On Saturday night, Loyola Chicago University hosted its Founders' Dinner for 817 donors. The event followed the same format as its previous iteration, starting with cocktails in the library and culminating with dinner and entertainment in the decked-out gymnasium. But planners had a new challenge this year: The gym is undergoing construction, which led to limited access during the six-day build-out.
The loading dock is being relocated, and there was no working dock during preparations for Saturday's function. Several entrance points were also closed off, so vendors could only access the building through one set of double doors. "As we were designing the space, we had to ensure that everything we took into consideration could fit through those doors," said the university's director of special events, Richard Williams. "If it couldn't fit, it couldn't be part of the design." The solution, Williams said, was simple—and malleable: "Lots of fabric."
Williams said the look of this year's event was "all fabric and lighting"—which, he added, was economical. "We used LED lighting, which is much more affordable than it used to be, to change the look throughout the night. We had five different looks in all—all because of lighting."
Though the event's design was in place well in advance, one unexpected issue did pop up last week. "I got an email from one of the vendors with the subject line: 'Houston, we have a problem,'" said Williams. "None of us had thought of this, but the carpeting we wanted to use comes in 4- by 10-foot panels." The carpeting could be rolled up into smaller strips, but the carts that rolled them into the gym would be wider than the double doors.
Ultimately, crew members removed a hinge from the top of the doors, which provided an extra three inches of space. The carts rolled in with half an inch of room on each side.
