Assembly Hall (Champaign)

Assembly Hall
Location	1800 South 1st Street Champaign, Illinois 61820-6950
Broke ground	May 25, 1959
Opened	March 2, 1963
Owner	University of Illinois
Operator	University of Illinois
Surface	Multi-surface
Construction cost	$8.35 million ($59.9 million) in 2012 dollars
Architect	Max Abramovitz
Structural engineer	Ammann & Whitney
General Contractor	Felmley-Dickerson Co.
Capacity	16,618 (2003-present) 16,450 (1995-2003) 16,321 (1992-1995) 16,153 (1980-1992) 16,128 (1963-1980) 17,200 (Concerts)
Tenants
Illinois Fighting Illini Basketball

Assembly Hall is a large dome-shaped indoor arena, located in Champaign, Illinois, and is part of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The Hall hosts games for the Fighting Illini men's and women's basketball teams, and doubles as a performance and event center.

Fighting Illini Basketball

Assembly Hall hosts home games of Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball and Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball and has earned a reputation as one of the toughest places to play in college basketball, thanks to the student cheering section, the "Orange Krush," which occupies the floor around the court as well as some seats.

At the annual "Paint the Hall Orange" game, everyone in attendance would wear an orange shirt, resulting in an impressive and intimidating environment. In recent years, however, it has become customary for Illini fans to wear orange at all home games and so the official "PTHO" game was discontinued after the 2007-08 season.

Opening

Assembly Hall opened on March 2, 1963 and continues to attract attention for its design and construction. Four hundred feet across, it at one time was one of only two edge-supported domes in the world. The roof is supported by 614 miles (988 km) of one-quarter inch steel wire wrapped at the base of the dome under intensive pressure. The architect was Max Abramovitz, a University of Illinois alumnus.

Size

The third largest Illinois arena after the United Center in Chicago and the Allstate Arena in Rosemont. Assembly Hall has just over 16,000 permanent seats, with an official capacity of 16,618 for basketball games, but when portable chairs are placed on the floor for an in-the-round performance there is a potential of up to 17,200 depending on the size of the stage.

IHSA

The Assembly Hall

The Assembly Hall

Assembly Hall has hosted a variety of Illinois High School Association events. It has been the home of the state individual wrestling tournament since 1967. From 1963 to 1995, Assembly Hall played host to the state finals of the boys' basketball tournament. From 1978 to 1990, it also hosted the IHSA girls' basketball tournament.

Broadway Series

Assembly Hall is also the venue for the annual News-Gazette Broadway Series, which features popular musicals such as Les Misérables, Miss Saigon, Rent, and Fiddler on the Roof.

Endangered landmark

As of April 2, 2008, the Assembly Hall was added to the annual top ten endangered Illinois historic places list, as published by Landmarks Illinois, a non-profit historic preservation group. The only other endangered athletic site on the list is the Cubs' Wrigley Field in Chicago.

New arena

In the autumn of 2008, school officials, led by Athletics Director Ron Guenther, are deciding whether to refurbish Assembly hall or build a new basketball arena. A decision was expected during the 2009-2010 school year.

Fighting Illini home courts

• Kenney Gym (1905–1925) located on the campus of the University of Illinois and is named after Harold E. (Hek) Kenney. The arena opened in 1890 and was originally known as the Men's Gym Annex
• Huff Hall (1925–1963) opened in 1925 and was known as Huff Gymnasium until the 1990s. It is named after George Huff, who was the school's athletic director from 1895 to 1935.
• Assembly Hall (1967–present)

External links

• Official site
• Gallery of (8) Assembly Hall images taken under a cover of snow, 12/26/2004
• History
• Illinois Fighting Illini