Married Couple Design Arts Center

CHICAGO -- A husband-and-wife team from New York created the winning design for the University of Chicago's planned $100 million visual and performing arts center.

The design by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien includes a 160-foot-tall tower topped with a glass-walled cafe and moveable roof.

The architects are known for their lyrical, modernist designs for arts facilities. Their most well-known project is New York's award-winning American Folk Art Museum.

"As creative professionals, we are privileged to be able to conceive of space that will advance the creation and experience of artistic work in so many forms," Williams said in a statement.

Larry Norman, the university's deputy dean for the arts, said the design stood out because it creates an anchor for the south campus.

"It's a beacon of light as a center of student activity," he said.

Williams and Tsien's design was chosen over entries from four other finalists: Austria's Hans Hollein, Japan's Fumihiko Maki, and Americans Daniel Libeskind and Thom Mayne.

The building will be named the Reva and David Logan Center for Creative and Performing Arts after the couple that gave $35 million to the university for the project.

The project is slated for completion in 2011.