Rogers Talks! Piano crosses President! Seducer Stalks Millennium Park!

Hot on the heels of the opening of a smash revival of South Pacific on Broadway, 2007 Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Rogers will be coming to Chicago for a May 15th lecture at the Art Institute. Rogers gained fame with the Pompidou Centre in Paris, co-designed with Renzo Piano. His 71-story Three World Trade Center, currently under construction at the WTC site, is expected to achieve Gold LEED status. The lecture begins at 6:00 P.M. Tickets are $5.00 for students, $10.00 for members of the Architecture and Design Society of the Art Institute of Chicago, and $15.00 for the general public. You're urged to go to the A&DS website to make reservations, but I wouldn't recommend it, as the only thing you'll find when you click on "Events" or "News" is the same Microsoft "Server does not exist or access denied" error code that has appeared there for the better part of a year. How such a prestigious organization can allow its web presence to exist month after month in the internet equivalent of leaving your fly open is beyond me.

But I digress. You can also go all retro and call 312.443.3631 to make reservations.

This weekend, if you're patient and can stay awake long enough, you may get to see a key section of Renzo Piano's Nichols Bridgeway being put in place above Monroe Street. The street will be closed from 6:00 P.M. Friday through 5:00 A.M. Monday for both cars and pedestrians.

If you're planning to camp out, a good way to start your evening is to check out Chicago Opera Theater's sexy, well-reviewed production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, which will be simulcast live Friday evening, May 9th from the Harris Theater to a giant 18' x 32' foot screen above the Pritzker Pavilion stage. There's only room for 11,000 people, so get there early. Curtain rises at 7:30 P.M.

Elsewhere in news shorts:

Environmental activist Wendy Abrams, founder and president of Cool Globes, will be honored at an Honorary Diploma at Archeworks' 2008 Graduation ceremony this Sunday, May 11th. More information here.

ULI Chicago's breakfast program, The Credit Crunch - Nine Months Later: When Will it End and How is it Impacting Commercial Real Estate? has a new location at the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Chicago Hotel. More information here.