On most days, there are no chairs in this classroom, no tables, no books and no teachers. But, make no mistake, this is a learning space. And it's part of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

But it sure does look a lot like Chicago. Outside the window, an El train screeches by mere feet from these second-floor rooms at the corner of Franklin and Superior streets, while a level below, nearby galleries and studios display the best in modern and antique design. The rooms themselves are studies in simplicity. White and glass walls form loose boundaries for three rooms. Exposed metal piping zips around the ceiling, mirroring a gray concrete floor. These are rooms ready for artistic lessons to be presented, rooms ready for students, faculty and emerging talents to display and discuss creative endeavors.

Welcome to I space, a Chicago gallery owned, operated and run by the U of I for the last dozen years. As a conduit for learning, the gallery reaches beyond academic exercise into career expertise, exhibiting innovative art and design in the process.

"I space was created as a portal for the University to access the students to the sophisticated Chicago art world," said Shelli Drummond Stine '92 las, associate director of development for communications and external relations in the UI College of Fine and Applied Arts. The creation seems to be working. In 2004 alone, the gallery showed 19 exhibits and greeted approximately 4,000 visitors.

Many of those exhibits served as students' first forays into the art world. In January, senior architecture students Ana Levan and Julie Force exhibited "Lampapalooza," an eclectic collection of lamps made in part from objects found in a local scrapyard. "When I was getting ready for it, I felt very professional," Levan said. "There's a process, like in the business world, that I'd never really participated in."

At the show's opening, "Lampapalooza" joined two other exhibits, one featuring works by the Chicago Architectural Club, another showing scale models of buildings. "There were tons of professionals there," Levan said. "A lot of people told us maybe we should go into lamps instead of architecture." In addition to glowing praise, Levan also honed her networking skills, making contacts with working architects.

"I space launches the careers for many of our students," Stine said. "Students suddenly have contacts. ... That's the kind of impact that that place has on students. I mean, that's huge."

The setting also helps the neophytes realize their growth process.

"I don't recognize some of these students," said industrial design professor William Bullock as he viewed the Industrial Design Student Career Fair, held in the space in February. "They've jumped out of the student model and into the professional model."

Photo by: Ana Levan