Chicago Streetscene: deconstructed

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Rm W Vu, Wi-Fi, Oxygen: Rush Presbyterian's Proud Tower on the way to January opening

It's a long way from here . . .

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. . . to here:

The countdown is on towards the scheduled January 9, 2012 opening of Rush-Presbyterian's new 806,000-square-foot, 14-story, billion dollar East Tower, designed by Perkins+Will, the hospital's first major new facility in 25 years, with over 300 beds.

The top five floors, in a stretched cloverleaf reminiscent of the design of Bertrand Goldberg's threatened Prentice Hospital, is for acute and critical care. Each single-patient room is identical, with discrete areas for patient, caregivers, and visitors, and including a sleeper sofa, Wi-Fi, 42-inch flat panel, and large windows with spectacular views.

The columns of the 3-story high entry pavilion are wired for oxygen, so the space can be converted into a treatment center with temporary beds in case of a catastrophic epidemic or bio terrorism event.

On Saturday, December 10th of this year, the hospital will be offering one hour preview tours of the new facility. Registration required. Info here. The hospital's website is also offering an interactive tour.

 

Reinventing Daley Bi

The clock is ticking on Daley Bicentennial Plaza.  The approximately 20 acre rectangle east of Millennium Park and south of Randolph is about to be destroyed and rebuilt, an action made necessary by the need to replace the deteriorating waterproofing membrane that seals off the huge parking garage below.

According to Chicago Park District Director of Planning and Development Gia Biagi, "fences go up at the end of summer of 2012 . . .  The current goal is finish the work in two years, and have the the new park open for summer of 2015."

Biagi spoke at an October 26th public forum where a clear picture of the design of the new park, while far from finalized, began to clearly emerge.  The first major change was that the scope of the project is now confined to the area of Daley Bi.  The Cancer Survivors Garden stays, as does the "Peanut Park" between that garden and Lake Shore Drive, although it stands to be commandeered as a staging area during the period of construction.

Also confirmed by Biagi: "My notes say, 'what's going on with the Children's Museum?' Well, they're not coming to Grant Park," a remark that evoked loud approval from the audience. "I didn't intend it to be an applause line," said Biagi, "but . . . "

The current Daley Bicentennial Plaza fieldhouse is also staying.  The Chicago Children's Museum had proclaimed - risibly, considering their almost complete ineptness in fundraising - they would simply throw in a new $20 million fieldhouse as part of a deal to let them construct a new subterranean museum in Daley Bi.  The Museum pulled the plug on that fantasy early in the battle, and sights are now being lowered.

"We're not talking about anything major," said Biaggi.  "We need to stop the bigger problems of leaking and make the building a little more operable.  We are interested in looking at the facade of the building, too, in a way that it would relate better to the park and the design ideas we have here.  So it's a pretty light touch on the building aside from the major it's got to stop leaking, it's got to be functional and that's something we're going to see if we can fit it into our larger capital improvement program to try and fund that project."

Biagi said that for rebuilding the 20 acres of Daley Bi, "We have a little over $30 million to do this project.  That money comes from the revenue from the transfer of the parking garage to the city and then on to private vendor of the garage.  Part of that exchange included a set aside of about $35 million for this project . . . It started at 35 and then with design fees and a couple other things we're just a little over 30. in terms of what we have available to build a park."  Biagi didn't out rule lining up corporate sponsors to help defray costs.

Landscape architect Michael van Valkenburgh presented the latest iteration of the park design.

Presently, Daley Bicentennial is an extension of the formal composition of the larger Grant Park.


North Grant Park, as the reincarnation of Daley Bi is being called, will be something completely different.  As you can see from the illustration at the top of this post, the goal is to create a park filled with varied program that strikes a balance between the passive and the active.

In survey feedback from the public, over 50% rated providing space for special events as "Not important", while over 70% rated both providing "Space for Quiet, Relaxation, and Repose" and "Retain and improve views of Grant Park, the city, and the Lake" as "Very Important"

"Most people", said Van Valkenburgh,  "were very appreciative and laudatory about Millennium Park,  but the main thing they said was we don't need to repeat the things that Millennium gives us.  We want things to complement, so we're using Millennium and go over the Gehry bridge and want other things to do over there.  We heard that in the public meetings and the questionnaires definitely back up this notion of more passive things to do, and things you don't have to spend money on."

So the current design is a combination of passive and active spaces, of built-up landforms that reduce noise and wind in the interior of the park while providing expanded views of larger Grant Park and the lakefront.

"We all go there to see things," said Van Valkenburgh.   "We like to feel the space.  We like a lot of borrowed landscape, especially Grant Park to the south, and the lake to east, and so getting people up on higher ground where they can look out and borrow that visual landscape is an extremely important thing . . . making hills - not crazy-high hills, but a kind of rolling topography."

Balancing this complexity is a "visual sense of welcome," said van Valkenburgh.  "You want to see deeply into the park.  You don't want it to be too mysterious at the corners.  You want to know what's up ahead as a major part of making an urban park welcoming."

The park designs includes both a "passive axis", from sw to ne, emphasizing natural landscape and a boundless sense of space, and an "active axis", from se to nw, encompassing more urban and civic aspects.

"Rock climbing as a possibility," said van Valkenburgh.  "We also liked the idea of a temporary ice rink in that area.  The problem with skating, of course, is what is it in the summer?  We didn't want to have a big water area, so we liked this idea of a skating ribbon which goes away in the summer.  It just becomes a path that you walk on.  Instead of a rink that you go around in, this is more of a meander.  Potentially that could be an area where we include the outdoor cafe [in the summer]."

Van Valkenburg is also looking to include in North Grant Park, the "very best playgrounds that any park in America has for kids, and that doesn't mean that we won't use any traditional playground equipment.  There are some things that are universal.  I don't know any kids who don't like swings, but it can't only be swings and slides and things like that."

After the presentation, the assembly broke up into three groups to ask questions and offer feedback on the plan.  What about the tennis courts?  Will the paths be wide enough to accommodate bikes?  Will parents be able to watch their kids easily? There was no shortage of opinions and concerns, not infrequently in conflict.

When former Mayor Richard M. Daley talked of Daley Bi as being a "nowhere", he was indulging himself in the kind of willful, malicious ignorance that became a hallmark of his last years in office.  Make no mistake: Daley Bi is a wonderful, calm counterpoint to the hyper-activity of Millennium Park.  That wasn't a failing.  That was a virtue.  But while there's still a long way to go, and a lot of opportunities for things to go wrong, Van Valkenburgh's redesign holds out the promise of building on that quality to create a new North Grant Park that's every bit as remarkable in its own way as Millennium Park.


You can check out the entire October 26th presentation for yourself, in the "albums" section of the North Grant Park website, here.

Gang: Sky's the Limit encore Monday, Biomimicry, Karthik Pandian, Brand Brewing, DeJong's (Sub)Urbanisms, Tatum's Pond - new for November

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We wrote on Friday about the new documentary, Jeanne Gang: The Sky's the Limit, and now we've learned of another chance to catch this striking, 14 minute production.  Chicago Tonight on WTTW will be screening it on this Monday's edition - the current estimate for the segment is sometime after 7:30 p.m., but you may want to check in at the beginning of the program at 7:00 p.m. to be sure.

And, amazingly enough, we also have a entire slew (or "slaugh" for our Gaelic speaking readers) of new additions to this month's calendar. I'm too lazy to provide all the links here, but you can get the full details on everything on the November Calendar of Chicago Architectural events.

On Monday, the 14th, Urban Activators opens a new exhibition taken by young people who were taught photography techniques and sent out to document their Bronzeville neighborhood.  On Wednesday, the 16th, there'll be a networking event and panel on Biomimicry: Designing from Nature's Innovations at the Jefferson Tap & Grill, while on Thursday the 17th over at the Graham, artist Karthik Pandian will be presenting Late Culture in the American Bottom, reflecting on his 16mm films and sculptural exhibitions produced out of his research at the pre-Columbian Cahokia Mounds in southern Illinois.

On Monday, November 21st, at the Revolution Brewery, Preservation Chicago will be holding a fundraiser to help save the 1899 Brand Brewing Administration building.

On Tuesday the 29th,  the UIC School of Architecture's Judith DeJong will be discussing New (Sub)Urbanisms at the Great Cities Institute.

Believe it or not, halfway into the month, there are still over 30 great events still come, including two dozen just this week, with Stanley Tigerman, Roger Sherman, Ezio Manzini and The Lost Panoramas at separate events on Monday, Tom Jacobs of Krueck + Sexton discussing their new Net Zero Office Building in Florida at the CCGT on Tuesday, Terry Tatum talking about Irving Pond at the Glessner on Wednesday.  On Thursday, Dennis McClendon lecturing on Chicago's Moveable Bridges at the Chicago Cultural Center for Landmarks Illinois, while Jeanne Gang discusses her new book on the Chicago River, Reverse Effect, with Henry Henderson of the Natural Resources Defense Council at the Harold Washington Library.

This afternoon (Sunday), there's a discussion of Islamic Architecture by Ellen Bailey Dickson at the Glenview Ismaili Jamatkhana, and a lecture by Dale Gyure on the work of architect Minoru Yamasaki at the North Shore Congregation Israel.

So little time, so much to do.  Check out the November Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

Jeanne Gang: The Sky's the Limit - hidden documentary debuts tonight on WTTW

If look at the WTTW schedule for tonight, you wouldn't even know that it's there, but somewhere after the conclusion of tonight's 9:00 p.m. showing of American Masters, Bill T. Jones A Good Man  (the current estimate is around 10:30 p.m.) they'll be screening Jeanne Gang: The Sky's the Limit - a new documentary produced by Dan Andries, shot and edited by Tim Boyd.

It may be short - under 14 minutes - but it's far from filler.  For talking heads, there's Blair Kamin, Stanley Tigerman describing the rise of the Chicago skyscraper from the Great Fire to Mies to Gang, Redmoon Theater's Jim Lasko, and - apologies in advance - me.  Most importantly, there's lots of Jeanne Gang, herself, discussing her work and thought, and seen in action at Studio/Gang's Bucktown offices.  Boyd's photography is sharp and expressive, and the production covers a lot of ground without feeling rushed.

If you're not one for sleeping, the combo of documentaries is scheduled to be repeated on WTTW at 12:00 a.m., Monday Morning, November 14th.  Or you could just watch Jeanne Gang: The Sky's the Limit on-line here.

"He was still was wanting us to repeat Aqua, right?"  "He was wanting something Aqua-esque, yes."

Friday News from All Over: Queen Recrosses, Lost Panoramas Regained, IIT Dean Reset

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The news about Grant Park just keeps getting better and better.  The Children's Museum plot to jam their bunker of a building into the park is dead.  There's a great new plan for the Daley Bi rehab emerging from Michael van Valkenburgh.  And in today's Chicago Tribune, Jon Hilkevitch is reporting that the city is in the process of reversing the 2005 shutdown of the crosswalk at Queen's Crossing that turned the route from Buckingham Fountain to the lakefront promenade a complete dead end.

The action, put in place almost overnight without discussion and debate, was one of the rotten fruits of the increasingly imperious last years of the reign of Richard M. Daley.  (One worker putting up the obstruction told a neighborhood resident it was because the mayor had been ticked off hitting the red light on the way to his Michigan summer home.)

According to Hilkevitch, the new stoplight will be activated only when pedestrians push a button, and it will include a countdown clock to keep them from getting stranded halfway across the drive.

The reopening of the crossing unsevers what should be one of  Chicago's great promenades - an echo of the 1909 Burnham Plan - down Congress Parkway, between the Bowman and Spearman gateway, to Buckingham Fountain, and to Lake Michigan, itself.

Read: Restoring Burnham's Vision for A Grand Gateway to the Lake

Lost Panoramas Regained
Elsewhere, we've added two more events to the November Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events, both revolving around the publication of The Lost Panoramas: When Chicago Changed its River and the Land Beyond, which includes 150 never-before-published photographs from a stash of over 20,000 glass plate negatives taken in 1894 to document the mega-project that reversed the flow of the Chicago River.  On Monday, the 14th, the authors will be at the DePaul Art Museum, and on Thursday, November 17th, at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum an event marking the re-opening of the exhibition showcasing a number of the images blown up to a size where you can really appreciate the scale of the project and of the Chicago of that era.

Deansearch, IIT Edition
Meanwhile, architect and IIT professor John Ronan has set out an email seeking candidates to succeed the School of Architecture's Donna Robertson, who has resigned effective at the end of the Spring 2012. semester after 15 years as Dean. Robertson's tenure included the first major construction on the Mies van der Rohe designed campus in decades, bringing it into the 21st century with the addition of Helmut Jahn's State Street Village, and Rem Koolhaas's McCormick Tribune Campus Center, and keeping the faith with the restoration of Mies's iconic Crown Hall . . .  

. . . the College of Architecture has launched a search for our new Dean.  IIT’s College of Architecture is at a critical point in its history and the new Dean will have the opportunity to lead the school in an exciting new chapter.

Through its deep commitment to a rigorous architectural education and its historic contributions to the legacy of modernism, the IIT College of Architecture enjoys an unparalleled international reputation. The College is one of the largest and most international architecture schools in the United States, with over 800 students from fifty countries and more than 100 full and part-time faculty members. With a pedagogy based in the synthesis of practice and research, IIT offers B.Arch., M.Arch., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in architecture, as well as a recently accredited M.L.A. degree . . .

. . . The new Dean of IIT’s College of Architecture will have the opportunity to set the next vision for the school.  The Dean is the chief academic and executive officer of the College of Architecture and is responsible for all matters related to the management of the College.  In response to the College’s recent growth in students and faculty, the Dean will have an opportunity to oversee both administrative reorganization and the expansion of the tenure-track and tenured faculty.

We are seeking an architectural educator of the highest quality, with a deep understanding of architectural practice and its needs, with an internationally recognized body of experience in practice, research, and/or scholarship. The Dean will have a clear vision for leading the school to greater excellence by building on the existing strengths of the College and by thoughtfully expanding into new areas of education and research . . .

Chicago Streetscene: Soap Bubble Bride

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Urbanized and Eames at the Siskel, Ezio Manzini at SAIC, Archi-Treasures at DIRTT - still more for November

. . . and the hits to the November Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events just keep coming . . .

Today, Sunday, at 3:00 p.m., and Monday, the 7th, and Sunday the 13th, the Gene Siskel Film Center is screening a new documentary, Eames: The Architect and the Painter.  If you purchase a ticket, you can get a discount on tickets for Urbanized, another new documentary by the director of Helvetica, Gary Huswit, that offers up a global tour of public planning from Mumbai to Beijing and beyond.   Urbanized is showing at the Siskel today through next Thursday, except on Wednesday.

This Tuesday, November 8th, Julie Burros will be discussing A New Chicago Cultural Plan at the Great Cities Institute, and that evening John Zils will be discussing The Art and Science of Building Design at CAF,  where on Wednesday the 9th, Art Institute curator Alison Fisher will be discussing The Road to Community: The Houses and Housing of Bertrand Goldberg at lunchtime.

Again on Tuesday, over at AIA Chicago, there's a cocktail reception for the publication of The Lost Panoramas: When Chicago Changed its River and the Land Beyond.On Wednesday, November 16th, Archi-Treasures gets Down & Dirtty with a fundraiser at the DIRTT showroom.

On Monday, the 14th, industrial designer Ezio Manzini of Milan Polytechnic comes to SAIC to talk about "regeneration as a result of social innovations and new ideas of quality in design.", followed by a panel discussion exploring intersections between Manzini's talk and its possible implications in Chicago.

And although it's not on the calendar because it's a trade-only rather than public event, on Wednesday the 9th at the Metropolitan Club, there will be a panel discussion on Trends in High End furnishings and fixtures: Perspectives on the current US and international Markets, with Cheryl Durst, Zurich Esposito, SOM's Eric Keune, Getty's Meg Prendergast, David Grout and SCB's Renee Sprogis-Marohn.  It's part of an Italian American Chamber of Commerce Midwest's 2-day event, November Italian Design B2B. For more information, contact Lisa Kostner at 312/553.9137, ext. 23.

This is the last week for an exhibition at the Instituto Cervantes, European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2011, which this year was won by David Chipperfield for his Neues Museum in Berlin.  The exhibition closes on Friday, the 11th with a free lecture by Helmut Jahn at 6:00 p.m.  Also on Friday, there's Irish Architecture Now - with real Irish architects! - at the Art Institute, with Ed Dimendberg at the School of Architecture at UIC.

There are fifty great items still to come this month.  Check them all out at the November Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

Bertrand Goldberg: Architecture of Invention Curator's Talk Friday, Lost Panoramas Tuesday, SAH's Chicago Cultural Icons on the 12th

This Friday, November 4th, from 12:00 to 12:45 curator Alison Fisher will be leading a guided tour of the Art Institute's spectacular exhibition, Bertrand Goldberg: Architecture of Invention.  It's free with museum admission.

Another beautiful exhibition that was at the Peggy Notebaert last year, The Lost Panoramas: A Snapshot into Chicago's Past, is now a book, The Lost Panoramas: When Chicago Changed Its River - and the Land Beyond, including the best of 22,000 photos taken in 1894 to document the massive public works project that reversed the flow of the Chicago.  Next Tuesday, November 8th, the Chicago Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians will be hosting a reception and book signing at AIA Chicago, with a cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m., and program at 6:00.

The following Saturday, the 12th, at the Casino Club, the SAH will be holding a Gala Benefit Reception Honoring Chicago's Cultural Icons, John Vinci, Mary Zimmerman and Sophia Siskel, supporting the society's varied educational initiatives.

You can check out the details on these three newly-added events - and more than fifty total -on the November Chicago Architectural Calendar.

(And a correction for those of you wanting to attend Ellen Bailey Dickson's A Discussion on Islamic Architecture at the Glenview Ismaili Jamatkhna, the right number for making an RSVP is 847/730.1950.)

Chicago Streetscene: Millennium Flush

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The Building Louis Loathed

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The architect did not give the building any rest, but as to the remainder of the structure -- it seems an ill-compounded salad, with a rather rancid, New-Yorky flavor.
       Kindergarten Chats, Louis H. Sullivan

David Owen and Green Metropolis today; Islamic Architecture and Real Estate 2012 later - more for November

Yup, we just put the November Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events yesterday, and already we're adding three more events.

Today at 4:00 p.m., New Yorker staff writer David Owen, author of Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer and Driving Less are the Keys to Sustainability, will lecture at the Great Cities Institute at UIC, while on Sunday, the 13th, Ellen Bailey Dickson will lead a Discussion on Islamic Architecture at the Glenview Jamatkhana, and on the morning of the 14th at the Union League, Curt Bailey, President of Related Midwest will be among panelists at a ULI Chicago event, Real Estate Forecast 2012.

Tomorrow is SEAOI's Structures Symposium and Kate Keleman's curator's talk for Design on the Edge at CAF, where Alexander Eisenschmidt lectures at lunchtime on visionary Chicago architecture, with Sheila Kennedy at IIT in the evening, where on Thursday the 3rd, there's CTBUH's Best Tall Buildings Awards Symposium, one of no fewer than nine events taking place that day.

We're about to cross the 50 items mark, so check 'em all out on the November Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

November Calendar, devoid of Turkeys: Zils, Gang, Goldberg, Jahn, Dimenberg, Pond (x2), Gruen, CTBUH - nearly 50 great events

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Even though I know we'll be adding more, there's already nearly 50 great items on the November Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

It begins on Tuesday the 1st, with Arturo Vittori at Columbia College, continues on Tuesday at CAF, with Kate Keleman's curator talk for Design on the Edge, and Alexander Eisenschmidt on Chicago's unbuilt visionary projects, and Sheila Kennedy at IIT, and then explodes on Thursday the 3rd with no fewer than eight events, including John Ronan talking about his new home for Poetry Foundation for Friends of Downtown, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's star-studded 10th Annual Best Tall Buildings Awards Symposium at IIT, Stuart Cohen discussing Howard Van Doren Shaw's residential designs at Second Presbyterian Church, and the release of Jeanne Gang's new book, Reverse Effect, on possibilities for the Chicago river at the fundraiser for the Natural Resources Defense Council that also includes a one-time-only performance of Carpocalypse! by a troupe from Second City.

On Tuesday, November 8th, there'll be a lecture by great structural engineer John Zils at CAF, where on Wednesday the 9th, Art Institute architecture curator Alison Fisher will talk about The Houses and Housing of Bertrand Goldberg, in conjunction with the museum's blockbuster retrospective on the architect. On Friday, the 11th, a group of architects discussing Irish Architecture Now goes up against Helmut Jahn lecturing at the Instituto Cervantes, and Ed Dimendberg, author of Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity at UIC, where RSAUD's Roger Sherman lectures on the 14th.

Want more? How about Dale Gyure lecturing on the work of Minoru Yamasaki on the 13th at the architects North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, a reception for Stanley Tigerman at AIA Chicago on  the 14th marking the publication of not one but two new books, Tom Jacobs of Krueck + Sexton talking about their net zero environmental impact building for the GSA in Miramar, Florida on th1 15th, and Terry Tatum discussing the work of Irving and Allen Pond at Glessner House on the 16th. Dennis McClendon talks about movable bridges for Landmarks Illinois at the Cultural Center, while Jeanne Gang is back discussing her new book at the Harold L. Washington Library, with the month ending on the November 30th with Greg Peerbolte discussing the new book on Victor Gruen and Randhurst center at CAF.

Even with things shut down for the Thanksgiving holiday week, things are jumping, and we've only scratched the surface. Check out everything on the November 2011 Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

The Epic Journey of Otto Klemperer

It's 2:00 a.m.; I should have been asleep hours ago.  Instead, thanks to Opera Chic, I've been watching this documentary from which I couldn't turn away, on the life of conductor Otto Klemperer, a man who had Gustav Mahler as a mentor, a man who was at forefront of the explosion of musical and theatrical creativity of the Weimar Republic, a man who was run out of Europe by the Nazi's, run out of Budapest by the Communists, and out of America by the McCarthyites; a man who survived both a brain tumor and setting himself on fire, a man who in later half of his life left a first impression of frailty unto death, but who was making orchestral magic until only a few years before he died, age 88.  And that's not counting the things the documentary left out - Klemperer's recurring mental illness, his ceaseless womanizing, his erratic and often abusive behavior.  Like Steve Jobs, he inspired terror and devotion, and his life and career was like an exposition on the 20th century, its music, from Mahler to Pierre Boulez, and its turbulent history.  Much of that story is told in his own voice, at times breaking out into an amazingly robust near-giggle laugh that seems to say that,  for all the torment, he thoroughly enjoyed the trip.