addition would also continue the western “wall” of the quad and help to frame the Stock Pavilion by mirroring the plan of the Agricultural Engineering Sciences Building.

Our design process began by discussing visionary goals and developing programmatic guidelines for the project. The program required an area nearly three times that of the footprint of the Stock Pavilion. In order to accommodate the program and maintain the grandeur of the vaulted arena to the greatest extent possible, a full level was inserted in a basement beneath the existing foundation-less building and an additional area was created under the north lawn to house an auditorium for the College of Fine and Applied Arts and mechanical rooms. Integral to the design of the library is the construction of a southern addition to Temple Hoyne Buell Hall, which would allow an efficient reorganization of classroom, studio and office facilities for several units in the College.

Original design: ARCH 371, Fall 2002, Professor William Voelker
team project with Steven Leathers

Revised Spring 2004 for: AIAS Illinois Campus Vision Project (competition)
team effort with Steven Leathers and David J. Lillie
received First Prize