Archinect - News

Perkins+Will selected to design Northwestern University Research Building on old Prentice site

2013-12-13T14:13:00-05:00

In the competiton seeking proposals to replace Bertrand Goldberg’s iconic Prentice Woman’s Hospital in Chicago, Northwestern University has selected Perkins+Will as the winning firm. P+W prevailed over two other shortlisted teams — Goettsch Partners/Ballinger and Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture/Payette — and will get to design the new 600,000 square foot Biomedical Research Building for the Feinberg School of Medicine on Northwestern University’s downtown Chicago campus.

Architects Accuse Northwestern University of Blacklisting Firms Over Prentice Women's Hospital Petition

2013-11-26T20:24:00-05:00

In the wake of the controversial demolition of Bertrand Goldberg’s Prentice Women’s Hospital, Northwestern University has moved forward with the process for selecting an architecture firm to design the building's replacement. Firms that protested the demolition, however, have been excluded from consideration for designing the building's replacement—and may be blacklisted from other projects at Northwestern.

The Absent Column - a film about the fight to save Prentice Hospital

2013-10-29T11:15:00-04:00

Modern architecture, and the fight for its value in the world, is brought into sharp focus in this documentary examining the battle over the preservation of former Prentice Women’s Hospital in downtown Chicago, designed by master modern architect Betrand Goldberg.

The owner of the building is Chicago institution Northwestern University, which intends to demolish the unique brutalist building, composed of a nine-story concrete cloverleaf tower cantilevered over a rectangular five-story podium.

The stage is set for what some preservationists believe will be a defining moment in the battle to preserve modern architecture, and poses the question, Who determines the future of the past?

Directed by journalist and Northwestern alumnus Nathan Eddy, the film made its world premiere at the Durban Film Festival in South Africa and subsequently screened at the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam and the Architecture & Design Film Festival in New York.

Prentice Hospital Could Become Modern Architecture’s ‘Penn Station Moment’

2013-10-15T12:58:00-04:00

This week, as Goldberg’s famous work is pulled apart by wreckers, nothing about its loss seems symmetrical or graceful. Within 40 years, the building transitioned from a proud symbol of civic renewal and design innovation to the victim of old-fashioned Chicago politics. The controversy surrounding the demolition of Prentice, however, injected the preservation movement into an urban design discussion with a presence not seen in a long time.

Lawsuit dropped over Prentice preservation

2013-02-14T19:48:00-05:00

Two preservationist groups have dropped a lawsuit challenging the City of Chicago’s decision to deny landmark status to the old Prentice Women’s Hospital. Northwestern University plans to demolish the building in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood to make way for a new biomedical research facility. The decision to drop the lawsuit clears the way for Northwestern to carry through on it plans.

Preservationists get 30 days to fix suit on old Prentice Women's Hospital

2013-01-14T13:05:00-05:00

A judge on Friday gave preservationists 30 days to amend their legal challenge to a landmarks commission ruling that would appear to doom old Prentice Women's Hospital, but strongly hinted that time is running out for the Streeterville structure.

Editor's Picks #297

2013-01-09T12:48:00-05:00

Alison Cuddy of WBEZ 91.5 reported that the Save Prentice Coalition has made the case that re-using the former Prentice Hospital could mean more money, jobs...curtkram was puzzled "hmm. i used to live on the north side of chicago and i don't recall ever seeing this building. anyway, aside from preserving this building because of it's characteristic of a historic style, or because some particularly important person thinks it looks cool, there is a good argument for sustainability".

Archinect finished reflecting back on the 2012 most trafficked pages in Archinect's diverse online ecosystem, with a list of 12 top 12 lists for '12. As always, they listing the most popular pages from across the site, based exclusively on visits by unique page-views. We completed the look-back by publishing the; Top 12 Blogs for '12, Top 12 Blog Posts for '12, Top 12 Live Blogs for '12, Top 12 Projects for '12, Top 12 Firm Profiles for '12, Top 12 People Profiles for '12, Top 12 School Profiles for '12, Top 12 Jobs for '12, Top 12 Competitions for '12 and finally the Top 12 Discussions for '12.

News
Alison Cuddy of WBEZ 91.5 reported that the Save Prentice Coalition has made the case that re-using the former Prentice Hospital could mean more money, jobs. The reuse alternatives for the Bertrand Goldberg-designed Prentice Hospital were unveiled at a press conference on January 3, 2013. You can view the presentation here (PDF file).

mantaray corrected Thayer-D "First of all,...

Preservationists say rehabbing rather than demolishing Prentice Hospital would mean more revenue and jobs

2013-01-04T20:12:00-05:00

The study argues that re-using Prentice and developing a new facility would generate more money and jobs than demolition and new construction. The study claims the rehab would generate one-time taxes and temporary jobs, in fields ranging from construction to finance and insurance. And a re-designed, multi-purpose Prentice would mean 980 permanent jobs and just over $1 million a year in local tax revenues.

The reuse alternatives for Prentice were unveiled at a press conference on January 3, 2013. You can view the presentation here (PDF file).

Winners of the 2012 Chicago Prize Competition: Future Prentice

2012-11-19T18:08:00-05:00

The Chicago Architectural Club has selected three winners from a total of 71 new visionary proposals for Bertrand Goldberg’s Prentice Women’s Hospital submitted to the 2012 Chicago Prize Competition: Future Prentice (plus an additional 10 solicited from up-and-coming Chicago architecture and design studios). The Chicago Architectural Club had partnered with AIA Chicago and the Chicago Architectural Foundation for the initiative.

Prentice Women's Hospital gets a temporary reprieve

2012-11-16T17:55:00-05:00

A judge Thursday gave at least a temporary reprieve to old Prentice Women's Hospital by stopping the city from issuing a demolition permit to Northwestern University until it can be determined whether the process by which the building was denied landmark status was properly carried out. Circuit Judge Neil Cohen said the public's interest would be harmed if the building came down before the merits of a lawsuit filed by preservationists were considered.

Can Rahm's mind be changed? New ideas for saving Prentice Hospital

2012-10-31T13:12:00-04:00

On Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel came down on Northwestern University's side in its battle to raze the old Prentice Women's Hospital, a building that preservationists want to save. Is that the last chapter in the story? Some architects hope not.

Editor's Picks #287

2012-10-22T00:13:00-04:00

The latest Archinect ShowCase featured Cassia Co-op Training Centre by TYIN tegnestue Architects. The project is located in Sungai Penuh, Sumatra, Indonesia.

News
The New York Observer reported on Cornell’s plans (unveiled this week) for a brand new 12.5-acre tech campus on Roosevelt Island this week. The master plan is by SOM and Field Operations, the first academic building is by Thom Mayne. snail commented "So they would have us believe that a great center of future technological innovation will look like a standard tower-in-the-park development with a few curves thrown in, and an atrium borrowed from John Portman?"

For his part toasteroven thought “cornell is trying to recreate MIT's medialab in NYC - on an island - by making a fancy new campus - BEFORE they've even established the program?...The city is making such a huge deal about this - but it seems like it's primarily being used as a marketing ploy to sell NYC as a new tech hub or something...it seems like there's a...

Jeanne Gang and Michael Kimmelman propose a way to save Prentice Women’s Hospital

2012-10-17T16:31:00-04:00

Adding on top of the old Prentice is intended as a thought exercise in what might be called a third way that may not always get its due in preservation battles...And this is where Ms. Gang comes in, compellingly. After our conversation she rapidly crafted a concept for a 31-story skyscraper atop the cloverleaf.

Jeanne Gang and Michael Kimmelman team-up and offer a proposal which could save the concrete, cloverleaf structure from 1975 by Bertrand Goldberg. While Northwestern University argues, it needs new biomedical research facilities, saving Prentice would be too costly and/or difficult, preservationists have been trying to save the building from demolition. However, Gang and Kimmelman have a simple solution "Build a research tower on top of Prentice".

Northwestern University offers to replace Bertrand Goldberg's iconic design at the old Prentice Women's Hospital with another architectural 'marvel'

2012-09-21T16:53:00-04:00

... if they do tear down the building, they'll replace it with another architecturally significant structure. When I spoke with Ron Naylor, who works in Facilities Management at Northwestern, he promised a building "the aesthetics of such that people are going to marvel at it."

Paul Goldberger on the Fight to Save Chicago's Prentice Hospital

2012-08-15T17:07:00-04:00

Why bother, then? It’s a key building in the history of structural engineering, and its unusual form, a poured-concrete cantilevered shell, has few if any equals in modern engineering. Almost nothing else looks like this building, and in a world of carbon-copy architecture, its loopy, futuristic curves are unique: a concrete rocket ship amid Chicago’s glass boxes. A little weird, yes, but the more you look at it, the more you like it.

Gehry, Gang and other leading architects urge Emanuel to save old Prentice Women's Hospital

2012-07-26T19:00:00-04:00

Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry and Chicago architect Jeanne Gang are among more than 60 prominent architects, educators and historic preservationists who on Wednesday urged Mayor Rahm Emanuel to save architect Bertrand Goldberg's old Prentice Women's Hospital and grant city landmark status to the threatened structure.

Editor's Picks #214

2011-06-05T15:58:57-04:00

On an old thread about saving a series of Walter Gropius buildings from the chopping block in Chicago, trendzetter notifies us that Northwestern University is gearing up to tear down the old Prentice Women's Hospital, designed by Bertrand Goldberg.

News

Orhan Ayyüce presented ARCHITECTURE JURY, A Factual and Fictional Manual. In it Orhan subjectively stereotypes "the people who sit in front of the presentations and say 'wise' things about student projects. I hope this will help spectators and students to put a person behind the face in the first row." plt2010 didn't get it though wondering "Honestly, what is the point of this? Juries are no doubt flawed but is it of any use to make develop such caricatures? It's not really very funny (would have had to be shorter, pithier, and more insightful for that) and seems deeply cynical. Do we really need more of this.." However el jeffe (gene parmesan) had praise "brilliant orhan. i'll never sit on another jury now without some serious anxiety." and Fred Scharmen thinks it is "Genius".

An article on the sketch-books of Michael Rotondi, leads PandaK1ng to write "It is always quite refreshing to see any designer's sketchbook. As far as architects it seems as those that keep such sk...