Source: Chicago Department of Planning and Development, via the Chicago Tribune (click images for larger view) |
Source: Chicago Department of Planning and Development, via the Chicago Tribune |
Currently, that link consists solely of a elegantly curved but constricted winding staircase. In Foster's design, it's replaced by wide Spanish steps more in the line with the larger staircases found along the newer portions of the riverwalk to the east. The huge roof over the glass-walled structure would cantilever in all directions but, perhaps most importantly, would stretch beyond the edge of the plaza to shelter the river walkway below. In the renderings it has the appearance of wood, but would actually be reinforced with carbon fibre.
Pioneer Court's current rather anonymous riveredge would be replaced by a calling card 32-foot curtain wall, horizontally segmented between a 14-foot section above plaza level, and an 18 foot section beneath. From the riverside view, it reads as a cutaway section of a one-story structure and its capacious basement.
Source: Chicago Department of Planning and Development, via the Chicago Tribune |
image courtesy The Chuckman Collection |
Chicago Tribune archive photo |
By being placed along the southern edge rather than centered on the plaza, the Apple Store, even as it strengthens the relationship to the river, unbalances the geometry of the plaza. The plus side is that there would still be a large open area to the north of the store, which could continue to be home to such spectacular, if controversial installations as J Seward's Johnson God Bless America, a supersized version of Grant Wood's American Gothic . . .
. . . his even more infamous Forever Marilyn . . .
. . . and to events like 2013's edition of Diner en Blanc . . .
It would be good to get a better idea of what the inside of Foster's design will look like - there are no interior views among the five renderings accompanying Kamin's story - but from what we can see now, the Apple Store at Pioneer Court looks to be a pretty good deal both for the plaza and for creating a stronger, more generous civic linkage to the river at the beginning point of the Mag Mile.
Source: Chicago Department of Planning and Development, via the Chicago Tribune |
Photo Courtesy The Chuckman Collection |
A Short History of Pioneer Court, its Shortfalls and Potential
1 comment:
It's beautiful..very huge! wow ;)
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