CHICAGO | General Developments

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by denizen467

Design quality, maybe, but considering Williams & Tsien (Logan performing arts), Jahn (Mansueto library), Vinoly (business school), Jahn (the district heating (?) building), Gang (Solstice), the couple recent proposals near Metra, and at least several others, I just don't see anyone looking at this and not forgetting that it's not at the University of Nebraska or somewhere. These things'll be standing here for a half-century at least, after all (Regenstein is as iconic as ever today, for example). I know, not every building can be an xmas present, but still, shouldn't this look more like a computer-related building (I think there was a great example of one built at MIT recently)? The next Google could be conceived here after all (right across the street from the Fermi monument no less). As it is you could say this was veterinary science building and nobody would know the difference.

HOK is internationally renowned and have a very good reputation for niche markets, such as educational/institutional projects, so I think this building is in good hands. Additionally, I don't really think this project would be all that different, design-wise, if it were in the hands of Jahn, or Vinoly (whose new hospital design for U of C is awful, btw) or even Studio Gang - science/laboratory buildings in general have pretty strict requirements (obviously dependent on specific school/client needs) that are sometimes not necessarily easy to create a far-out design around, considering that lab space, offices, classrooms, etc., adhere to very specific guidelines. Also, we're only seeing the exterior skin of the building, and a building design is more than just the exterior facade - I'm willing to reserve judgment until I see the rest of the building, interior included - then I can better judge whether it's a P.O.S or not

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by sentinel

I don't necessarily think so; it's a laboratory building, not a museum - and it's very much in line with the design quality of other recent, similar buildings on campus: the inter-divisional research building across the street, the medical research building to the west of this, the new hospital, etc.

btw, thanks spyguy. Is there a timeline for demo/groundbreaking for the new facility?

I find it pretty generic. Common campus architecture. It's definitely nice and unobtrusive, but not quite the credit people are giving it. I guess I'm spoiled by science lab buildings like the example below that I watched outside my building go up back in 2003. BTW the interior is remarkable, and the labs great architectural spaces themselves.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/saminannarbor/183775256/

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by lawfin

whatever happened to honte....did he die?

Dunno. I miss his contributions though. Was often one of my favorite reads here.

[denizen467]

^ His last post was in the spring of 2009. At the end of June 2009, I remember a moderator or someone on this forum saying that he was probably Ezra Gordon, an architect and emeritus professor who had died that week. That would be the architect of 405 Wabash (highrise between Wrigley and Trump) and 2 E Oak (Newberry Plaza) among other buildings.

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

^ The obituary penned by Blair Kamin. At least he didn't have to live to see the destruction of his pavilion at Michael Reese. I really miss him.

[Mr Downtown]

Unless someone knows more, that seems somewhat unlikely to me. I had a bit of correspondence with Ezra Gordon a couple of years ago (he designed the highrise where I live), and for various reasons—including writing style—I am reluctant to support the theory that honte was Ezra Gordon.

[wrab]

I really miss honte too. Having a Second-School architect on the forum was a tremendous asset, whether or not he was Ezra Gordon. He really knew his stuff. I learned a lot from him. He was also a model of online civility.

[bnk]

http://www.globest.com/news/1808_180.../305209-1.html

McCaffery Talks About $4B Lakeside Plan

CHICAGO-Dan McCaffery, president and chief executive officer of McCaffery Interests, says while his company’s $4 billion Lakeside development on the South Side along Lake Michigan sounds grandiose when construction is almost nil, he has to have faith. His company recently opened a 2,000-square-foot marketing center for the project at the last remaining building on the US Steel site.

“Chicago needs game changers,” McCaffery says. ...

...

The project will be on the former US Steel plant, and will include more than 13,000 new homes and 17.5 million square feet of retail and other commercial property, according to the McCaffery-US Steel joint venture plan. The city has approved a master plan, and a plan ordinance for the first phase called Market Commons, about 800,000 square feet of retail and residential units on 76 acres on the northwest portion of the property between 79th and 83rd streets.

First, the city has to finish a reflow of Lakeshore Drive around the project. The entire six-phase plan with all its phases will take more than 25 years to complete, if it starts on time in 2013.

It took years and $30 million to push the plan through the city approval process, McCaffery says. However, he says he’s now meeting with interested parties. “I believe that’s going to happen to me every week,” McCaffery says. “We know that the United States will likely grow to 400 million people in 25 years, and the third-largest city should see some of that growth. We’re a state that knows how to get off its ass, how to get progressive and not belabor the past, and how to find ways to create energy to have a better future.”

...

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by bnk

“I believe that’s going to happen to me every week,” McCaffery says. “We know that the United States will likely grow to 400 million people in 25 years, and the third-largest city should see some of that growth. We’re a state that knows how to get off its ass, how to get progressive and not belabor the past, and how to find ways to create energy to have a better future.”

^ Couldn't agree more.

It's mind boggling that while the US population continues to grow, Chicago's remains about as stagnant as the water in the swamps just below it.

It's time to capture some of that growth. Gentrification simply cannot be the only driving engine of the city in the 21st century.

[lawfin]

^^^This goes to my point re: revitalizing the south side via immigrants and attempting to use assest....be it the green line or the lake front to do it....

the south side has been laid bare for too long it is time that it reemerges as; but it needs policy boosts to help

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Unless someone knows more, that seems somewhat unlikely to me. I had a bit of correspondence with Ezra Gordon a couple of years ago (he designed the highrise where I live), and for various reasons—including writing style—I am reluctant to support the theory that honte was Ezra Gordon.

I believe honte alluded to health problems-- at least, that's the impression I got/what I remember from some of his input on transit issues? Anyway, that's one of the reasons I accepted the theory, though, of course, I'd much rather he be around and well.

Originally Posted by wrabbit

I really miss honte too. Having a Second-School architect on the forum was a tremendous asset, whether or not he was Ezra Gordon. He really knew his stuff. I learned a lot from him. He was also a model of online civility.

He really was. I still have a conciliatory email he wrote to me in response to a public but totally benign disagreement we had about Lake Meadows.

[Nowhereman1280]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Unless someone knows more, that seems somewhat unlikely to me. I had a bit of correspondence with Ezra Gordon a couple of years ago (he designed the highrise where I live), and for various reasons—including writing style—I am reluctant to support the theory that honte was Ezra Gordon.

If anyone knew who Honte was it was you Mr. D. I had extensive conversations with him via PM and he always said he'd never reveal his identity because he knew who you were and knew the opinions he shared on here would cause issues "with people who would recognize me, like Mr. Downtown"... He seemed to have an extensive knowledge of who you are in real life.

All I know is that I really miss him. Honte means bashful and shy, and he certainly was when it came to his true ID. I just wish I knew who he was in real life.

[the urban politician]

^ The fact that Honte may very well have been that person who died, well, kind of "haunts" me (no pun intended).

[Mr Downtown]

^Wow. That's rather stunning. Now I'm racking my brain trying to think of anyone I might know who's interested in this stuff. I certainly can't think of anyone who would choose to call himself bashful.

At any rate, let's rule out the possibility that it was Ezra Gordon, an architect in his late 80s who still used a typewriter and whom I never met. Honte's posts just don't read that way at all.

[wrab]

^ He seemed to be on the ins with the 1970s modernists. As for the monicker, who knows - maybe it's ironic?

-----

Cityscapes
by Blair Kamin
In the U of C's planned science building, the design byword is: 'Let there be light'
December 14, 2010

..... In addition to housing key parts of the university's Physical Sciences Division and its new Institute for Molecular Engineering, the building has been designed by the global architecture firm HOK and artist Jamie Carpenter, who shaped the under-construction "light bridges" on the Midway Plaisance between the north and south sides of the U of C.

Why this unusual collaboration? In a word, light. The university's news office explains:

"Perforated metal fins connected to serrated glass facades on the east and west will capture and reflect light horizontally into the building throughout the day. Further, a louvered glass ceiling over the north lobby will serve as a light well, capturing and driving light vertically into the building.

"An atrium will span the upper three floors of the building, forming an axis that will allow light to cross from east to west. The atrium also spatially interconnects the top three floors and various units of the Physical Sciences Division that will reside there".....

Link

[Loopy]

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[wrab]

^ For real? Do you know him? If so, glad to hear that he's OK.

[Loopy]

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[wrab]

^ Well, I understand. Please say "hi" to him for me and for the rest of the gang here.

[Loopy]

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