Doudna Fine Arts Center

Design Architect: Antoine Predock
Architect of Record: CannonDesign
General Contractor: Grunloh Construction
MEP Engineer: Henneman, Raufeisen & Associates
Theatre Planning: Schuler Shook
Acoustics: JaffeHolden
Location: Charleston, IL

Doudna Fine Arts Center resists the singular view, and rewards the patient one. Antoine Predock, who had no use for "one-liner" buildings, strung Eastern Illinois University's art, music, and theatre departments along a route of distinct rooms. The 2008 project was a major renovation and expansion. The original 1958 building survives enveloped inside an addition several times its size. Copper sheathes the roof and spire, so dark it swallows light, and the canted planes shift in weight as the sun changes angles. Inside, compression and release run on crossing axes, so the building keeps handing you another room before you have finished the last. A soaring concourse threads the sequence and passes through a Hall of Mirrors, where the building fractures into reflections. No view is given to you; you have to find your own.