Tuesday, August 25, 2009

No, it's not impossible. Landmarks Illinois' Athletes Village plan for the 2016 Olympics shows how to save Chicago's Gropius, Bauhaus legacy

The preservation group Landmarks Illinois has created a stunning alternative plan for an Athletes Village on the former Michael Reese Hospital campus that not only saves five irreplaceable Bauhaus-inspired 1950's structures designed with the participation of the great German-American architect Walter Gropius, but improves on the official plans from Chicago 2016 both for the Olympics and the city, during and after the games. Read all about it and see all the striking renderings, plans and images here.
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3 comments:

  1. Jack9:04 AM

    Thanks for highlighting this brilliant plan, Lynn. Kamin, I believe, also mentioned this on his blog but I thought his comments were a little less then enthused. In my opinion, this is a masterstroke of urban planning. Not only incoporating the best of the Gropius-insired work, but doing so in such a way that creates a significantly more urban and utlimately successful neighborhood then the current proposal could ever hope to acheive...

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  2. BW9:56 AM

    Lynn,

    The post announcing the destruction of the landscape specifically stated, "The “Gropius Tree,” which was planted in Gropius’s honor in 1953, has survived this first onslaught of the chainsaw. Cassandra Francis, Director of the 2016 Olympic Village, has informed members of the Gropius in Chicago Coalition that three acorns will be salvaged from this tree before it is torn down." - http://www.savemrh.com/news/2009/8/4/sasaki-and-collins-parks-and-landscapes-destroyed-photos-ins.html

    Of course it may have been torn down since then.

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  3. Anonymous11:30 AM

    Lynn:

    Great post!

    Vince Michael

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