Chicago architect Jeanne Gang and her firm, Studio Gang Architects, have been selected to design Columbia College's planned Media Production Center, beating finalists that included the Los Angeles-area firm of Morphosis, headed by Pritzker Architecture Prize-winner Thom Mayne. Chicago Tribune
The still-unfunded building, expected to cost $10 million, would rise on a vacant lot at the southwest corner of 16th and State Streets and would house 40,000 square feet of new facilities that include sound stages and an animation lab.

It would be Columbia's first new building. The college has done much to enliven the south end of downtown by breathing new life into existing buildings, including William Le Baron Jenney's landmark Ludington Building, which has one of the first all-steel superstructures, at 1104 S. Wabash Ave.

"We are looking for donors," said Micki Leventhal, a college spokeswoman. But, she added, the school's board of trustees is committed to building the center -- if necessary, by tapping other funds. For the project to proceed, the City of Chicago must approve the sale of the land, now city-owned, to Columbia.

Gang and the other finalists did not submit designs. The college, which has more than 11,000 graduate and undergraduate students in the visual, performing, media and communications arts, made its selection through intensive interviews.

Gang has been on a roll since 2003 when her firm, then known as Studio/Gang O'Donnell, completed a community theater in Rockford with a roof that folds like oversized origami, allowing performances to be open to the sky or to go on during a rainstorm.

Her Aqua tower, which will have undulating outdoor terraces that seek to make available views of Millennium Park and other nearby landmarks, is under construction as part of the Lakeshore East development along Columbus Drive.

Allen Turner, chairman of Columbia's board, said in a statement that Gang was chosen for "an understanding of each of the clients with which she has worked as well as a fresh and original approach to public architecture," plus the ability to bring the project in on time and on budget.

Besides Morphosis, other finalists were Helfand Architecture of New York City and Brininstool + Lynch of Chicago.

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Blair Kamin
bkamin@tribune.com