On March 30, 2023 the Mies van der Rohe Society, Interprofessional Projects (IPRO) Program students of Mindful Modern Buildings (Spring/Fall 2022 and Spring 2023), and the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology hosted a gallery showing, live performances, and reception in the west lobby and auditorium of the Michael Paul Galvin Tower located at 10 W. 35th Street in Chicago.

Event highlights include live piano and violin performance by acclaimed VanderCook College of Music faculty and musicians, Yang and Olivia, and dance recital by Alberto Velazquez and Amanda Assucena, world-renowned artists from The Joffrey Ballet Chicago.

Amanda Assucena as Marie and Alberto Velazquez as the Nutcracker Prince in Christopher Wheeldon’s The Nutcracker.
Photo: Cheryl Mann.

Mies Society’s current fundraising project—and the subject of the IPRO Program course, MIndful Modern Buildings taught by Mies Society Director Cynthia Vranas Olsen (M.A.S. ARCH ’01, Ph.D. ’17)—is the rehabilitation of the west lobby gallery space and auditorium located inside of the Michael Paul Galvin Tower. Through human-centered design and student collaboration from multidisciplinary backgrounds, the project will breathe life into these underutilized spaces on Mies Campus and encourage educational, cultural, and artful events to unite communities and demonstrate how interrelated the arts and architecture are.