tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post6875315819135747144..comments2024-03-26T09:42:38.709-05:00Comments on ArchitectureChicago PLUS: Landmarks Commission Follows Script - Greases Skids for Reese DemolitionLynn Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-67615983392731983162009-09-04T14:12:15.275-05:002009-09-04T14:12:15.275-05:00Assumptions? Well, let's parse your original ...Assumptions? Well, let's parse your original post. <br /><br />When you being by saying, "Even if Gropius shot them out his vagina who cares?", I can make make the assumptions:<br />1. you're a vulgarian<br />2. you're either:<br /> a. incapable of a coherent metaphor<br /> or<br /> b. slightly creative but misogynist.<br />3. you're completely uninterested in civil discourse.<br /><br />When you continue, "The buildings are disgusting", I can make the assumption that you are blind.<br /><br />"So a few hack architects and architectural history profesors got boners",<br />1. see number 1 above.<br />2. you can't spell. (no superiority from me there)<br />3. you hold the very idea of an architectural heritage in contempt.<br /><br />"we should stop REAL construction and architecture from happening?"<br /> - since the only published preliminary designs were so banal that even SOM has disowned them, we can only assume you have no standards other than newness and that REAL construction is the kind that puts money in the right people's pockets.<br />"This is why profesors and most architects remain safely sheltered in academia where they cant mess things up too bad."<br />1. None of that there book-learnin' for you! You hold knowledge in disdain in favor of prejudices you don't even bother to justify.<br />2. You haven't looked around to see how badly the non-academics have screwed up the cityscape in pursuit of a quick buck.<br /><br />You aren't Albert Hanna by any chance?Lynn Beckerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-40964060862619860932009-09-04T10:43:59.467-05:002009-09-04T10:43:59.467-05:00Lynn in one short paragraph you have assumed, with...Lynn in one short paragraph you have assumed, without knowing me or my work ( I am an architect )that I am;<br /><br />1. Greedy<br />2. Godless / souless<br />3. Unethical<br />4. Criminal<br /><br />The only greedy, souless unethical and possibly criminal act I see is the interference of private property rights by a political action group whose motives may or may not be architecturaly related; More like personal mission to destroy all thats good and progresive for our city. If anyone is a nihlist its the naysayers and downers like yourself.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-52265879526966771192009-09-02T17:02:02.008-05:002009-09-02T17:02:02.008-05:00and that's why nihilistic hacks like yourself ...and that's why nihilistic hacks like yourself so often seem to find their bottomless greed (new construction! any construction! money! money! money! wonderful!) leading them into positions where they're indicted and imprisoned.Lynn Beckerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-81703773277057465682009-09-02T16:04:02.575-05:002009-09-02T16:04:02.575-05:00Even if Gropius shot them out his vagina who cares...Even if Gropius shot them out his vagina who cares? The buildings are disgusting. So a few hack architects and architectural history profesors got boners we should stop REAL construction and architecture from happening? This is why profesors and most architects remain safely sheltered in academia where they cant mess things up too bad.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-82397000817856477822009-08-12T13:02:20.219-05:002009-08-12T13:02:20.219-05:0020 years experience and a completely closed mind.20 years experience and a completely closed mind.Lynn Beckerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-64862211406600997002009-08-12T12:58:01.567-05:002009-08-12T12:58:01.567-05:00Comparing the modern buildings at Michael Reese to...Comparing the modern buildings at Michael Reese to the St. Lukes Trevi Square project as similarly suitable for conversion to residential use demonstrates an inadequate knowledge of architecture. The comparison is pointless. The buildings are nothing alike. The St. Lukes building was much more suitable for residential use because of its age, resulting in less remediation, and the proportions of its volumes. I agree with the previous entry: The Michael Reese buildings are not suitable for residential use. Dormitory use might be possible, but (for that use)probably not economically viable. <br /><br />But what do I know...I'm just an architect with 20 years of licensed experience converting buildings, including hospitals, to alternative uses and you are a blogger with no background in architecture at all. <br /><br />Keep grinding your axe.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-20874479908432378952009-08-12T10:22:09.181-05:002009-08-12T10:22:09.181-05:00gee, two anti-Reese rants suddenly appearing withi...gee, two anti-Reese rants suddenly appearing within minutes of each other on a week old post. how spontaneous!<br /><br />1. No, the mayor doesn't get to shut down all debate just because he buys something. There were no protests previous to the sale because before that time the buildings were not in danger.<br />2. Yes, Gropius was a consultant, but no, his involvement wasn't marginal. Only someone who hasn't seen - or doesn't want to - the voluminous evidence Grahm Balkany has uncovered on Gropius's involvement could still suggest otherwise. If you check my Reader story on Michael Reese, you will find full credit to the Chicago firms involved with the designs.<br />3. A "special interest" is not a group of public spirited citizens trying to save the city's architectural heritage. It's the usual band of rogue insiders looking to make a killing - supported by hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies - off the Olympics.<br />4. And again, if you let buildings rot, they will. If it was a pleasant place twenty years ago, the most important of those buildings, properly restored, can make the same contribution again.<br />5. In fact, hospitals can make excellent residential conversions. The historic St. Lukes Hospital in the South Loop converted to Trevi Square is a case in point.Lynn Beckerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03759748613223711212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-86496532043394050922009-08-12T10:01:40.576-05:002009-08-12T10:01:40.576-05:00I worked at Michael Reese for 20 years. Long ago,...I worked at Michael Reese for 20 years. Long ago, it was a pleasant place to work, but the last 10 years were not so terrific. The buildings didn't serve their purposes well, they were also very run down. The landscape everyone romantically seems to recall, was not even safe. The poor placement of additions and alterations I guess ruined it a long time ago. <br />I was thrilled when I learned this would be the spot of the Olympic village. The buildings served their intended purpose long after they were useful. And turning them into places for people to live seems downright mean. This was a hospital, not a home. You couldn't pay me a million dollars to live in one of those buildings, even when they were nice. <br />Once again, it's the educated elite from IIT telling us what we need in our neighborhood. We need change and improvement after all this time. IIT should be more concerned about their own buildings. I imagine that of all the educated elite IIT people rallying to save these buildings, not one of them would be willing to live in them. They should mind their own business, rather than keeping progress from taking place. And criticizing the mayor for wanting the olympics in chicago is the biggest mystery of all. WHAT MAYOR WOULDN'T WANT THE OLYMPICS IN HIS CITY? <br />Nobody was complaining about Michael Reese before, except to say that it had become a slum on the lake. I was there and it wasn't the mayor's fault.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10923291.post-20996700647171422852009-08-12T09:50:51.914-05:002009-08-12T09:50:51.914-05:00Where were all the Michael Reese Campus lovers BEF...Where were all the Michael Reese Campus lovers BEFORE the city purchased the site? That would have been a much better time to make a fuss. And exaggerating the input of Gropius himself - himself - in the designs of these buildings shows the same level of BS that Lynn Becker accuses the Mayor and the commission of having. MOST OF THESE BUILDINGS WERE NOT DESIGNED BY GROPIUS. His firm was hired as a consultant on these projects, not lead designer. It's pretty disturbing how the architecture firms actually responsible for the designs of these buildings are being ignored and overlooked. It's no wonder; their modest success wouldn't accomplish the goals of the special interest groups suddenly trying to save these buildings. <br />The city and that neighborhood deserves something better than what's left of the Michael Reese campus.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com