American studio John Ronan Architects has completed an academic building at the Illinois Institute of Technology that is meant to have a "light, cloud-like appearance".

The building, officially known as the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship, is situated in the heart of the IIT campus, which was master-planned by Mies van der Rohe in the 1940s.
The campus features numerous buildings by Mies, who led IIT's architecture programme from 1939 to 1958, including the iconic SR Crown Hall.

The Kaplan Institute – designed by local firm John Ronan Architects – is the first academic building to be constructed at IIT in over 40 years. A student centre by Rem Koolhaas and residence hall by Helmut Jahn opened on the campus in 2003.
The new building houses IIT's Institute of Design, along with serving as a hub for multidisciplinary projects at the university. Encompassing 72,000 square feet (6,689 square metres), the facility is intended to foster collaboration among students, faculty, alumni and external partners.

"It's an idea factory – a place of creative collision between students and faculty across disciplines, where new ideas are explored and tested on their way to becoming meaningful innovations," said firm founder John Ronan in a project statement.

Rectangular in plan, the two-storey building has a long and low profile. The top level cantilevers over the lower floor, helping shade its glaze...