Kleihues' Museum of Contemporary Art: Because I always wonder if it could possibly have been built by a US contractor. It's so perfect. You can stand on the second floor and trace a perfect alignment from ceiling grid to window mullion to floor joints, out the window to the sidewalk below all the way to the curb! Must have shipped in the German contractors. Then: all the perfect rectalinearity would be mind-numbing if it weren't brilliantly complemented by the sexy curved stairs at the corners.
and steven....I'm sorry, but your 'love' is despised in our windy city…Kleihues misunderstood the assignment…it’s a building of contemporary art…not modern art.
Not sure of the distinction you're trying to make, threads. The building should somehow have been distinctly 'contemporary' instead of 'modern'? If you're suggesting that it too closely recalls early-20C modern, I'd argue that Kleihues' career could never have happened without the German rationalists' response to pomo: Kleihues, Ungers, et al. This building was consistent with what he and his peers were doing in the mid-'90's - but his is so much more refined and uncompromising!
It's anyone's choice whether to like/dislike a building in their city, but I've noted that in every city in which I've lived, people tend to hate some of their city's best aspects. Especially places that draw tourists. The timeless hipness of cynicism, maybe?
So am I bad for hating the Mall of America? It draws something like 40 million visitors/year and I despise the place. The new IKEA right next to is doesn't exactly help its look.
old school - or at least 60's/70's old....the harry weese jail in the south loop
it's so blade runner and completely fresh
also: crown hall, post office (mies), inland steel building, and that really old
building near the jail in south loop - the first steel frame thing...I'll dig out
the name later
No off-highway ramp right into the Mall of America parking garages. Quite amazing given the mess that the roads around that place become over the shopping season. I also hear that they are planning the worlds largest indoor water park in the next phase. That true?
1. clarity of concourse
2. clarity of flow
3. expression of structure and its endeavor to deliver the sense of
lightness.
4. awesome expansion joints
5. skylights
corn cob towers (st. marys hospital, marina, g&b etc)
monadnock
cultural center
i know it's ugly as all hell, but there is something i really like about the thompson center..
i second the hw prison in south loop..
1.as an architect, my spouse is more talented than i am
2.it took me some years to accept that
3.hence, now, i spend more time changing diapers/visiting daycare/
preparing lunches than daydreaming about architecture
4.it doesn't bother me to quit work if second baby strike us
5.my apex, towards the love of space, was at ronchamp.
downhill ever since.
What I mean was that…yes he failed to create an architecture that could flex with contemporary issues of art…and instead constructed a monolithic piece of “modern†architecture he felt was appropriate for Chicago and his emulation of the cities past. I think the reason people from different cities feel so strongly about particular buildings is because by living in a place for an extended period of time the citizens are able to take in and contemplate the physical implications of the building itself…ie what the building forgot.
Err…but you’re right that the building has a complete understanding of its “partsâ€â€¦
The interior lighting is also well done along with the circulation and goldfish stairwell…but contemporary art must reach outside instead of constructing false connections within.
only been to chicago once. loved the jail too >> i suppose you are talking about the triangulated concrete one? the women's hospital and the inland steel bldg [som?] are nice too.
when i went, i couldn't find a cheap, decent hotel in the city so i stayed in oak park in flw house turned into a b&b. it was affordable with a lot of room >> large living/dining space w/lg fireplace, 2 br, and very lg bath. this was the house that wright built for his soon to be mistress and her husband. it was a little eiry given how she died, but way cool.
inland steel building
dearborn and madison (or is it monroe?)
architect: SOM Chicago
1956-58
(stats are from memory...sorry if they are incorrect)
i like it because it is was way before it's time structurally (floors are cantilevered out from the elevator shaft), the stainless steel cladding is appropriate given the client but also stunning as a sculptural piece fronting an open space w/ artwork.
the interiors are designed with a wonderful rigor...EVERYTHING is on a module. the terrazzo strips align w/ partitions, window wall, furniture systems. since many of the office floors have probably undergone renovations, the best place to see the exquisite beauty of the details used to be the cafeteria (which was also had cheap eats when i lived there 6 years ago), but i'm not sure if it's open to the public. 13th floor if it is (don't ask the guard..just go up and look. otherwise, they will tell you the building is not open to the public.)
ive always like the mechanical penthouse atop the beheamoth black modernist superblock you see off Monroe in back of Mich Ave. Simple panel screen glows at night, linear.
It's hard to pick a favorite with so many good buildings to choose from. Inland Steel, Jahn's United Terminal at O'Hare, and the jail by Harry Weese are also among my favorites.
A few of mine that haven't been mentioned yet:
The John Hancock Center by SOM. IMO, probably the purest example of the Chicago architectural tradition. "Ummph! Me be skyscraper!"
One IBM Plaza by Mies. You don't realize how imperfect every other buildig is until you work in a Mies building for three years. Even the emergency stairwells are beautifully detailed, and the washrooms are all laid out without having a single piece of cut ceramic tile!
Bank One Plaza (formerly First National Bank) by C.F. Murphy and Perkins + Will. A nice piece of modernism that takes a different direction than Mies, as well as a very cool urban space. Shame that the main banking hall is currently being adulterated, though. :-(
the rookery with its stair case
the monadnock for its attitude
the old library/present cultural center for its tiffany dome
inland steel for its elegance
13th floor in the Inland Steel is definitely *not* a cafeteria anymore.
Before working in the Inland Steel for a 6 months I had considered it a pretty darned good building. Now, I think of it as one of the city's best. Easily in my top 2 or 3!
My absolute favorite building is the old warehouse/factory building near Cermak and Racine. It's the one in front of the skyline in this photo.
Skybridge sucks ass, just to let wangsta know...I went up to penthouse before it was finished, amazing view. BUt they could not have built a more confusing or less attractive (form, location...) structure.
I wish Helmut Jahn would leave Chicago alone.
I love the inside of the Moody Church at CLark and LaSalle, but I got kicked out so I do have a grudge against the place.
I've lived here 3 years and haven't found a place that would top my list. But I like to escape to the to of the cultural center with the Tiffany Glass...it's a nice place away from the loop. The garden on the South side of the Art Institute at Michigan and JAckson is nice too.
i am not a huge fan of classical bd, but wrigley bd on michigan
av. was something...
out from mil. park, little bit stirred up by noodley shape of mr.
gehry's concert hall and plensa's fountain,
i saw the illuminating facade of wrigley.
it's wave-like illumination was very haunting.
i was more surprised when i arrived at the front plaza.
what seemed like one facade was actually two, diagonally
bisected. the two blocks were connected by skybridge and colonnade.
my intention was to see the great tribune bd, but wrigley, in my view,
was something ! check it out !
I think the context of the Robie House has been completely destroyed by the monstrosity they put up accross the street. It had a suburban residential feel and then accross to the west the gates to the Univ. But now, my God, its been gobbled up the Univ. expansion. One day it will be on display the atrium of a Univ building.
part of why the house is so great is that the site is not a traditional suburban plot, it is a narrow urban space- one that fit FLW's horizontal designs perfectly. He was able to pull the house to horizontal extremes due to the site limitations.
i see it as a fitting solution to a specific urban context more than simply a nice house w/ a suburban residential feel. just my opinion though.
I think EvilPlatypus is arguing that those changes over time have made the building less and less of a recognizably perfect solution to the specificity which fueled the original design. Its contextuality was very much an important attribute, and that has dissolved over time. The building hasn't changed, but it's meaning is varied. Great Building regardless. That building inspired Theo Van Doesburg, inspired the DeStijl movement and international architecture as a whole. Genius.
mikechi - the tight urban lots on the southside arent that tight. That was a suburban scale in the true meaning of the word. most lots bigger than the 25x150 you get further north, more green and parkways. But this was a hundred years ago. Now we concider this urban.
the inner ring suburbs in Chicago would be "inner city" scale in most american cities today. But they were indeed suburban compared to the east coast, and European cities.
Monodnock Building becasue I used to be a mason and that is the last free standing masonry building in Chicago. The base is over six feet thick. Solid brick 15 stories up. Tallest free standing masonry structure. the addition however is less impressive with a steel frame
oh and the mosaics in the cultural center....Oh and theres this church... do not know the name but it is about a block north of whole foods (jut before chicago avenue?). right hand side of street if you are facing north. You have to go look inside. It is amazing...
Poczatek - those doors are actually wood on the outside - made by Jerzey kenar. Hes a renowned wood scupter - has a litlle artists colony going over at honere and augusta - the angel barn. I did some work for him through my old boss till he got stop ordered. He did some vatican doors to.
i would add farnswortth house by mies. the drive out there is some of the best illinios landscape and when the daf's are in full bloom in the spring its great. i do agree with mies, the furniture bit added by ms. farns is shit and what dird did is double shit. am glad dirk was very much on top of keeping it in the public realm.
Favorite building in Chicago
what's your favorite building in Chicago, where is it, and why?
Kleihues' Museum of Contemporary Art: Because I always wonder if it could possibly have been built by a US contractor. It's so perfect. You can stand on the second floor and trace a perfect alignment from ceiling grid to window mullion to floor joints, out the window to the sidewalk below all the way to the curb! Must have shipped in the German contractors. Then: all the perfect rectalinearity would be mind-numbing if it weren't brilliantly complemented by the sexy curved stairs at the corners.
My Favorite New Building is Contemporaine @Grand/Wells by Perkins+Will
An architectural Gem....beautiful, simple.
the stairs at the Kleihues are sweet, good photo ops
The Frank Lloyd Wright lobby of the Rookery building. One of the few gems by FLW that I really like. Amazing.
Cabrini Green...you'll always be my first.
Didn't they knock down those 30 story crack houses?
and steven....I'm sorry, but your 'love' is despised in our windy city…Kleihues misunderstood the assignment…it’s a building of contemporary art…not modern art.
A...they got about four left...and I got the photos.
Not sure of the distinction you're trying to make, threads. The building should somehow have been distinctly 'contemporary' instead of 'modern'? If you're suggesting that it too closely recalls early-20C modern, I'd argue that Kleihues' career could never have happened without the German rationalists' response to pomo: Kleihues, Ungers, et al. This building was consistent with what he and his peers were doing in the mid-'90's - but his is so much more refined and uncompromising!
It's anyone's choice whether to like/dislike a building in their city, but I've noted that in every city in which I've lived, people tend to hate some of their city's best aspects. Especially places that draw tourists. The timeless hipness of cynicism, maybe?
So am I bad for hating the Mall of America? It draws something like 40 million visitors/year and I despise the place. The new IKEA right next to is doesn't exactly help its look.
I didn't say anything about hating the city's WORST aspects...I think we can all agree to hate Camp Snoopy and its host organism.
I wonder when they are going to build an off ramp on the highway that will drop you directly in the parking garage of the MoA.
THEY DON'T HAVE ONE YET!?!
old school - or at least 60's/70's old....the harry weese jail in the south loop
it's so blade runner and completely fresh
also: crown hall, post office (mies), inland steel building, and that really old
building near the jail in south loop - the first steel frame thing...I'll dig out
the name later
No off-highway ramp right into the Mall of America parking garages. Quite amazing given the mess that the roads around that place become over the shopping season. I also hear that they are planning the worlds largest indoor water park in the next phase. That true?
o'hare - helmut jahn,,,
1. clarity of concourse
2. clarity of flow
3. expression of structure and its endeavor to deliver the sense of
lightness.
4. awesome expansion joints
5. skylights
anybody live in Skybridge?
corn cob towers (st. marys hospital, marina, g&b etc)
monadnock
cultural center
i know it's ugly as all hell, but there is something i really like about the thompson center..
i second the hw prison in south loop..
1.as an architect, my spouse is more talented than i am
2.it took me some years to accept that
3.hence, now, i spend more time changing diapers/visiting daycare/
preparing lunches than daydreaming about architecture
4.it doesn't bother me to quit work if second baby strike us
5.my apex, towards the love of space, was at ronchamp.
downhill ever since.
What I mean was that…yes he failed to create an architecture that could flex with contemporary issues of art…and instead constructed a monolithic piece of “modern†architecture he felt was appropriate for Chicago and his emulation of the cities past. I think the reason people from different cities feel so strongly about particular buildings is because by living in a place for an extended period of time the citizens are able to take in and contemplate the physical implications of the building itself…ie what the building forgot.
Err…but you’re right that the building has a complete understanding of its “partsâ€â€¦
The interior lighting is also well done along with the circulation and goldfish stairwell…but contemporary art must reach outside instead of constructing false connections within.
(spelling and grammer aside...thank you)
rayray...as a piece of mainstream architecture...yeah the Jail is unbelievable...I think it's really an underrated piece of architecture.
only been to chicago once. loved the jail too >> i suppose you are talking about the triangulated concrete one? the women's hospital and the inland steel bldg [som?] are nice too.
when i went, i couldn't find a cheap, decent hotel in the city so i stayed in oak park in flw house turned into a b&b. it was affordable with a lot of room >> large living/dining space w/lg fireplace, 2 br, and very lg bath. this was the house that wright built for his soon to be mistress and her husband. it was a little eiry given how she died, but way cool.
there is an off ramp that dumps you right in the parking lot of the mall of america.
inland steel building
dearborn and madison (or is it monroe?)
architect: SOM Chicago
1956-58
(stats are from memory...sorry if they are incorrect)
i like it because it is was way before it's time structurally (floors are cantilevered out from the elevator shaft), the stainless steel cladding is appropriate given the client but also stunning as a sculptural piece fronting an open space w/ artwork.
the interiors are designed with a wonderful rigor...EVERYTHING is on a module. the terrazzo strips align w/ partitions, window wall, furniture systems. since many of the office floors have probably undergone renovations, the best place to see the exquisite beauty of the details used to be the cafeteria (which was also had cheap eats when i lived there 6 years ago), but i'm not sure if it's open to the public. 13th floor if it is (don't ask the guard..just go up and look. otherwise, they will tell you the building is not open to the public.)
The greatest, and most underrated building in Chicago is the old Public Defender Building
ive always like the mechanical penthouse atop the beheamoth black modernist superblock you see off Monroe in back of Mich Ave. Simple panel screen glows at night, linear.
It's hard to pick a favorite with so many good buildings to choose from. Inland Steel, Jahn's United Terminal at O'Hare, and the jail by Harry Weese are also among my favorites.
A few of mine that haven't been mentioned yet:
The John Hancock Center by SOM. IMO, probably the purest example of the Chicago architectural tradition. "Ummph! Me be skyscraper!"
One IBM Plaza by Mies. You don't realize how imperfect every other buildig is until you work in a Mies building for three years. Even the emergency stairwells are beautifully detailed, and the washrooms are all laid out without having a single piece of cut ceramic tile!
Bank One Plaza (formerly First National Bank) by C.F. Murphy and Perkins + Will. A nice piece of modernism that takes a different direction than Mies, as well as a very cool urban space. Shame that the main banking hall is currently being adulterated, though. :-(
the rookery with its stair case
the monadnock for its attitude
the old library/present cultural center for its tiffany dome
inland steel for its elegance
monadnock (copied spelling from those who probably know better than I.)
rookery (am I just listing bldgs others have? maybe.)
Sullivan's auditorium
13th floor in the Inland Steel is definitely *not* a cafeteria anymore.
Before working in the Inland Steel for a 6 months I had considered it a pretty darned good building. Now, I think of it as one of the city's best. Easily in my top 2 or 3!
My absolute favorite building is the old warehouse/factory building near Cermak and Racine. It's the one in front of the skyline in this photo.
Skybridge sucks ass, just to let wangsta know...I went up to penthouse before it was finished, amazing view. BUt they could not have built a more confusing or less attractive (form, location...) structure.
I wish Helmut Jahn would leave Chicago alone.
I love the inside of the Moody Church at CLark and LaSalle, but I got kicked out so I do have a grudge against the place.
I've lived here 3 years and haven't found a place that would top my list. But I like to escape to the to of the cultural center with the Tiffany Glass...it's a nice place away from the loop. The garden on the South side of the Art Institute at Michigan and JAckson is nice too.
i am not a huge fan of classical bd, but wrigley bd on michigan
av. was something...
out from mil. park, little bit stirred up by noodley shape of mr.
gehry's concert hall and plensa's fountain,
i saw the illuminating facade of wrigley.
it's wave-like illumination was very haunting.
i was more surprised when i arrived at the front plaza.
what seemed like one facade was actually two, diagonally
bisected. the two blocks were connected by skybridge and colonnade.
my intention was to see the great tribune bd, but wrigley, in my view,
was something ! check it out !
it surely paid my visit...
psteiner - Osaka gardens? One of the citys best kept secrets.
robie house? just throwin it out there
I think the context of the Robie House has been completely destroyed by the monstrosity they put up accross the street. It had a suburban residential feel and then accross to the west the gates to the Univ. But now, my God, its been gobbled up the Univ. expansion. One day it will be on display the atrium of a Univ building.
i dont know if i agree with that...
part of why the house is so great is that the site is not a traditional suburban plot, it is a narrow urban space- one that fit FLW's horizontal designs perfectly. He was able to pull the house to horizontal extremes due to the site limitations.
i see it as a fitting solution to a specific urban context more than simply a nice house w/ a suburban residential feel. just my opinion though.
I think EvilPlatypus is arguing that those changes over time have made the building less and less of a recognizably perfect solution to the specificity which fueled the original design. Its contextuality was very much an important attribute, and that has dissolved over time. The building hasn't changed, but it's meaning is varied. Great Building regardless. That building inspired Theo Van Doesburg, inspired the DeStijl movement and international architecture as a whole. Genius.
evil and psteiner, i proposed to my now fiance in the osaka gardens sunday night.
mikechi - the tight urban lots on the southside arent that tight. That was a suburban scale in the true meaning of the word. most lots bigger than the 25x150 you get further north, more green and parkways. But this was a hundred years ago. Now we concider this urban.
the inner ring suburbs in Chicago would be "inner city" scale in most american cities today. But they were indeed suburban compared to the east coast, and European cities.
On the gardens theme, the Caldwell Lilly Pool in Lincoln Park is another overlooked piece of the city. Peaceful, and usually empty.
.mm
usually empy because it's a piece of crap.
Always great, insightful input, Raji. You truly are one of the finest.
.mm
Monodnock Building becasue I used to be a mason and that is the last free standing masonry building in Chicago. The base is over six feet thick. Solid brick 15 stories up. Tallest free standing masonry structure. the addition however is less impressive with a steel frame
oh and the mosaics in the cultural center....Oh and theres this church... do not know the name but it is about a block north of whole foods (jut before chicago avenue?). right hand side of street if you are facing north. You have to go look inside. It is amazing...
also i like the facade of the sullivan's krause music store in lincoln square and the uptown theatre
That would be Holy Name...The front Doors are amazing Solid Sculpted Bronze.
yes I think it is holy name cathedral moved about 8 months ago and now I cant remeber even though i passed it everyday.
Poczatek - those doors are actually wood on the outside - made by Jerzey kenar. Hes a renowned wood scupter - has a litlle artists colony going over at honere and augusta - the angel barn. I did some work for him through my old boss till he got stop ordered. He did some vatican doors to.
i would add farnswortth house by mies. the drive out there is some of the best illinios landscape and when the daf's are in full bloom in the spring its great. i do agree with mies, the furniture bit added by ms. farns is shit and what dird did is double shit. am glad dirk was very much on top of keeping it in the public realm.
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