Rafael Viñoly, the world-renowned architect of U of C’s new Graduate School of Business (GSB) building, will speak as part of Architectural Digest’s “Architecture Days” lecture series. The event will take place at The Merchandise Mart on Saturday, May 7, from 2 to 3 p.m.

The lecture will focus entirely on the Chicago GSB Hyde Park Center, the 415,000-square-foot facility that Viñoly designed in an effort to complement Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House and Rockefeller Chapel, both just across the street from the facility. Viñoly plans to address the main factors that contributed to the building’s final design and ultimate construction, an intricate process that spanned from 2000 until its completion in autumn 2004.

The architect will also discuss the initial challenges facing the design effort, primarily concerning the need to unify GSB faculty and students into a single state-of-the-art facility, while also trying to accommodate the neo-Gothic identity of Hyde Park.

Viñoly’s lecture is yet another installment of the “Architecture Days” series, which holds similar events in Los Angeles, and New York City. The program includes lectures by leading architects, customized tours, and receptions that “celebrate the power of architecture and its ever-increasing influence,” according to the organization’s mission statement.

Tickets to this event cost $15 and must be purchased in advance at architecturedays.com, with proceeds benefiting the Wright Preservation Trust. More information about “Architecture Days” events, which also consist of various U of C architectural tours and receptions, can be found on the program’s website.