Sunday, June 15, 2008

Walter Netsch Dies at 88

Blair Kamin on his Skyline blog reports that the great Chicago architect Walter Netsch died on Sunday at his home. Netsch joined Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in 1947, and his designs over his long career there include the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, the University of Illinois "Circle" campus in Chicago, and the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago. Netsch developed the design strategem he called the Field Theory, in which square forms containing core services were rotated into structural extensions of increasing geometric complexity.

Despite being in ill health for some time, Netsch just last month won his battle to keep the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation from pulling his architect's license because he had not taken required continuing education courses. Read more about Netsch's work and career here, and the extensive and fascinating interviews he gave for the Art Institute of Chicago's oral history project here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Remembering Walter Netsch on CHicago Tonight (WTTW):
He broke out of the modernist box with his complex designs and helped rethink Chicago's park system. The legendary and sometimes controversial architect Walter Netsch died Sunday. Guest Lee Bey, executive director of the Chicago Central Area Committee, is here to celebrate Netsch's achievements.

Anonymous said...

Should have said: tonight (Monday) on Chicago Tonight.