Wintrust Arena

The mid-size venue doubles as a 10,387-arena for DePaul University basketball to McCormick Place, the country’s largest convention center. The event center’s main design feature is an inventive roof, or 5th façade, that swells upward over the arena seating, recalling some of Chicago’s great gathering spaces like Adler and Sullivan’s Auditorium Theater, the Navy Pier Grand Ballroom and Union Station. The roof is a landmark and can be seen from taller structures downtown and around the site.

The arena’s main entrance is located on the site’s most public spot, at the corner of prominent streets Cermak and Indiana. The building’s many transparent facades help to create an architectural experience, where the activity energy and excitement of the arena is felt on the street below. The building’s design is contemporary, but it grows from a study of the adjacent neighborhoods. Therefore, the arena has four “fronts” of varying transparency and a scale befitting the historic Prairie Avenue neighborhood.