The Assembly Hall is a huge dome-shaped indoor arena located in Champaign, Illinois, and is part of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Hall hosts basketball games, and doubles as a performance and event center.

The 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 of one-quarter inch steel wire wrapped at the base of the dome under intensive pressure. The architect was Max Abramovitz, a distinguished University of Illinois alumnus.

The largest Illinois arena outside of The United Center in Chicago, Assembly Hall has nearly 16,000 permanent seats, but when portable chairs are placed on the floor for an in-the-round performance there is potential of up to 17,200 depending on the size of the stage.

External links

• Official site