Tuesday, April 07, 2009

An innie and an outtie - Zaha and van Berkel in Millennium Park

That's Joe Rosa's description for the two pavilions to be erected on the Chase Promenade in Millennium Park as part of the centennial celebration of the Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago. The two designs were unveiled at a Friends of Downtown event at the Chicago Cultural Center late Tuesday afternoon. Read all about it and see all the renderings here.

5 comments:

Matt Maldre said...

The "Outtie" is going to be made from tent material? We'll see how long this lasts until October 31. I see much ripping from the wind.

Dennis McClendon said...

I'm having a tough time seeing how these bear any relation to the Plan of Chicago. They might just as well be commemorating the centenary of Panama's independence, Benny Goodman's birth, or the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Q&A sidebars with the architects in this morning's Trib make it clear that they have no familiarity with Chicago or Burnham. What does it mean when Hadid says that from the Plan "came the whole idea of the skyline and open spaces for the public?"

Think how far a million dollars and complimentary steel could have gone toward letting visitors to Buckingham Fountain cross Lake Shore Drive, something of lasting value that actually relates to the Plan.

Unknown said...

Agreed, Dennis. The money could have been spent far better elsewhere, and the connection to Burnham is tenuous at best.

Anonymous said...

If they were going to construct such structures in memory to the plan of Chicago it seems like some more classical or ornate (big scary ornate!!) structures would be more fitting, and age better.

Samuel John Lima said...

I agree w/ Dennis and cityofparis. I was at the unveiling of the designs, and they do really have NOTHING to do with Burnham. The van Berkel just highlights the horizontality of the park and a few skyscrapers. The Hadid works off of the axis of an extremely minor road in the Burnham Plan that was never actually built.