Chicago Bulls Practice Facility

For years, the Chicago Bulls practiced in suburban facilities far from their home arena in Chicago. The Advocate Center brings daily training, recovery and front-office spaces together in a 60,000-sq.-ft. facility next to the United Center, giving the team a central base on Chicago’s West Side.

Design Solutions

The Advocate Center sits on a former parking lot directly across the street from the United Center, extending the arena campus into the neighborhood. The main level organizes two full-size basketball courts with expanded locker rooms, hydrotherapy pools, a weight room, a media room and a players’ lounge with a dedicated Gatorade Sports Fuel Bar so that training, treatment and film review sit within a short walk of one another. Executive offices, conference rooms and a cardio room occupy the second floor overlooking the core basketball spaces.

Our design uses metal panels and glass to define the building envelope, knitting the facility into the United Center campus while ensuring a durable, low-maintenance skin. The design prioritizes daylight. A saw-toothed west façade works with a largely glazed north elevation to modulate the daylight entering courts and public spaces. Along Madison Street, tinted glazing becomes increasingly transparent near the ceiling, allowing clerestory windows to pull in natural light while maintaining privacy for players and staff at eye level. From the street, fans can see the team’s six championship banners through the north glass wall without seeing into practice.

On a tight urban site, the green roof does double duty. It helps manage stormwater and reduce heat gain while introducing a layer of visible landscape into a dense corridor of parking and arenas.

Inside the training hall, the high-performance wood sports floor absorbs shock to help reduce player fatigue during practices. Training areas have embedded sensors to capture data for real-time analysis, supporting individualized conditioning programs. To prepare players for game-day intensity, the audio system can simulate decibel-crushing crowd noise. Dedicated private entrances keep athletes isolated from public and media traffic.

Impact

Bringing the practice facility across the street from the United Center promotes more interaction between the basketball and business sides of the Bulls organization while making it easier for players to live in the city. With operations and front-office staff under one roof, basketball and business functions can coordinate more closely around training, recovery and game-day preparation.

Beyond the team, the facility contributes to the Near West Side’s redevelopment. It replaces a surface parking lot with active, daylit frontage along Madison Street. Through its metal-and-glass exterior, visible banners and planted roof terrace, the building anchors the Bulls in the neighborhood.