Ware Malcomb Announces Construction Completion of Barry-Hughes Performing Arts Center at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago

CHICAGO – Ware Malcomb, an award-winning international design firm, announced construction is complete on the Barry-Hughes Performing Arts Center at Mount Carmel High School. Ware Malcomb provided interior architecture and design services for the renovation of the 70-year-old brick and wood bow-truss building, located near Jackson Park in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood.

Mount Carmel High School is an all-boys Catholic high school established in 1900. In addition to its academic and athletic prowess, the school has distinguished alumni in the performing arts community, including Emmy—and Tony-award-winning actors. The latest in a series of campus renovations, the school’s Barry-Hughes Performing Arts Center project has transformed an underutilized campus building into a fully equipped modern performing arts, music, and recording studio facility.

“The client’s objective was to design a high-performing theatre and arts center with an emphasis on flexibility while showcasing and preserving the existing red brick interior and bow-truss wood structure. Our job was to select finishes that were simple and elegant, complimenting the existing building interior,” said Mark Schwamel, Director, Interior Architecture & Design, Ware Malcomb. “Many know Mt. Carmel High School boasts an award-winning athletics program, but now it can cater to a more diverse and well-rounded student experience by providing an enhanced performing theatre and arts program for generations to come.”

The design team first established an essential spine, or circulation path for the space, and organized the building functions sequentially off the circulation by scale, with a focus on re-using as much existing infrastructure as possible. The design team centered their concept around a floating “jewel box” comprising several smaller rooms housed within the larger building space, including recording studios, a mixing suite, a podcast studio, and a music practice room. 

The large open space within the performing arts center comprises a flexible theatre space that can accommodate audiences of up to 250 patrons. It can also be scaled for small assemblies, banquets, or alumni events, as well as smaller black-box productions or lectures. Ancillary uses in the performing arts center include a visual arts flex space, an art and pottery studio, study nooks, a student-run café with a full kitchen, restrooms, and storage spaces.  

About Ware Malcomb (waremalcomb.com)

Established in 1972, Ware Malcomb is a contemporary and expanding full-service design firm providing professional architecture, planning, interior design, civil engineering, branding and building measurement services to corporate, commercial/residential developer and public/institutional clients throughout the world. With office locations throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil, the firm specializes in the design of office, industrial, science & technology, healthcare, multifamily, retail, and public/institutional projects. The firm is also ranked among the top 15 architecture/engineering firms in Engineering News-Record’s Top 500 Design Firms and the top 30 interior design firms in Interior Design magazine’s Top 100 Giants. For more information, visit waremalcomb.com.