I think I read in Arch record that 88,000 people out of the estimated 220,000 architecture design professionals (Interns, architects, supporting staff) in the industry are out of work. That is 40% add that to the 4,000 B Arch and M Arch students entering the workforce this summer and well it looks grim. If you don’t have a LEED AP credential and mad Revit skills you are going to have a hard time and long wait for the first interview. Finding any job that pays over 10 per hour is hard right now. A lot of people are looking to graduate school for their long over due masters or other degree and that is facing problems with the various states having to cut funding to schools thus reducing the number of seats stipends and fellowships at the public schools. But IDP has finally made some reforms and I suggest those out there who have not become associate AIA members do so before the end of July so you can start earning IDP points from continuing education services. My mentor has me going to the “Lunch and Learn” events put on by manufactures or product associations and not only do you get a free lunch but .25 training units per learning unit. So some IDP progress can be made while not at work without unloading a huge amount of cash. If you have funds to dispose of CSI certification could help too. My main frustration is that I am so close to having IDP done with yet I still can’t sit for the exam and essentially become a free agent.
Have most of the layoffs been people who don’t have a license yet? I wonder if some registered architects are kept on the payroll to prevent them from diverting existing clients and or future ones from the established firms. Keep your friends close and your enemy even closer.
As for the Prairie Ave Book store sale I hope it is not a sign of weakness I would be a sad day if the store had to close.
Anyone have any interesting summer projects eating up your free time?
I think the IDP restrictions are geared towards limiting the number of new professionals out there. The entire architecture field is highly over saturated, and it took an insane housing market to even come close to sustaining it (consider how low architecture salaries were, on average, even during the peak of construction). There simply isn't enough work for the number of people in the field, and the result is everyone undercutting and underselling one another, all the way... in a race straight to the bottom. Union, anyone? Lobbyists?
well what's bad for me is i actually quit my job to move here, but that's not one way or the other. i know people who are working day and night on things that are getting built. it sounds like your office is in a kind of predicament, but that isn't the case all across the board esp. with gov't work and healthcare.
there's over 200 firms on the aia website; some i've sent resumes to more than once, some are construction or engineering firms, and a good chunk are just other arch firms around the US and some abroad
bossman, i appreciate your predicament but I know not one firm where anyone is pulling overtime. plus most are working at cut hours and going home after those. I don't know one single busy-busy office -- I know a few who are doing OKAY, but that's it. I don't think this is mostly a matter of using the economy as an opportunity to screw employees, i think there's legitimately extremely little work.
well, maybe not all the way around, but i know people who are doing a lot of overtime right now. maybe they are just screwing themselves. i don't know.
i guess it depends on the office type... im doing a lot of overtime... as much if not more than before the recession... and i have several friends doing the same. i think there definitely are offices with less work who have cut staff, cut salaries, and are asking those that remain to fill in the gaps till things 'pick up'
It will be interesting once the last tower cranes on the skyline disappear... That's never a welcome site for an architect. For now we've still got SCB's tower on Wabash, the Museum Park tower on Roosevelt, the Valerio Dewalt Train tower by the Mart, and that Goettsch tower on Wacker. Once those cranes disappear I have a feeling it will be a while before we see them again. Once upside is that the housing market has a better chance to recover without a bunch of new inventory getting coming on line, I suppose.
I heard that the art institute has laid off some 24 people. The report on WBEZ said had it not been for the new Modern Wing there would have been more layoffs. Architecture to the rescue I suppose. Has anyone been to it and what do you think of it?
Those pictures are fantastic. Unfortunately I was less impressed in person, which was a bummer since I've enjoyed the lectures on the pavilions' gestations. Perhaps my expectations were too high. They are nice.
The new Modern Wing actually surpassed my expectations and pretty much blew me away. Not by being avant-garde or anything--just by being very, very, very well done, down to the last detail, and just... excellent. The only thing I found frustrating was the circulation pathways which to my mind were poorly laid out, leading to a lot of bizarre bottlenecks and moments where you were SURE you should be able to just go from point A to point B but then you realized (after poking into some dead-ends) that in fact you had to route through points C, D, and E first. Of course, the museum has always been like that -- circulation has always been its achilles heel -- but I was hoping for the new wing to be a departure from this norm.
I'm pretty hopeful, though, that when the crowds die down to average, this issue will be less obvious.
The building delighted me in so many totally unexpected ways, one of which was the exterior patio between the teaching wing and the main building : this is the single best exterior space I have experienced in this city. It is FANTASTIC. If I worked nearby I would get a membership just to stop by and eat my sandwich there everyday. It will be so, so fun to watch the seasons change there. On the day I went I found it to be 100% protected from the winds. Ahhhh... it's beautiful.
vado -- even though I know you're being facetious -- there's a wheelchair ramp designed into it, which I actually thought was nicely integrated and enhanced the beauty of the piece.
Ugh -- imagine segway skid marks all over this thing!
On the subject of frustrating circulation -- who else here thinks "why didn't they just put a DOWN ESCALATOR in here next to the up one -- they have plenty of room and it wouldn't have hurt the spatial dynamics at all!" every single time they go to the Mart via CTA??? Drives me CRAZY!
agreed about the pavilion; it has its moments but is kind of a one-liner in person. when i was there they were working on the zaha one; i thought they were taking it down but i hear it hasn't been finished yet. too bad seeing as the official opening and the accompanying music festival already happened.
They addressed this at the lecture... it is running one-month late; as her project manager said, this is what you get when you work with new, never-before-been-tried construction approaches. I believe they had some material delays but are pushing forward.
It will be a month behind if it is done by late next week, which isn't going to happen. Blair Kamin recently reported that the opening was pushed back to August 1st, making it a full month and half behind schedule (if they finish it by then, which is still up in the air, since they recently switched contractors). The month and half delay is a full 1/3 of the intended four and a half month time it is supposed to be open, and it is the most prime, summer period.
Maybe she should stop trying to reinvent the wheel, or at the very least come up with new, sensible solutions to problems, instead of convoluted ones. What is the value in inventing new, never-been-tried construction approaches when they are slower and more difficult than traditional methods?
to be fair.. you might want to point some blame at Thomas Roszak Architecture, LLC, who is the architect of record.. and.. apart from the concept/design, is really responsible for making sure things happen.
Right. then lets make sure we all celebrate Roszak's acheivement when this is all said and done. I'm sure his name will be all over the opening ceremony, publications and speaking tour which are sure to follow.
It is silly to give Zaha so much credit for the succesful project she is involved with and then let her off the hook when she has a total failing.
to be fair to zaha though, chicago for the most part is NOT a bastion of architectural experimentation, especially on the small scale of that pavilion. what i like about both pavilions is that they are small, experimental projects that would never happen if they were taken up by local architects. zaha gets props in that department as far as i'm concerned.
What starchatects should Chicago commission next?
I think we should start with the older ones and work our way towards the younger ones. The pavilions and a few select private projects are like a sculpture gallery but instead of a sculpture we as a city are collecting buildings of some sort.
Is I M Pei Still around we can have him design the Blues hall of fame and place it out on the peninsula with the Adler planetarium sort of an architectural franchise with museums about music suspended over the great lakes. Tadao Ando could design the redline stations when we get around to upgrading them. Commissioning internationally recognized architects may be one way Chicago can build its way onto the international seen yet we manage to allow Sullivan and Wright buildings deteriorate or worse get demolished.
Its not letting Zaha completely of the hook. I only mentioned that some "blame" might be directed at the local office made responsible for making the project happen. Not sure how that is so hard to stomach for you. Hadid's office didnt choose Roszak, IIT decided on who it would be.
Zaha gets the credit for the design, because she designed it. But Roszak did all the CDs and organization of contractors and managed the construction of it, which is what you and other seem to find fault in. So, perhaps you should blame the appropriate party.
But i guess that isnt as fun as hating on Zaha for you.
I'm taking fault in the idea that the "designer" gets all the credit and none of the blame. If she didn't draw up an unbuildable piece of garbage, we wouldn't have this problem.
If you want to let Zaha off the hook, fine, but in the future, don't tell me about her buildings without first going into extensive detail about the architect of record, structural engineer, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, civil engineer, and various contractors that actually made it happen. If you want to dump the blame on all of these people, you should be willing give them credit for the many projects they are involved in that do succeed.
As for Zaha's actual "design" It seems like another arbitrary, blobby mess, consistent with most of her catalog of work.
What is the value in inventing new, never-been-tried construction approaches when they are slower and more difficult than traditional methods?
Are you kidding? Were those "traditional methods" not once never-been-tried construction, too? Are you seriously arguing for a world without experimentation? Where would we be?! Oh, that's right, living in a small window of inhabitable earth, in caves, with no ability to modulate climate, and a very limited palate of foods. (Who was it that said something about how courageous was the first man to eat a mollusk?) To say nothing of the man who first built a cantilever; the man who first tried using pre-cast cement (bet that was a failure before they figured out the right way to create expansion joints!), etc. etc. etc. You are a structural engineer, correct? Are you that satisfied with "traditional methods"? Do you think we can go no further than we've already gone?
Anyway, this is asinine. Experimentation is valuable for experimentation's sake. If you want to debate the design's value in other categories, fine; I personally will reserve judgment until it's finished. In any case, consider this: of all buildings to be delayed, a function-less, purely formal "pavilion" experiment is the best possible building type to endure experimentation in form and delay in construction. Delays hold up exactly zero function in this scheme. In fact, you actually get a chance to enjoy watching it get built, which to me is very valuable -- I went down and took a bunch of pictures of the frame, which I would probably not have had a chance to see otherwise. WHO CARES if this is delayed? Who does it hurt? Is it less of a "pavilion" if it isn't "finished"? What does "finished" even mean, when the entire point of this object is to provide an interactive vehicle for the public to engage with, in whatever manner they choose? What better vehicle -- what better time, place, and typology for that? Does a delay hinder this pavilion from achieving its purpose? No.
Just enjoy it. Who are you to sneer at something new and fascinating getting created before our very eyes? I'm glad someone's putting money into interesting projects in our city. I'm glad people are coming from all over the world to do work here. I'm glad people want to see it. And I'm glad to watch it go up, and I'll be glad when it is done -- whenever that is.
I think the sentence you quoted wasn't the most clear, the line prior to it made my intent more clear.
"Maybe she should stop trying to reinvent the wheel, or at the very least come up with new, sensible solutions to problems, instead of convoluted ones."
From my view, this isn't some ground breaking innovation that is leading to something functional, this is doing things the hard way for the sake of doing things the hard way.
If Zaha wants to be a sculptor, that is fine, but I don't consider this stuff to be a meaningful contribution to the building trade. This isn't exactly Werner Sobek or Buckminster Fuller presenting new ways to construct things that are faster or more efficient, this is just a bunch of a twisted steel elements forced into a specific, very complex form that is proving to be very difficult to cover and skin over with a tensioned fabric. It appears she does not have a strong grasp of tensioned fabrics, synclastic and anticlastic forms, and tension fields in general. That stuff isn't even actual innovation, it is old knowledge for people who bother to learn it.
I'm interested in innovations that are more efficient, have a lesser carbon footprint, etc or at at least have a reasonable prospect of producing these types of results. Sure, someone might produce a new concrete mix, hoping for better performance than traditional mixes, and it might not work out. I won't fault them for the attempt. But if they fumble around attempting to do things that have already been done or have been shown to be inefficient or ineffective, I'm not going to be wowed by the pretty colors or funky form. In this case, this work hasn't just been shown to work one way in construction practice, it actually has a substantial mathematical basis.
You are right, it is something of an argument against aesthetic form, or at least placing aesthetic form at the forefront of design considerations.
Maybe it is just a label, but I don't really see this type of work as that of a builder, I see it as sculpture. And like I said before, since she gets ALL the praise when things go well, she's the first person I look at to take the blame and responsibility when things don't go so smoothly.
Also, for what is worth, I am not aware of all the sources of funding and selection processes that the pavilions have gone through, but they are being built in a public park. I believe this gives me all the right I need to critique their designs and hold them accountable to schedules. You are right, some people might enjoy the "in process" behind-the-scenes look, but others are just as likely to want to see them completed, on time.
i don't know who you are quoting mantaray, but you make an interesting point, especially in the context of chicago. in a sense, whether it be intended or not, we can celebrate zaha's pavilion as a piece of architecture even before it is finished. this is, in my mind, quite an epiphany in the environment we are considering here. most architects in chicago don't have a clue as to how to physically make anything, the idea that a pavilion could be a piece of architecture in it's process in as much as it's final result is interesting, at least here. i like that the tent which is sheltering the construction has windows in it; this is a pavilion which perhaps would need to be visited a multitude of times to be understood.
I understand what you guys are saying, I just feel like it is a very archo/engineer specific vantage point. It is like buying a car and then being excited that isn't completed on time because you are a gear head and like to watch the workers complete it. I like seeing this stuff in process too, but I don't really buy that is the view shared by the public at large, not everyone is a builder and an architectural theorist... you know?
well...true...i was just trying to think of a silver lining. but we all know if it hasn't been made before, there's really no way of predicting how long it will take to build something. look at how many times boeing has broken its timeline for the dreamliner. almost every interesting project i've ever worked on has taken longer than we thought possible, no matter how many times we quadrupled how long it should take in our estimates.
AIA Connecticut is promoting an interesting idea on it’s website for unemployed Architects and design professionals. They set up workstations with all the latest software for people to use to keep their skills up to date. You just reserve some time in 2 hour segments and show up and work on Revit, cad or 3d renderings. I wonder why AIA Chicago has not done this yet I think it would be very useful.
Ditto on the whole circulation thing, it's a bit confusing. The most confusing element in the whole building for me was when I tried to go up to the Terzo Piano restaurant in the end of the visit and found out that the escalatros go only down, and you have to take an elevator to get up to the last floor. The stairs are well hidden from view and lead out onto an open terrace, suggesting that they are meant to be used predominantly for evacuation, and not so much for daily circulation.
The so-called main stair in the hall does not feel like "main", but rather seems as an afterthought tucked in to the side of the space. And it's pretty narrow, too, for the amount of people who were there. Again, once the number of visitors stabilzes, myabe it will be fine.
Those were precisely the two bad circulation experiences I first noticed as well. Also, the architecture / design area is a dead-end, which would be fine except that everyone has to get in and out of it at the end of a long pathway that terminates in a cafe space just outside the design area entry -- and this is the same cafe space that offers a view up the length of the main hall, so that each time I've been there, there's been an awkward congregation of people trying to simulataneously use the space for drinks, views, and navigation. Bad! Plus, the "main stair" (which isn't that main, as dynamo points out) gives two-way access to ALL the modern art spaces (which are dead-ends), so it's by FAR going to be the most important stair / hallway in the building--and yet the stair terminates in a way undersized landing (as I recall) that creates major bottleneck with people trying to get into and out of the modern art spaces at the same time.
It's weird, because everything else in the design is just gorgeous and so well thought out!
An Alserman is proposing to tear down the Western Avenue overpass and return western to grade level. What do you think? Personally I think traffic will not be improved but the streetscape will be much more pleasent. I live near there and its kind of dreary in the winter with all the grey concrete and slush. They did a similar project tearing down the Archer overpass at Ashland in Bridgeport and it seemed to work fine. The only thing I'll miss is the views from atop the crown.
is that talking about the bombay-style flyover that exists there? as far as aesthetics goes, i don't mind the thing. the different layers that exist with the el, lower wacker, other bridges to me are just part of being in the city. i have always enjoyed skipping over that intersection and wish the city had more of them. i don't care at all about land values. although, if it costs a lot of money, it might make sense to just tear it down.
interesting... id imagine it would be pretty good for the neighborhood, and bad for those of us who appreciate skipping a busy intersection... although the grade level intersection below that flyover is crazy confusing/dangerous if your not used to driving it...
it would undoubtedly improve the aesthetic of the surrounding 'hood... probably make it safer too...
id say its a win win all around, its not like that area is in dire need of a property value boost but i dont see how it would do any harm there...
as for the flyover they tore down in bridgeport... there isnt really anything over there anyway... its on an edge of a strip mall parking lot... perhaps those last few buildings before the river have easier pedestrian access now. seems like a much more centrally located overpass like the one on western would have a much bigger impact than the one on ashland
I think it will take a while as the traffic models need to be recalculated. The overpass is designed to take traffic congestion and conflicts away from the 5 point intersection there with out it traffic could become backed up due to the 5 point intersection with Clybourn, Western, and Belmont Avenues. I believe the overpass does not affect street grade since the whole area slopes down a bit towards the Chicago River 1.5 blocks to the west. Belmont and Western appear to slope down due to the ramps leading up to the Chicago River bridges. I agree that it is ugly piece of highway infrastructure but removing it might cause more harm than good especially if they put a cul-de-sac on Clybourn Avenue. Streets should connect through to other streets in a city and with all the redevelopment potential along the northern half mile of Clybourn it could be detrimental to disconnect Clybourn from the already thriving (Gentrified) section of Belmont where recent redevelopment is only three blocks away to the east or just across the river to the west. If anything teardown the stupid court house with its acres of surface parking that occupy almost the entire block on the northwest corner. That poorly designed building in a sea of parking is probably what is depressing the property values more so than any overpass; it is not a good urban neighbor it belongs out in the suburbs in an office park. The overpass is not the scary part of walking through this place the court house is, since it is empty and kind of dark at night.
As for Schulter's proposal to demolish a valuable piece of traffic infrastructure...
The area around the overpass is industrial/mercantile and has been that way forever. The overpass keeps traffic moving in what otherwise would be a crawl.
The Alderman takes campaign money from developers who buy land at manufacturing zoning prices and then the developers hire Alderman Banks's nephew to rezone it and cash in. The land after the rezoning is worth a lot more money.
It is very short sighted to look at the intersection by itself and not consider the greater good. I think the greater good outweighs the interest of a few property owners looking to turn straw into gold with the help of the Alderman.
huh, well its a waste land around that intersection... what is there right now is of absolutely no good to the development of the neighborhood...
those developers, whatever prices they pay, will probably put something of more use and of more consequence to the local tax base than some million dollar drain of an over pass... who cares... build a mcdonals, cvs and a subway... its better than that overpass
These guys want to built residential in manufacturing. That's how you get rich. You pay 50% on the dollar for what the land would cost if it were zoned residential originally.
Build strip malls. Why not? Who cares if the viaduct is there?
The largest land owner on that corner is the cook county court house, and it is a bad example of Le corbu style modernism. Tear it down or lease the front portion so as to reconnect the urban fabric with some shops (CVS or Walgreens) of add some residences there. I believe all the land is already designated commercial or mixed use.
On another note I want King Richard to apologize to me for the really crummy job of handling the April 15th blue line derailment last year. Is there anything else the mayor should apologize for?
Aggregate Chicago
I think I read in Arch record that 88,000 people out of the estimated 220,000 architecture design professionals (Interns, architects, supporting staff) in the industry are out of work. That is 40% add that to the 4,000 B Arch and M Arch students entering the workforce this summer and well it looks grim. If you don’t have a LEED AP credential and mad Revit skills you are going to have a hard time and long wait for the first interview. Finding any job that pays over 10 per hour is hard right now. A lot of people are looking to graduate school for their long over due masters or other degree and that is facing problems with the various states having to cut funding to schools thus reducing the number of seats stipends and fellowships at the public schools. But IDP has finally made some reforms and I suggest those out there who have not become associate AIA members do so before the end of July so you can start earning IDP points from continuing education services. My mentor has me going to the “Lunch and Learn” events put on by manufactures or product associations and not only do you get a free lunch but .25 training units per learning unit. So some IDP progress can be made while not at work without unloading a huge amount of cash. If you have funds to dispose of CSI certification could help too. My main frustration is that I am so close to having IDP done with yet I still can’t sit for the exam and essentially become a free agent.
Have most of the layoffs been people who don’t have a license yet? I wonder if some registered architects are kept on the payroll to prevent them from diverting existing clients and or future ones from the established firms. Keep your friends close and your enemy even closer.
As for the Prairie Ave Book store sale I hope it is not a sign of weakness I would be a sad day if the store had to close.
Anyone have any interesting summer projects eating up your free time?
I think the IDP restrictions are geared towards limiting the number of new professionals out there. The entire architecture field is highly over saturated, and it took an insane housing market to even come close to sustaining it (consider how low architecture salaries were, on average, even during the peak of construction). There simply isn't enough work for the number of people in the field, and the result is everyone undercutting and underselling one another, all the way... in a race straight to the bottom. Union, anyone? Lobbyists?
home builder's have better lobbyist than we do
well what's bad for me is i actually quit my job to move here, but that's not one way or the other. i know people who are working day and night on things that are getting built. it sounds like your office is in a kind of predicament, but that isn't the case all across the board esp. with gov't work and healthcare.
there's over 200 firms on the aia website; some i've sent resumes to more than once, some are construction or engineering firms, and a good chunk are just other arch firms around the US and some abroad
bossman, i appreciate your predicament but I know not one firm where anyone is pulling overtime. plus most are working at cut hours and going home after those. I don't know one single busy-busy office -- I know a few who are doing OKAY, but that's it. I don't think this is mostly a matter of using the economy as an opportunity to screw employees, i think there's legitimately extremely little work.
well, maybe not all the way around, but i know people who are doing a lot of overtime right now. maybe they are just screwing themselves. i don't know.
Need to see some classic here.
like Inland Steel building....
or the Lake Shore Drive Apt....
i guess it depends on the office type... im doing a lot of overtime... as much if not more than before the recession... and i have several friends doing the same. i think there definitely are offices with less work who have cut staff, cut salaries, and are asking those that remain to fill in the gaps till things 'pick up'
It will be interesting once the last tower cranes on the skyline disappear... That's never a welcome site for an architect. For now we've still got SCB's tower on Wabash, the Museum Park tower on Roosevelt, the Valerio Dewalt Train tower by the Mart, and that Goettsch tower on Wacker. Once those cranes disappear I have a feeling it will be a while before we see them again. Once upside is that the housing market has a better chance to recover without a bunch of new inventory getting coming on line, I suppose.
I heard that the art institute has laid off some 24 people. The report on WBEZ said had it not been for the new Modern Wing there would have been more layoffs. Architecture to the rescue I suppose. Has anyone been to it and what do you think of it?
Yeah those towers won't be going much longer, we are almost topped out at Museum Park west.
has anyone seen the UNStudio Burnham Pavilion yet?? It looks pretty great, i think im going to check it out after work today...
how do the cops get their segways up on the plinth?
Those pictures are fantastic. Unfortunately I was less impressed in person, which was a bummer since I've enjoyed the lectures on the pavilions' gestations. Perhaps my expectations were too high. They are nice.
The new Modern Wing actually surpassed my expectations and pretty much blew me away. Not by being avant-garde or anything--just by being very, very, very well done, down to the last detail, and just... excellent. The only thing I found frustrating was the circulation pathways which to my mind were poorly laid out, leading to a lot of bizarre bottlenecks and moments where you were SURE you should be able to just go from point A to point B but then you realized (after poking into some dead-ends) that in fact you had to route through points C, D, and E first. Of course, the museum has always been like that -- circulation has always been its achilles heel -- but I was hoping for the new wing to be a departure from this norm.
I'm pretty hopeful, though, that when the crowds die down to average, this issue will be less obvious.
The building delighted me in so many totally unexpected ways, one of which was the exterior patio between the teaching wing and the main building : this is the single best exterior space I have experienced in this city. It is FANTASTIC. If I worked nearby I would get a membership just to stop by and eat my sandwich there everyday. It will be so, so fun to watch the seasons change there. On the day I went I found it to be 100% protected from the winds. Ahhhh... it's beautiful.
vado -- even though I know you're being facetious -- there's a wheelchair ramp designed into it, which I actually thought was nicely integrated and enhanced the beauty of the piece.
Ugh -- imagine segway skid marks all over this thing!
On the subject of frustrating circulation -- who else here thinks "why didn't they just put a DOWN ESCALATOR in here next to the up one -- they have plenty of room and it wouldn't have hurt the spatial dynamics at all!" every single time they go to the Mart via CTA??? Drives me CRAZY!
agreed about the pavilion; it has its moments but is kind of a one-liner in person. when i was there they were working on the zaha one; i thought they were taking it down but i hear it hasn't been finished yet. too bad seeing as the official opening and the accompanying music festival already happened.
Seriously, they should tell Zaha's group to just pack it in and forget it, and obviously not pay them.
They addressed this at the lecture... it is running one-month late; as her project manager said, this is what you get when you work with new, never-before-been-tried construction approaches. I believe they had some material delays but are pushing forward.
It will be a month behind if it is done by late next week, which isn't going to happen. Blair Kamin recently reported that the opening was pushed back to August 1st, making it a full month and half behind schedule (if they finish it by then, which is still up in the air, since they recently switched contractors). The month and half delay is a full 1/3 of the intended four and a half month time it is supposed to be open, and it is the most prime, summer period.
Maybe she should stop trying to reinvent the wheel, or at the very least come up with new, sensible solutions to problems, instead of convoluted ones. What is the value in inventing new, never-been-tried construction approaches when they are slower and more difficult than traditional methods?
to be fair.. you might want to point some blame at Thomas Roszak Architecture, LLC, who is the architect of record.. and.. apart from the concept/design, is really responsible for making sure things happen.
Right. then lets make sure we all celebrate Roszak's acheivement when this is all said and done. I'm sure his name will be all over the opening ceremony, publications and speaking tour which are sure to follow.
It is silly to give Zaha so much credit for the succesful project she is involved with and then let her off the hook when she has a total failing.
to be fair to zaha though, chicago for the most part is NOT a bastion of architectural experimentation, especially on the small scale of that pavilion. what i like about both pavilions is that they are small, experimental projects that would never happen if they were taken up by local architects. zaha gets props in that department as far as i'm concerned.
vado,
there's a ramp for the segways. there are also signs taped all over the pavilion which read "do not climb"
What starchatects should Chicago commission next?
I think we should start with the older ones and work our way towards the younger ones. The pavilions and a few select private projects are like a sculpture gallery but instead of a sculpture we as a city are collecting buildings of some sort.
Is I M Pei Still around we can have him design the Blues hall of fame and place it out on the peninsula with the Adler planetarium sort of an architectural franchise with museums about music suspended over the great lakes. Tadao Ando could design the redline stations when we get around to upgrading them. Commissioning internationally recognized architects may be one way Chicago can build its way onto the international seen yet we manage to allow Sullivan and Wright buildings deteriorate or worse get demolished.
Tadao Ando designed a private residence in Lincoln Park.
@Synergy,
Its not letting Zaha completely of the hook. I only mentioned that some "blame" might be directed at the local office made responsible for making the project happen. Not sure how that is so hard to stomach for you. Hadid's office didnt choose Roszak, IIT decided on who it would be.
Zaha gets the credit for the design, because she designed it. But Roszak did all the CDs and organization of contractors and managed the construction of it, which is what you and other seem to find fault in. So, perhaps you should blame the appropriate party.
But i guess that isnt as fun as hating on Zaha for you.
bigbear,
I'm taking fault in the idea that the "designer" gets all the credit and none of the blame. If she didn't draw up an unbuildable piece of garbage, we wouldn't have this problem.
If you want to let Zaha off the hook, fine, but in the future, don't tell me about her buildings without first going into extensive detail about the architect of record, structural engineer, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, civil engineer, and various contractors that actually made it happen. If you want to dump the blame on all of these people, you should be willing give them credit for the many projects they are involved in that do succeed.
As for Zaha's actual "design" It seems like another arbitrary, blobby mess, consistent with most of her catalog of work.
Are you kidding? Were those "traditional methods" not once never-been-tried construction, too? Are you seriously arguing for a world without experimentation? Where would we be?! Oh, that's right, living in a small window of inhabitable earth, in caves, with no ability to modulate climate, and a very limited palate of foods. (Who was it that said something about how courageous was the first man to eat a mollusk?) To say nothing of the man who first built a cantilever; the man who first tried using pre-cast cement (bet that was a failure before they figured out the right way to create expansion joints!), etc. etc. etc. You are a structural engineer, correct? Are you that satisfied with "traditional methods"? Do you think we can go no further than we've already gone?
Anyway, this is asinine. Experimentation is valuable for experimentation's sake. If you want to debate the design's value in other categories, fine; I personally will reserve judgment until it's finished. In any case, consider this: of all buildings to be delayed, a function-less, purely formal "pavilion" experiment is the best possible building type to endure experimentation in form and delay in construction. Delays hold up exactly zero function in this scheme. In fact, you actually get a chance to enjoy watching it get built, which to me is very valuable -- I went down and took a bunch of pictures of the frame, which I would probably not have had a chance to see otherwise. WHO CARES if this is delayed? Who does it hurt? Is it less of a "pavilion" if it isn't "finished"? What does "finished" even mean, when the entire point of this object is to provide an interactive vehicle for the public to engage with, in whatever manner they choose? What better vehicle -- what better time, place, and typology for that? Does a delay hinder this pavilion from achieving its purpose? No.
Just enjoy it. Who are you to sneer at something new and fascinating getting created before our very eyes? I'm glad someone's putting money into interesting projects in our city. I'm glad people are coming from all over the world to do work here. I'm glad people want to see it. And I'm glad to watch it go up, and I'll be glad when it is done -- whenever that is.
I think the sentence you quoted wasn't the most clear, the line prior to it made my intent more clear.
"Maybe she should stop trying to reinvent the wheel, or at the very least come up with new, sensible solutions to problems, instead of convoluted ones."
From my view, this isn't some ground breaking innovation that is leading to something functional, this is doing things the hard way for the sake of doing things the hard way.
If Zaha wants to be a sculptor, that is fine, but I don't consider this stuff to be a meaningful contribution to the building trade. This isn't exactly Werner Sobek or Buckminster Fuller presenting new ways to construct things that are faster or more efficient, this is just a bunch of a twisted steel elements forced into a specific, very complex form that is proving to be very difficult to cover and skin over with a tensioned fabric. It appears she does not have a strong grasp of tensioned fabrics, synclastic and anticlastic forms, and tension fields in general. That stuff isn't even actual innovation, it is old knowledge for people who bother to learn it.
I'm interested in innovations that are more efficient, have a lesser carbon footprint, etc or at at least have a reasonable prospect of producing these types of results. Sure, someone might produce a new concrete mix, hoping for better performance than traditional mixes, and it might not work out. I won't fault them for the attempt. But if they fumble around attempting to do things that have already been done or have been shown to be inefficient or ineffective, I'm not going to be wowed by the pretty colors or funky form. In this case, this work hasn't just been shown to work one way in construction practice, it actually has a substantial mathematical basis.
You are right, it is something of an argument against aesthetic form, or at least placing aesthetic form at the forefront of design considerations.
Maybe it is just a label, but I don't really see this type of work as that of a builder, I see it as sculpture. And like I said before, since she gets ALL the praise when things go well, she's the first person I look at to take the blame and responsibility when things don't go so smoothly.
Also, for what is worth, I am not aware of all the sources of funding and selection processes that the pavilions have gone through, but they are being built in a public park. I believe this gives me all the right I need to critique their designs and hold them accountable to schedules. You are right, some people might enjoy the "in process" behind-the-scenes look, but others are just as likely to want to see them completed, on time.
i don't know who you are quoting mantaray, but you make an interesting point, especially in the context of chicago. in a sense, whether it be intended or not, we can celebrate zaha's pavilion as a piece of architecture even before it is finished. this is, in my mind, quite an epiphany in the environment we are considering here. most architects in chicago don't have a clue as to how to physically make anything, the idea that a pavilion could be a piece of architecture in it's process in as much as it's final result is interesting, at least here. i like that the tent which is sheltering the construction has windows in it; this is a pavilion which perhaps would need to be visited a multitude of times to be understood.
I understand what you guys are saying, I just feel like it is a very archo/engineer specific vantage point. It is like buying a car and then being excited that isn't completed on time because you are a gear head and like to watch the workers complete it. I like seeing this stuff in process too, but I don't really buy that is the view shared by the public at large, not everyone is a builder and an architectural theorist... you know?
well...true...i was just trying to think of a silver lining. but we all know if it hasn't been made before, there's really no way of predicting how long it will take to build something. look at how many times boeing has broken its timeline for the dreamliner. almost every interesting project i've ever worked on has taken longer than we thought possible, no matter how many times we quadrupled how long it should take in our estimates.
So, a few weeks ago i lost my wallet outside my girlfriends apartment in UK village...
I was pretty upset... looked everywhere, and finally gave up... thinking it was gone forever.
But wait, what should arrive in the mail today???
my wallet...
no return address, no note, no nothing.
Not a single thing missing
not a single thing charged to my card
hell, they even left my CTA pass...
Thank you stranger, whoever you are.
and thank you chicago
AIA Connecticut is promoting an interesting idea on it’s website for unemployed Architects and design professionals. They set up workstations with all the latest software for people to use to keep their skills up to date. You just reserve some time in 2 hour segments and show up and work on Revit, cad or 3d renderings. I wonder why AIA Chicago has not done this yet I think it would be very useful.
http://www.aiact.org/classifieds/employment.php
Going back to the Modern Wing discussion..
Ditto on the whole circulation thing, it's a bit confusing. The most confusing element in the whole building for me was when I tried to go up to the Terzo Piano restaurant in the end of the visit and found out that the escalatros go only down, and you have to take an elevator to get up to the last floor. The stairs are well hidden from view and lead out onto an open terrace, suggesting that they are meant to be used predominantly for evacuation, and not so much for daily circulation.
The so-called main stair in the hall does not feel like "main", but rather seems as an afterthought tucked in to the side of the space. And it's pretty narrow, too, for the amount of people who were there. Again, once the number of visitors stabilzes, myabe it will be fine.
Other then that, it's a nice, clean design.
Those were precisely the two bad circulation experiences I first noticed as well. Also, the architecture / design area is a dead-end, which would be fine except that everyone has to get in and out of it at the end of a long pathway that terminates in a cafe space just outside the design area entry -- and this is the same cafe space that offers a view up the length of the main hall, so that each time I've been there, there's been an awkward congregation of people trying to simulataneously use the space for drinks, views, and navigation. Bad! Plus, the "main stair" (which isn't that main, as dynamo points out) gives two-way access to ALL the modern art spaces (which are dead-ends), so it's by FAR going to be the most important stair / hallway in the building--and yet the stair terminates in a way undersized landing (as I recall) that creates major bottleneck with people trying to get into and out of the modern art spaces at the same time.
It's weird, because everything else in the design is just gorgeous and so well thought out!
[url=http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/07/bid-to-raze-western-ave-overpass-takes-shape.html
]Chicago Tribune[/url]
An Alserman is proposing to tear down the Western Avenue overpass and return western to grade level. What do you think? Personally I think traffic will not be improved but the streetscape will be much more pleasent. I live near there and its kind of dreary in the winter with all the grey concrete and slush. They did a similar project tearing down the Archer overpass at Ashland in Bridgeport and it seemed to work fine. The only thing I'll miss is the views from atop the crown.
Correction: Alderman and link:
link
is that talking about the bombay-style flyover that exists there? as far as aesthetics goes, i don't mind the thing. the different layers that exist with the el, lower wacker, other bridges to me are just part of being in the city. i have always enjoyed skipping over that intersection and wish the city had more of them. i don't care at all about land values. although, if it costs a lot of money, it might make sense to just tear it down.
interesting... id imagine it would be pretty good for the neighborhood, and bad for those of us who appreciate skipping a busy intersection... although the grade level intersection below that flyover is crazy confusing/dangerous if your not used to driving it...
it would undoubtedly improve the aesthetic of the surrounding 'hood... probably make it safer too...
id say its a win win all around, its not like that area is in dire need of a property value boost but i dont see how it would do any harm there...
as for the flyover they tore down in bridgeport... there isnt really anything over there anyway... its on an edge of a strip mall parking lot... perhaps those last few buildings before the river have easier pedestrian access now. seems like a much more centrally located overpass like the one on western would have a much bigger impact than the one on ashland
I think it will take a while as the traffic models need to be recalculated. The overpass is designed to take traffic congestion and conflicts away from the 5 point intersection there with out it traffic could become backed up due to the 5 point intersection with Clybourn, Western, and Belmont Avenues. I believe the overpass does not affect street grade since the whole area slopes down a bit towards the Chicago River 1.5 blocks to the west. Belmont and Western appear to slope down due to the ramps leading up to the Chicago River bridges. I agree that it is ugly piece of highway infrastructure but removing it might cause more harm than good especially if they put a cul-de-sac on Clybourn Avenue. Streets should connect through to other streets in a city and with all the redevelopment potential along the northern half mile of Clybourn it could be detrimental to disconnect Clybourn from the already thriving (Gentrified) section of Belmont where recent redevelopment is only three blocks away to the east or just across the river to the west. If anything teardown the stupid court house with its acres of surface parking that occupy almost the entire block on the northwest corner. That poorly designed building in a sea of parking is probably what is depressing the property values more so than any overpass; it is not a good urban neighbor it belongs out in the suburbs in an office park. The overpass is not the scary part of walking through this place the court house is, since it is empty and kind of dark at night.
I enjoyed this article in the latest Metropolis.
For anyone interested, there is also a good piece on the two new Baseball stadiums in New York.
Off-the-Shelf-Genius
As for Schulter's proposal to demolish a valuable piece of traffic infrastructure...
The area around the overpass is industrial/mercantile and has been that way forever. The overpass keeps traffic moving in what otherwise would be a crawl.
The Alderman takes campaign money from developers who buy land at manufacturing zoning prices and then the developers hire Alderman Banks's nephew to rezone it and cash in. The land after the rezoning is worth a lot more money.
It is very short sighted to look at the intersection by itself and not consider the greater good. I think the greater good outweighs the interest of a few property owners looking to turn straw into gold with the help of the Alderman.
huh, well its a waste land around that intersection... what is there right now is of absolutely no good to the development of the neighborhood...
those developers, whatever prices they pay, will probably put something of more use and of more consequence to the local tax base than some million dollar drain of an over pass... who cares... build a mcdonals, cvs and a subway... its better than that overpass
Letdown,
These guys want to built residential in manufacturing. That's how you get rich. You pay 50% on the dollar for what the land would cost if it were zoned residential originally.
Build strip malls. Why not? Who cares if the viaduct is there?
The viaduct is needed to keep Western Ave moving.
The largest land owner on that corner is the cook county court house, and it is a bad example of Le corbu style modernism. Tear it down or lease the front portion so as to reconnect the urban fabric with some shops (CVS or Walgreens) of add some residences there. I believe all the land is already designated commercial or mixed use.
On another note I want King Richard to apologize to me for the really crummy job of handling the April 15th blue line derailment last year. Is there anything else the mayor should apologize for?
A Friend of mine saw a bumper sticker in Wicker Park that read “Save Chicago Vote Republican”
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.