Nearly all students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus eventually attend a class in Lincoln Hall, a century old landmark building prominently located on the main Quad. With its recent LEED Platinum renovation, both the building’s energy efficiency and its learning environments have been greatly enhanced to serve today’s environmental and educational priorities. While over 96% of the existing exterior walls, floors and roof were re-used maintaining the building’s most meaningful historic features, the interior of the structure was opened up and re-organized to reflect today’s interactive approach to learning with the addition of new floors in “found” space above the theater stage and the conversion of former storage areas into skylit areas for faculty and student support.

Though educational methodologies have evolved, the goal of encouraging critical thought, nurturing deep understanding, and debating diverse viewpoints remains the same.

Funding for the original building was approved by the state legislature in 1909, the centennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, and the completed Lincoln Hall was dedicated in 1913. The rededication of the renovated landmark on Lincoln’s birthday in 2013 renews its vibrant place on campus.