Work is now underway to convert a long-time parking garage on the southwest corner of State and Kinzie into the new home of Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications. Designed by Chicago firm Eckenhoff Saunders Architects, Inc. in partnership with sustainable design architect Helen Kessler, the 70,000 square-foot facility is expected to be the first public museum in the nation to earn a gold LEED rating. When completed in 2006, the $21,000,000 project will represent a major rescue of a corner that for decades has been a grungy, back-alley presence, dominated by a car ramp inadequately hidden behind a stark concrete wall.
3 comments:
If that glass is reflective in any way the building will be a big killer of birds - just like its neighbors.
At this point, the architects involved should know better.
If that glass is reflective in any way the building will be a big killer of birds - just like its neighbors.
At this point, the architects involved should know better.
Since I commented earlier I wanted to follow up: I talked to the head of the museum and they are fully committed to being the best green building possible – including for birds. Their enthusiasm is impressive. [I hope it is contagious.] The new museum building seems destined to be a role model for green design, and particularly for bird-safe practices.
The irony is this is that the design features that make windows and glass visible to birds are ultimately transparent to people!
Kudos to the architects involved; they will have a great opportunity to educate the design community about the little things (or big ones) they did to ensure that birds are not attracted to the building's windows.
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