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. — bustler.net

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. — architectmagazine.com

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.

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. — nextcity.org

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. — chicagotribune.com

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. — articles.chicagotribune.com

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".

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. — wbez.org

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. — bustler.net

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. — articles.chicagotribune.com

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. — blogs.suntimes.com

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. — NYT

... 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." — wbez.org

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. — vanityfair.com