Advocate Center

The Advocate Center is a new 60,000 sf training facility for the Chicago Bulls basketball team, and is situated just east of the United Center where the Bulls play. The facility features two full-size basketball courts, expansive locker room will a therapeutic hydro-room, coaches’ offices, weight room, media room, and players’ lounge on the first level. The second floor contains Bulls’ executive offices, a cardio room, and a green roof with patio area. The playing surface in the court is the most advanced wood flooring system currently produced. This system incorporates layers of impact absorbing materials and ventilation space to minimize the physical impact that hours of hard training will have on the player.  The court and other training areas include state of the art sound systems that provide concert quality sound reproduction of music and crowd noise. The hydro-therapy area includes an underwater treadmill that will lower the player up to six feet under the surface of the water allowing the athlete to complete extensive training and rehabilitation without adding additional stress to lower body joints and muscles.  This pool includes underwater cameras that provide real time documentation of the actual performance of the athlete while in motion.  There is an extensive video coaching system that includes robo-cameras over the practice areas and multiple video editing stations. This system allows video content to be streamed to any of the 56 televisions within the practice facility.

The exterior of the building features a “saw-toothed” façade design on the west side of the structure while the north face of the building on Madison Street includes opaque glass that becomes increasingly transparent at higher levels so that people can see the team’s six NBA championship banners that hang from the rafters. The design of both the west and north elevations maximizes natural light in the practice areas without any direct glare that could interfere with training. The building includes a state of the art security system utilizing multiple cameras and biometric readers for access throughout the facility. Parking for players and employees is provided to the south of the building.