Design Team Selected for Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) at The 78 Development

In case you missed this one, it looks like a team has been officially selected for DPI (via The Block Club):

The property will also feature a University of Illinois-led collaborative innovation center known as the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI).

Last week, the Illinois Capital Development Board (CDB) selected a team of designers and engineers, which included Dallas-based design and consulting firm Jacobs Consultants, Inc., Netherlands-based architectural firm OMA*AMO Architecture, and global design company IDEO, that will lead the $250 million DPI project.

The team was selected after a rigorous process that began months ago.

During their October presentation, representatives from the winning firm team shared images of a multi-story, all glass, semi-dome shaped building that will be sustainable, including having its own rainwater collection system. It will house classrooms, open air meeting spaces, laboratories, a cafeteria and terraces throughout the building.

The design calls for a series of laboratories to be built atop one another – which seeks to ensure efficiency – on one side of the building. The other side will include a “methodical design” of office and meeting spaces that will be layered in a way that is reminiscent of a game of Jenga, with open-air spaces complete with terraces aimed at maximizing views of the city and riverfront.

If the building matches the picture above, it would be a striking and notable addition to the Sloop.  Most buildings in the Sloop are architecturally basic, but this would buck that trend.  We'll see how this one transpires.

Of related interest, we recently saw that a person on Hello South Loop posted a pic of the current state of the 78 land and we were surprised to see the Wells street so far a long.  Wonder when this road could potentially open:

(Hat tip: KS!)