The David M. Rubenstein Forum continues to live up to its monumental design as it racks up award after award. We are proud to announce that the Rubenstein Forum has recently earned both an Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) Award of Merit and an International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) Award of Merit – two of the most prestigious lighting design awards in the industry.

Similarly, the stunning design was recognized at this year’s AIA Chicago Design Night with three coveted awards – a Design Excellence Honor Award in the Architecture Medium category and the Lerch Bate’s People’s Choice Award. BARDAVID, an upscale wine bar and restaurant located on the ground level, was awarded a Design Excellence Honor Award in the Interior Architecture Small category.

These recent additions add up to the already impressive list of accolades this project has garnered, including engineering-specific awards that include the 2022 ACEC-IL Engineering Excellence Award, the ACEC-NY Engineering Excellence Award – Platinum, and the 2021 ASHRAE Technology Award.

Additionally, the project was featured in this month’s edition of Structure magazine.

Primera was the engineer of record for mechanical/HVAC, electrical, plumbing, life safety and fire protection systems for the Forum as well as BARDAVID. We also provided code analysis support and managed several code variances such as toilet fixture counts and the ventilation design. In addition, Primera provided energy services and developed the whole building energy model.

The project was designed by New York-based Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Chicago-based Brinistool + Lynch. To learn more about the David M. Rubenstein Forum, click here.

Exterior photo © Angie McGonigal Photography