Teaching Media Production in a New Way
Columbia College’s first new-construction building, located at the intersection of South State Street and West 16th Street, compliments the college’s urban campus and is a visual focal point for the surrounding South Loop neighborhood. The innovative, 35,500-square-foot facility comprises two soundstages, a motion-capture studio, an animation lab, four classrooms, and spaces for production design, costumes, and equipment storage. The building is designed to inspire a new way of teaching media production.
Convergence
The MPC is a teaching tool organized to enhance interaction and collaboration among students across departments. The result is a learning environment that motivates the creative thinking process through the interaction and association among students from a variety of disciplines.
Preserving Our Past: Famous Players-Lasky Arch
The building at 1327 South Wabash Avenue is the former Chicago office of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, the parent company of Paramount Pictures, formed in 1916 by Adolph Zukor. The building, constructed in 1923, was designed by renowned movie palace architects Rapp and Rapp, who also designed the Chicago Theatre. The entrance of the building was marked by a 25-foot terra cotta arch bearing the Famous Players-Lasky name and an inset of the Paramount logo. The original building has been demolished, but the City of Chicago and Columbia College have preserved the arch for its historical significance. The arch, now located in the lobby of the MPC, stands as a lasting symbol of Chicago’s role in filmmaking history.