Looks like U of C is joining with U of I to make Illinois the buried library capital of the world!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon-uofc-hospital-jun09,0,6443523.story

U. of C. OKs hospital pavilion plan
Flexible design uses modular cubes that can be reconfigured

By Bruce Japsen
June 9, 2008

The University of Chicago Medical Center, preparing to embark on a $700 million expansion, has settled on a final design for a new hospital pavilion that will use a modular design executives say allows for flexibility should future renovations be needed.

The 10-story, 1.2 million-square-foot hospital pavilion will span a two-block area on East 57th Street, just north of the Comer Children's Hospital and the Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine in the Hyde Park neighborhood on the city's South Side.

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/2456/ucpavilionak8.jpg
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/4650/ucpavilion2rc0.jpg

^ Interesting.

Does anybody know what this hospital is replacing? Some old 3 flats, right?

^ Interesting.

Does anybody know what this hospital is replacing? Some old 3 flats, right?

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/6362/hosppavilion2kl1.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/719/43442977yh6.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/3423/31867974ie8.jpg

^ Ahh, mostly vacant lots & parking. Nice trade :)

Public Housing Museum
1322-24 West Taylor Street
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/5840/phmuseum1il6.jpg
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/7022/phmuseum2bj4.jpg
http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/5430/phmuseum3uw2.jpg

http://news.uchicago.edu/news.php?asset_id=1390

University of Chicago selects HOK as architect for new science tower
June 10, 2008

The University Board of Trustees has approved HOK as architect for the proposed Center for Physical and Computational Sciences. HOK, a firm with 26 regional offices worldwide, including one in Chicago, has completed several major science and technology projects in recent years.

The estimated $375 million center will encompass half a million square feet of new and renovated space on the west side of Ellis Avenue between 56th and 57th streets. The scientists who will move into the center currently work in multiple buildings that are either poorly connected or scattered across campus.

..."Construction is scheduled to begin in fall 2010, with completion in spring 2013.

...The Research Institutes building, slated for thorough renovation, represents a proud scientific tradition that dates back to Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi, Fefferman said. Fermi worked in the Research Institutes after he oversaw construction of the first nuclear reactor across the street during World War II.

...HOK's challenge will be to design an interior that meets the needs of the scientists, while presenting an engaging exterior. The project will entail razing the Accelerator Building, the High Energy Physics Building, the Astronomy and Astrophysics Center and the Low Temperature Laboratory.
The demolition will make way both for the new building and for new green space between the higher-density medical buildings to the west and the lower-density core of the campus to the east. "By virtue of its location, it will help define a new quadrangle that will bring together all of the sciences," Wiesenthal said.

The new center, standing eight stories high, will be important for other reasons as well. It will be a highly visible structure to visitors entering campus from the north, and it will sit across the street from the proposed Joe and Rika Mansueto Library, designed by architect Helmut Jahn.

Public Housing Museum
1322-24 West Taylor Street


One can only ponder the exhibit possibilities...

Between this new science complex, the new arts complex (which I love), and the hospital, UC is in for billions of dollars in new construction in the next 5 years.

Inside the Art Institute's new Modern Wing with the building's architect, Renzo Piano
An exclusive look inside the Art Institute's new wing with the building's architect, Renzo Piano

By Blair Kamin Tribune critic
June 15, 2008

Here's a prediction about the Art Institute of Chicago's modern and contemporary art wing that opens next May: The third-floor galleries, which overlook Millennium Park, will be hailed by critics and the public as some of the most beautiful rooms in Chicago.

For now, the galleries house blue foam mock-ups of "The White Negress" and other Constantin Brancusi sculptures in the museum's renowned collection. Looking through thin, tall windows, the visitor is rewarded with deftly framed views of the silvery petals of Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion, swaths of green and purple in the Lurie Garden, along with the white-striped Aon Center and other skyscrapers.

"This could only be in Chicago," said the building's Pritzker Prize-winning Italian architect, Renzo Piano, during a recent tour, as if to counter detractors who claim that his ubiquitous museums verge on the formulaic.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/arts/chi-art-institute-0615jun15,0,2142268.story

Highly anticipated Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago by Renzo Piano to open to the public next May

July 17, 2008

The Art Institute of Chicago is pleased to announce that the Modern Wing, designed by Renzo Piano, will open to the public on Saturday, May 16, 2009. The Nichols Bridgeway, a pedestrian bridge designed by Renzo Piano that connects the Modern Wing to Millennium Park, will open the same day. In celebration of the opening of the largest addition in the Art Institute's history, admission to the entire museum will be free through Friday, May 22, 2009. Opening Day will be preceded by a week of special activities for school children, staff, members, and donors.

"The opening of the Modern Wing is an historic moment for the Art Institute of Chicago--the culmination of a decade of work and dedication by everyone at the museum," said Tom Pritzker, Chairman of the Board of Trustees. "It also represents an historic moment for the city. The building will showcase as never before the breadth and depth of the Art Institute's collections of modern and contemporary art, which have not previously been seen to their fullest advantage due to limited gallery space in the existing museum buildings. The Modern Wing signals to the world the cultural calibre of the city of Chicago and reaffirms its place as a leading cultural destination."

http://www.canadianarchitect.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=87196&issue=07172008

Art Institute 7 Sept

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y150/wjcordier/2008-09-07pm23.jpg

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-080912new-ferris-wheel,0,6418099.story

Giant Ferris wheel for Navy Pier?
By Kathy Bergen | Tribune staff reporter
8:29 PM CDT, September 12, 2008

Gargantuan Ferris wheels are the new status symbol for big cities vying to grab more attention on the world stage, so Chicago is going for an upgrade at Navy Pier, planning to build one at least twice the size of the existing wheel there.

A new, privately developed Ferris wheel, Navy Pier officials hope, would rise at least 300 feet into the air and attract the sorts of tourist hordes who plunk down big bucks to ride other monster wheels worldwide, including the enormous London Eye on the bank of the Thames.

Other cities such as Singapore and Beijing either have huge Ferris wheels or are planning them, and even Baghdad is dreaming of a giant wheel in the sky.

For Chicago, the Ferris wheel not only would be an extraordinary addition to the skyline, but a highly symbolic endeavor as well, because the attraction was invented in the early 1890s to be the star of the world's fair here.

.........The authority, also known as McPier, on Monday will advertise for companies "to design, build, own and operate" a giant wheel, according to the bid document. "The design of the new wheel must be worthy to inherit the traditions of the original Ferris wheel built by George Washington Ferris."

"We're basically looking for the wheel to be self-financed, so taxpayer money will not be involved," Tetzlaff said. The idea is for the developer to construct the wheel, and to share a portion of its revenue with the pier. Officials declined to speculate on the cost of such a project.

Bidders also are asked to "use their ingenuity" as to where the wheel should be located on the pier.

.......Chicago is not going for "tallest" title, but rather is seeking innovative design, said Tetzlaff, adding he hopes the winning bidder would work with local architects and engineers.............
..

^^ That would be pretty cool, I would first have to see the designs but it sounds intriguing. Another thing that would be cool, and I don't know if it would be possible or even worth it but what if they made it into a giant "green" Ferris wheel, with solar power or wind powering it up.

Just my 2 cents.

posted this in the Bucktown thread as well but its one of those hybrid probjects.....

http://www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/1174584,CST-NWS-park20.article

Full steam ahead on park
BLOOMINGDALE TRAIL |
City seeks designs to turn old rail route into a bike-and-people-friendly green space

September 20, 2008

BY MARY WISNIEWSKI Transportation Reporter mwisniewski@suntimes.com
The old railroad right-of-way that runs east and west along Bloomingdale Avenue on the Northwest Side could become a "linear park" for bicyclists and pedestrians once the city puts together the design and the funding.

The city plans to seek proposals from engineers and architects by the end of the year to examine building a 2.7-mile "Bloomingdale Trail" along unused Canadian Pacific tracks from Ridgeway on the west to the Chicago River on the east.

Andrew Vesselinovitch, director of the urban parks program for the Trust for Public Land, said the Bloomingdale Trail would provide a crucial east-west link for bicyclists and pedestrians. Many of the city's bike paths run north and south.

The preliminary plans include new parks along the trail, including one in a weedy, unused concrete parking lot at Milwaukee and Bloomingdale. Other parks are planned at Albany, Damen, Marshfield and Kimball.

Eight access points would allow visitors to get on and off the elevated trail, which would pass through the neighborhoods of Logan Square and Bucktown.......

More in link :)

Nation's first, only public housing museum coming to Taylor Street (http://www.nearwestgazette.com/Archive/2008/1008/News1008A.htm)

By Sheila Elliott

The kaleidoscopic image of American public housing will enter a new era as an important part of national history with the advancement of plans for a National Public Housing Museum, which will be located on the Near West Side.

In 2006, the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA’s) Central Advisory Council, the residents’ leadership group, gave the plan its support. On Aug. 13, CHA commissioners agreed to allow museum advocates to renovate a vacant, 70-year-old, three-story housing unit—a fragment of the once sizeable ABLA (Abbott-Brooks-Loomis-Addams) Homes—and turn it into a facility to document, explore, and interpret public housing’s role American life.

http://www.nearwestgazette.com/Archive/2008/1008/News1025.jpg

The CHA agreed to turn over the property in 2011 if the museum organizers meet specific criteria, said CHA spokesperson Matthew Aguilar. They must raise $3.2 million by May 2009, another $1.5 million by December 2010, and the rest by December 2011.

“It’s more than a museum,” said Sunny Fischer, executive director of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the proposed museum’s primary backer. There is “tremendous opportunity for interpretation” and to explain this aspect of the American experience, she said.

Rather than a deterrent to creating the museum, presenting the complexities arising from the American public housing experience is the rationale for creating the museum in the first place. Public housing is "a part of the American way of life that may need better explanation and understanding," she said.

Fischer is herself a product of New York City’s public housing projects.

With the site secured, the foundation can move ahead with other tasks in the development process, including fundraising. Fisher said a $17 million campaign is underway; museum organizers envision a phased opening starting in 2012.

U.S. Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Congressman Danny K. Davis (D-7th) hope to obtain $5 million in federal funding.

Local, State, Federal input

Architects have completed renderings for the museum, and organizers have created a 15- member board of directors, advisory and steering committees, and a project team. In the process, the group is tapping the talents of individuals from the business community, the arts, the Chicago and New York museum communities, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, the State government, the media, universities, religious organizations, social service agencies, and residents and former residents of CHA housing. Deverra Beverly, longtime ABLA tenants' leader, is the founding chair of the museum.

"I am elated because a lot had thought that we couldn't have this museum," Beverly said. "It will keep the good memories alive."

The National Public Housing Museum will be located at 1322-24 W. Taylor St. at Ada Street, with the hulking, three-story remnant of the ABLA Homes as its nucleus. While workers will renovate and restore the former housing project, those changes will not alter the museum’s goal of presenting life as it was lived in the projects throughout the building's long career with the CHA, said Fischer. Officials plan interpretive and educational facilities along with limited retail and perhaps dining options; they also may include space for academic research.

Today, the site makes a powerful visual statement about the Taylor Street community’s changes over the last decade. Construction crews and homeowners go about their day-to-day lives in the new Roosevelt Square residential area to the east. When completed, the museum will join the area's new housing and thriving businesses.

These contrasting images represent the most recent incarnations of a neighborhood that offers a mother lode of Chicago history. Fischer said that, decades ago, social reformer Jane Addams spoke about the area’s need for public housing; when the first units in the project opened in 1938, they bore her name. The project’s association with famous names continued when the builders called on Chicago’s renowned landscape artist, Jens Jensen, to design lawns and parkways and tapped Edgar Miller to create the “Animal Court,” a charming arrangement of animal sculptures that beckoned children living there to play.

Born in the New Deal

The ABLA Homes were born in the spirit of Depression-era President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, with its belief that providing a temporary housing solution for people when their lives were in crisis was far better than permitting them to be homeless. Pictures from the CHA archives from the project’s earliest years, which are included in Fischer’s research, provide glimpses into the lives of residents and reveal an orderly world of pleasant surroundings where smiling children play in a secure environment.

Profound changes in America were afoot, however. As the 1930s and 1940s passed, Chicago began to face significant the demographic shifts, with thousands of people moving from rural areas to the city. The city’s manufacturing base boomed and then began a painful era of contraction. Unemployment, expensive upkeep and funding problems for housing projects, education woes, and racial division all played a part in the post-World War II era, each leaving its imprint on the public housing experience.

By the time the final decades of the 20th century approached, many people viewed public housing as a world permeated by drugs, gangs, violence, and personal frustrations. To others, such as residents and local businesses who relied on residents as their customer base, the housing projects were a vital part of the community.

Far from avoiding negative stereotypes, Fischer sees the museum as an opportunity to meet difficult topics head on, explain them, and invite public discussion. Reconstructed housing units, memorabilia, displays, and personal recollections will provide explanations and insights; museum backers hope they will serve as a forum where challenging truths can be discussed and better understood.

For some people, Fischer admitted, simply the idea of opening a National Public Housing Museum elicits a negative reaction. “That’s exactly why we need the museum," she said. “Housing issues have not gone away." Neither have many of the other social questions that formed part of the public housing experience: single-parent households, unemployment, and poor quality of education, Fischer added.

Balanced picture

"Presenting a balanced picture of these complicated realties is important," Fischer explained, noting that means presenting the happy times but not ignoring the more painful memories, too. For residents, regardless of which public housing development they lived in, the small units, stairwells, balconies, and yards "were ‘home’ and for many still evoke feelings of affection," she said.

The National Public Housing Museum will be a “museum of conscience,” she continued, not unlike the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City, which shows a rough but important part of the American experience.

For more information, contact the Driehaus Foundation at (312) 641-5772. The National Public Housing Museum website is www.publichousingmuseum.org.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chicago-u-of-c-business-school-booth-nov06,0,1746880.story

U of C graduate business school to be renamed after $300M gift

By Greg Burns
5:00 PM CST, November 6, 2008

A financier who made a fortune in the investment business using ideas developed at the University of Chicago has donated $300 million to the graduate business school, which is being renamed in his honor.

It is the largest gift ever to the university, and the largest to any business program in the world.

The donor is 61-year-old David G. Booth, founder and chief executive of Dimensional Fund Advisors, as well as his wife Suzanne and their two children. The school will be called the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, or "Chicago Booth" for short.

^^^ Holy fuck that is truly amazing!!!
Obama/politics, Pres. administration filled with Chicago-related/based politicians, unending exposure as warm-up for Olympic hopes and now this..not a day is going by this week where there isn't some great news for Chicago!

Wow!

^^While I don't really like the name change as the current name carries with it a lot of cachet, "Booth School of Business" is at least more distinct.

About 2 years ago, I heard that the Harris Theater in Millennium Park was considering installing a marquee to improve exposure.

Did this ever happen? Is it still planned? Thanks in advance

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2008/11/art-institute-n.html#more

Art Institute's new Modern Wing strives to resolve conflicts between art and vistas
Blair Kamin

For a fleeting moment Thursday, a hint of tension crept into the voice of James Rondeau, the Art Institute of Chicago’s contemporary art curator. An out-of-town journalist had asked whether the museum would set up benches inside the galleries of its unfinished Modern Wing so people could sit and stare at the knockout view of the Pritzker Pavilion’s metallic shells and the painterly swath of the Lurie Garden in Millennium Park.
http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/8730/artinstitute2td8.jpg
http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/8012/artinstitute1qj7.jpg
http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/4486/artinstitute3cr0.jpg

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2008/11/there-are-alway.html

Dirk Denison designing Modern Wing's restaurant; Spiaggia chef will run restaurant; Ellsworth Kelly shaping work to overlook wing's East Garden
Blair Kamin

--Chicago architect Dirk Denison has designed the Modern Wing's restaurant, now taking shape on the building's third floor...

-- Mantuano will work with the museum's food service provider, Bon Appetit Management Company. The restaurant is set to be open seven days a week for lunch. There may be dinner service on Thursdays and Fridays.

--Artist Ellsworth Kelly has designed 50-foot-long, fan-shaped piece that will be placed on the now-bare north wall of the Art Institute's Columbus Drive addition from 1977. The Kelly piece will be a focal point of what the museum is calling the East Garden, an outdoor space sandwiched between the Columbus Drive addition and the Modern Wing. It is scheduled to be installed in late March.

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2008/11/there-are-alway.html

Dirk Denison designing Modern Wing's restaurant; Spiaggia chef will run restaurant; Ellsworth Kelly shaping work to overlook wing's East Garden
Blair Kamin

--Chicago architect Dirk Denison has designed the Modern Wing's restaurant, now taking shape on the building's third floor...

-- Mantuano will work with the museum's food service provider, Bon Appetit Management Company. The restaurant is set to be open seven days a week for lunch. There may be dinner service on Thursdays and Fridays.

--Artist Ellsworth Kelly has designed 50-foot-long, fan-shaped piece that will be placed on the now-bare north wall of the Art Institute's Columbus Drive addition from 1977. The Kelly piece will be a focal point of what the museum is calling the East Garden, an outdoor space sandwiched between the Columbus Drive addition and the Modern Wing. It is scheduled to be installed in late March.

Dirk Denison is the same architect/designer who did the recently opened L2O at the Belden-Stratford.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=27071502&postcount=441

http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=30848

MBC Building is for Sale
Produced by Susie An on Friday, December 12, 2008

The Museum of Broadcast Communications sits on the corner of State Street and Kinzie, the building only half finished. Unable to secure expected state funding...the museum halted construction in 2006. Museum president Bruce DuMont says economic problems this year forced the museum's board to go a step further and put the building up for sale.

...DuMont says the broadcast museum is in the early stages of finding a broker to handle the deal. He says the board hopes to find a buyer willing to let the museum stay on as a tenant. DuMont says if it doesn't work out, they'll have to relocate or simply exist as an online operation.

Mansueto Library
http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/9205/30956291054c0c47b4abboj8.jpg
University of Chicago Library/ flickr

Sculpture terrace
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/3662/3109195682ee949ca3c0bue7.jpg
charlesgyoung/ flickr
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/2403/310835875502b1f7c679bfc9.jpg
charlesgyoung/ flickr
Garden
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/2225/310836879101deb05e0abpk1.jpg
charlesgyoung/ flickr
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/3310/3109174642df61030810bfd8.jpg
charlesgyoung/ flickr

Groundbreaking (http://cms.colum.edu/demo/2008/11/groundbreaking.php) - a nice article about Columbia's Media Production Center

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/866/a47zh5.jpg
http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/5043/a42hs6.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/3600/a46sq3.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/491/a44ir1.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/4104/a45gw8.jpg

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2008/12/new-link-planned-for-millennium-grant-parks.html

New link planned for Millennium, Grant Parks
December 19, 2008 at 8:12 PM | Comments (1)
The Chicago Park District plans to rebuild the north end of Grant Park to create a more inviting, family-friendly link between Millennium Park and Lake Michigan.

Using $35 million from a lease of city parking garages, the district will transform 25 acres that include Daley Bicentennial Plaza and two smaller areas to the east known as Cancer Survivors Garden and Peanut Park, officials said.

Park advocates hope that once the project is complete, the phrase "bridge to nowhere" is no longer used to describe the BP Bridge, designed by architect Frank Gehry, which snakes from Millennium Park to Daley Bicentennial Plaza.................

The $35 million will cover re-topping the area with landscaping. Additional amenities, like public art or fountains, likely would cost extra, and one way to pay for them might be with naming rights, Mitchell added.

..

How about they spend some money covering the remainder of the train tracks and removing that massive gash in the park?

That thing is a complete embarassement. If Chicago gets the 2016 Games, it better be addressed.

^^ There are plans for that as well and there was a Grant Park meeting about it last week in fact (not so much in the way of specific plans). That said I feel that the IC tracks getting covered should be a higher priority from an aesthetic. I guess the city finds that the revenue generating Monroe street garage's membrane is of higher priority.

Michigan Avenue bridge set to reclaim some of its ancient luster
Handrails, sidewalks will be restored over next six months, officials say

By James Janega | Tribune reporter
December 27, 2008

Beginning in January, the city will restore decorative handrails on the Michigan Avenue bridge to a design reminiscent of their original 1920s Beaux Arts pattern while also replacing sidewalks on the bridge with non-skid fiberglass decking.

The project will restore a stroke of beauty to one of the city's most iconic tourist and pedestrian landmarks and address one of Chicago's iciest river crossings. But it also promises to snarl pedestrian traffic for up to six months as first one side of the bridge and then the other is closed in the $3.5 million face-lift.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-michigan-avenue-bridgedec27,0,5646846.story

http://www.ward42chicago.com/in_the_news.html

Development Project Update: Poetry Foundation at Superior and Dearborn Streets
December 5, 2008

The Poetry Foundation will be constructing their new headquarters at 720 North Dearborn Street, at the southeast corner of Superior and Dearborn. While some details are still being finalized, the overall design calls for construction of a 21,000-square-foot, two-story building, with the first floor featuring galleries, a reading room and poetry library to be open for public use, and the second floor containing office space for the Foundation. The design also calls for an open garden to be located at the building's entrance, and the installation of a green roof.

The existing building at this site is currently being demolished. New construction is anticipated to begin in the spring of 2009, with the building to be opened for use in the spring of 2010. This initiative is privately funded by the Poetry Foundation, a not-for-profit independent literary organization.

^ zzzzzz.....eh?

^Yeah, I was expecting more than 2 floors. Still, it is going to be designed by Ronan and it will have public spaces and create a home for the magazine and foundation (tourism possibilities?). And they didn't demolish the rest of the buildings on Dearborn, which are quite nice.

A building dedicated to poetry is going forward (seemingly) without funding issues, yet the broadcaster's museum sits as a half-finished barren shell. Who woulda thought...

Well, that Eli Lilly heiress did give them hundreds of millions of dollars a few years ago. I'm guessing that's the difference.

Well, that Eli Lilly heiress did give them hundreds of millions of dollars a few years ago. I'm guessing that's the difference.

The good thing about the Poetry Foundation is that they are making sure that a lot of the money goes into their founding goal: which is to foster and support poetry, poets, and poetry-writing here and elsewhere in the US and the world.

They have been very careful not to spend the huge Eli Lilly endowment on anything else. They should be commended for this.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=32828

Freedom Museum leaving Tribune Tower
By: Eddie Baeb Jan. 30, 2009

Just three years after opening, the McCormick Foundation’s Freedom Museum is closing its high-profile location in the Tribune Tower.

The foundation announced Friday that it will vacate 435 N. Michigan Ave. on March 1, with plans to instead operate a “mobile museum” that would travel to schools and communities throughout the Chicago area.

The good thing about the Poetry Foundation is that they are making sure that a lot of the money goes into their founding goal: which is to foster and support poetry, poets, and poetry-writing here and elsewhere in the US and the world.

They have been very careful not to spend the huge Eli Lilly endowment on anything else. They should be commended for this.

What if they were to build a taller structure, occupy x-number of floors and lease the rest? That's not an uncommon strategy in denser areas. And wouldn't it have been a guaranteed source of income...?

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=33210

U of C cuts budget as endowment shrinks
By: Steven R. Strahler March 05, 2009

...He said the university halted unspecified construction projects totaling $30 million while reiterating that three major developments would proceed: hospital and library additions and an arts center south of the Midway.

...Some construction projects, including a proposed $200-million Milton Friedman Institute that has stirred controversy, will be delayed. Faculty members said university President Robert Zimmer told them in January that some $40 million had been raised for the institute.

Groundbreaking (http://cms.colum.edu/demo/2008/11/groundbreaking.php) - a nice article about Columbia's Media Production Center

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/866/a47zh5.jpg
http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/5043/a42hs6.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/3600/a46sq3.jpg

^ Looking back at these pics, if this project's colors turn out as bright as they are in this rendering, it will add a heck of a lot of visual interest to this part of the south loop

About a month old, but still a cool perspective of the Mansueto Library:
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/8865/33102785463bd6b165beb.jpg
University of Chicago Library/ flickr
South campus chiller:
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/2746/337204982298e5b491d7b.jpg
angwe23/ flickr

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2009/04/move-over-bean-youre-about-to-get-companyseeking-to-spotlight-the-100th-anniversary-of-the-document-that-changed-the-fa.html#more

Watch out, Bean: Two new pavilions heading to Millennium Park to celebrate 100th anniversay of Burnham Plan
Blair Kamin

Move over, Bean, you’re about to get company.

Seeking to spotlight the 100th anniversary of the document that changed the face of Chicago, celebration organizers brought out the bling Tuesday night and unveiled designs for two temporary pavilions in Millennium Park by internationally-renowned architects.
---
Zaha Hadid pavilion:
http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/6211/25924625.jpg
http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/7833/55219788.jpg
Ben van Berkel (UNStudio) pavilion:
http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/4967/93978273.jpg
http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/4830/89115022.jpg

"Cool beans." lol

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=33863

Deal ends contractor's lawsuit against broadcast museum
By Eddie Baeb, April 29, 2009

Pepper Construction Co.’s foreclosure lawsuit against the half-built Museum of Broadcast Communications has been dismissed as part of an unusual deal that gives the general contractor a mortgage on the River North property.

The deal breathes new life into the ambitious, 50,000-square-foot proposed museum at State and Kinzie streets that seemed all but dead in December when the museum’s board decided to try to sell the property.

While the project, which has been stalled nearly three years, remains a decided long shot, museum CEO and founder Bruce DuMont says the deal with Pepper gives him time to find private donors and make another plea for state funding.

The Modern Wing - Griffin Court
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/6655/350862187321a4ffd3ac.jpg
d_is_for_disco/ flickr
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/5665/3508619361498418897a.jpg
d_is_for_disco/ flickr
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8095/35086203952524ec3867.jpg
d_is_for_disco/ flickr

From the University of Chicago Magazine (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagomagazine/)
The photos are a few months old, but still pretty good quality
Knapp Center
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/1604/3505754750e70f529b41b.jpg
New dorms
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9325/3505737068a86da9e702b.jpg
Searle Chemistry Lab renovation almost finished
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4202/3503881969a8d72bb8bdbd.jpg
Looking into the chiller plant
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/6470/3505880040081a6b7fa0be.jpg

5/20 Took a walk up the Nichols Bridge at MP:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3620/3549291427_1140d6216d_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2468/3550052782_7fe5bbaee0_o.jpg

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http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3647/3550076196_d5f321ff96_o.jpg


Stitch. Will have to return to do this vista up right. The view from the bridge is really pretty amazing.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2254/3550317034_8a19889356_o.jpg

Mansueto Library
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5073/35492852678cc5e070f8b.jpg
University of Chicago Library/ flickr
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/495/35501945508e1bd08015b.jpg
University of Chicago Library/ flickr

Does anyone know if the Mansuetto Library will have entrances itself? Or is the only way of accessing it through the main Regenstein Library.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003977123

Papers of 'Chicago Defender' Founding Family Donated to City Library
By E&P Staff

Published: May 27, 2009

The Chicago Public Library on Wednesday announced the acquisition of a trove of historical documents from the family that launched the Chicago Defender. The archive is described as the largest and most significant collection from the U.S. black press ever donated to a library.

...The Chicago Sun-Times reported in a story by staff reporter Maudlyne Ihejirika that the collection had been sought by several national institutions including the Smithsonian Institute, which offered to buy it. But Robert Sengstacke concluded the archive should stay in Chicago.

National Public Housing Museum plans two open houses in June (http://www.gazettechicago.com/index/?p=245)

http://www.gazettechicago.com/img/june09/06.jpg
Above, an artist’s rendition of what the National Public Housing Museum on Taylor Street will eventually look like.

By Susan S. Stevens | June 2009

A tour through the roughed-out version of the National Public Housing Museum brought such accolades from some of those who attended that museum officials have planned two more such events.

Because many people in the April 17 tour’s crowd of about 300 said they wanted friends and relatives to see what is being done, Keith L. Magee, the museum’s founding executive director, said the building will reopen to the public from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 12, and from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 13.

“I thought it was absolutely fantastic,” Deverra Beverly said after the open house, noting she “was shocked” so many people turned out. Beverly is chairwoman of the ABLA (Addams-Brooks-Loomis-Abbott) Local Tenants Council and, with Beatrice Jones, another ABLA resident, came up with the idea of a museum in one of the old ABLA buildings. Since then, Beverly has been named the museum’s founding chair.

Now under construction in a former low-rise apartment building at 1322-24 W. Taylor St., the museum will occupy the last remaining building in the Jane Addams Homes. The museum will be the first cultural institution in the United States dedicated to interpreting the American experience in public housing. ABLA Homes began going up in 1938 and was occupied until 2000, shortly before the start of demolitions of the outdated structures to make way for the Roosevelt Square mixed-income housing development.

The developing museum space now contains mostly old furniture and washing machines, plus depictions of activities such as what the janitors did at ABLA and other developments, said Beverly, who contributed one piece of furniture.

“I have a chair in there that my father had,” she said. “It is 70 or 80 years old. All the things that had been happening in public housing” are being depicted, she explained. Eight apartments will display eight decades of life in the project, Magee noted.

Four apartments will be open for this month’s tours. One will hold furniture, another will present a film on public housing, and the others will display architectural drawings, interpretational literature, and a history and photos.

Though the ABLA population in later years was almost all African-American, the museum’s builders should remember that most early tenants were Italian-Americans, said Vince Romano, a Near West Side native who created the Taylor Street Archives at www.taylorstreetarchives.com.

The museum will be devoted to “every race and ethnicity,” according to its mission statement.

“I think the critical thing for the museum is to really talk about the lives and experiences of people who have lived in public housing, across race,” Magee said. He acknowledged the first ABLA residents’ Italian heritage, noting “every group of people” historically lived in public housing projects, as they provided housing and communities for poor and working class people.

Romano, however, doubts Italian-Americans will receive much attention, even though ABLA was constructed in the middle of the Taylor Street neighborhood, long known as the home of Chicago‘s Italian-American community.

At nearby Hull-House, for example, he believes historians play down the huge numbers of Italian-Americans who used the settlement house — so many that in 1890 Hull-House founder Jane Addams issued the first invitation to Hull-House in Italian, he said.

“It may not be popular to include Italians in the history of anything,” Romano said. “I think it [the museum] will focus on whatever the loudest voices are.”

Magee and Beverly expect few problems in opening the museum on its target date in 2012, despite the current economy. “I think we are going to be fine,” Beverly said. “We have been raising money in all kinds of ways.”

Officials estimate the building will cost $13 million, Magee said. If a $17 million fundraising drive succeeds, any extra money will pay for opening the museum and operating it for the first five years.
Donors so far include the Driehaus, MacArthur, Alphawood, Joyce, and Polk Brothers foundations; Boeing Company; Chicago Community Trust; LaSalle Bank; Woods Fund; Ariel Investments; the Illinois Humanities Council; the National Equity Fund; and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

Scores of individuals and the Chicago Housing Authority also are contributing. “We have made over $13 million in requests,” Magee commented. He declined to say how much is in hand or guaranteed, but he expects to hear “any day now” about additional funding and he expressed excitement about a recent $40,000 NEH grant, which will pay for almost half the work of documenting histories of people who lived in the project.

“An important part of the museum will be the stories people tell,” Magee explained. A library with exhibit space will complement the apartments. In addition, the International Center for the Study of Housing and Society will make its home in the building. Magee said he hopes to develop partnerships with universities as well.

The first tour came less than a month after the museum hired Magee, 41. His resume counts service as senior director of institutional advancement at the Museum of African American History in Boston and as senior pastor of two congregations in Boston. One of the museum’s contributors, the Driehaus Foundation, provides him with an office at 203 N. Wabash Ave.

http://www.hpherald.com/visimp.html

Arts center unveiled
By Kate Hawley

The University of Chicago is planning to break ground next April on a $114-million arts center — a key element in its wide-ranging construction plan for the south campus.

Schematic drawings for the Reva & David Logan Center for Creative & Performing Arts, presented at a public meeting Monday, June 8, showed a geometric tower that sits alongside a sprawling rectangular building with a distinctive sawtooth roofline.

University architect Steve Weisenthal, who is overseeing the south campus improvements, described the new arts center as a “mixing bowl for the arts.” It will house a gallery, two theaters, a 450-seat auditorium, art studios, digital labs, classrooms, a café and a glass-walled performance venue at the top of the tower. An outdoor courtyard will give students space to congregate or even hold outdoor performances.

...Besides the new construction, the arts center project also includes a full restoration of a historic house and the adjoining Midway Studios, a city landmark where the renowned sculptor Laredo Taft worked in the early 20th century.

A 1972 addition to the Midway Studios by the prolific mid-century architect Edward Dart — a building preservation advocates have recently made a pitch to save — will be demolished, Wiesenthal said.
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/4111/photo2c.jpg

Media Production Center
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/4056/mainphpg2viewcored.jpg
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/2195/mainphpg2viewcoref.jpg
Photos by Tom Nowack (http://www.columbiasmoment.org/gallery_progress_photos.php)

That's awesome. I knew it was starting construction but I had no clue it was that far along. A great addition to the neighborhood!

http://chicagoismynewblog.wordpress.com

Saw this proposal for UIC on Daniel Coffey's website

University Performing
Arts Center Studies

This confidential project is a special assignment for Daniel P. Coffey & Associates, Ltd. that was requested by the University’s Chancellor to study a way to fulfill an unfounded need on campus. That need is a performing arts center and arts education facility for music and drama with appropriate practice and rehearsal spaces clustered around other related academic space and performance spaces. The spaces include a 1500-seat Proscenium Stage for Drama, Dance, Opera and Music with Shell, Flexible Acoustic Absorption and Proscenium Reducer, a 300-seat Chamber Music space, plus a 150-seat Flexible Studio. This $110 million facility will be funded by adjacent retail and residential development and tax increment rather than state appropriation or traditional contribution methods.
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/1386/uicpacaerial2.jpg
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/1246/uicpacstreet.jpg

Wow. Gross. I typically try to find something nice in any project, especially cultural/artistic/educational facilities, but there is nothing endearing about this - it looks like giant globs of paint fell onto a sterile, 1950's-era 'superdiner'. Unf**kingbelievable.
Compare this trash to the sophistication of the new Rush hospital down the street on Harrison and it's night and day - I really hope this is VERY preliminary and not being built in it's current form, or even being considered anymore for that matter.

Wow. Gross. I typically try to find something nice in any project, especially cultural/artistic/educational facilities, but there is nothing endearing about this - it looks like giant globs of paint fell onto a sterile, 1950's-era 'superdiner'. Unf**kingbelievable.
Compare this trash to the sophistication of the new Rush hospital down the street on Harrison and it's night and day - I really hope this is VERY preliminary and not being built in it's current form, or even being considered anymore for that matter.

Oh my god, absolutely. When I first saw that, I was like "um... did they forget to add textures to that rendering?" It looks like a play-doh factory reject. I'm all for making bold statements, and love bold use of color, but this is just ostentatious for ostentatiousness's sake.

How strange. I was just looking at an aerial of this very parcel of land wondering if UIC had any plans for it. The colors are an odd choice for Chicago. I could see this in Los Angeles or Phoenix or some other desert location. I suppose those blobs are likely to be the vaulted sections of the performance spaces. One thing going for it is that it looks like it may address the streetscape a bit better than many of the other buildings in that area. Are there any other renderings of this?

Children's Museum move to Grant Park in trouble:

A moribund economy has crippled fund-raising, while projected costs have climbed by tens of millions to $150 million or more, insiders say. Sources close to the project say odds now are 50-50 at best that the Grant Park plan will proceed.

As a result, the museum is considering its options, including downsizing the proposed facility, getting a cash infusion from the Chicago Park District or extending the lease on its current space at Navy Pier as far as 2025.

Entire article at Crain's: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?page_id=2308&plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&uid=1daca073-2eab-468e-9f19-ec177090a35c&plckPostId=Blog%3a1daca073-2eab-468e-9f19-ec177090a35cPost%3a41f01b3a-59dd-49ca-a84f-afd94038c26f&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest

^^ If I was a big shot donor I would rather sign off on some visible exquisite architecture rather then a glorified hole in the ground.

Looks like the long-delayed Advanced Chemical Technologies Building at UIC will now move forward.

http://www.chicagojournal.com/News/07-15-2009/Local_impact_of_the_capital_bill

Local impact of the capital bill
07/15/2009 10:00 PM

...Among the big Near West Side winners in the bill is the University of Illinois-Chicago, which will get $57.6 million to plan, construct and equip a new chemical sciences building.
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I think this was the rendering from years ago.
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/1278/531820uic20day20shot.jpg

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-thu-notebook-uofc-0723-jul23,0,7136721.story

University of Chicago Medical Center moving forward with plans for hospital pavilion
Hospital to issue bonds to raise funds through Illinois Finance Authority

By Bruce Japsen
July 23, 2009

The University of Chicago Medical Center is forging ahead with a major financing plan to pay for a large part of its new hospital pavilion in the face of a turbulent economy that has triggered layoffs and spending reductions at the facility this year.

The South Side teaching hospital early next month plans to issue bonds to raise $225 million through the Illinois Finance Authority to support the university's capital projects, "highlighted by the construction of a new patient tower pavilion on the main campus," according to a report released last week by Moody's Investors Service.
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http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/090611/quad.shtml

Summer project aimed at making Main Quadrangles more pedestrian-friendly
By William Harms

The heart of campus will be friendlier to pedestrians and more accessible to everyone next fall, after a three-month project on the University’s Main Quadrangles.

Beginning shortly after the end of the Spring Quarter, workers will replace the current stone paths with more even walkways whose pavers capture the historic feel of the quads while improving access for people with disabilities. While construction is under way, users of the Main Quadrangles will have to use alternative routes to some buildings and passageways.

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/7246/quad2l.jpg
A project that begins this summer will replace quadrangle streets and sidewalks with pedestrian-friendly walkways. The work will be done by September.

It seems that the sidewalk will still be too wide. I realize that they might want to have campus security cars driving on these walkways, but the thing could be narrower and allow a car to use the walk.

Is there still an official parks development thread in the forum?


http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1714479,CST-NWS-parks13.article

Park Dist. OKs 2 new lakefront harbors
$110M | Could serve displaced boaters if city gets '16 Games
Comments

August 13, 2009

BY LISA DONOVAN Staff Reporter ldonovan@suntimes.com

Construction of two new harbors along Chicago's lakefront could begin next year as part of a long-term plan to double the number of slips.

It's also designed as a short-term option for boaters displaced from Monroe Harbor should the city win the 2016 Summer Olympics.

One new harbor would go in at 31st Street, south of the proposed Olympic Village. A second, smaller "Gateway Harbor" would be created south of Navy Pier and north of the Chicago River, according to a plan approved Wednesday by the Chicago Park District Board.

The price tag for the two harbors is put at $110 million.

Construction costs will be paid for by an alternative revenue bond, covered by boat owners who buy the slips over the next 20 years, said Park District Supt. Timothy J. Mitchell, who says the harbors are moneymakers.

In all, 1,115 slips will be added.

The project would go out for bids this fall.

The project must be approved by agencies including the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/1764692,CST-NWS-oside11.article


New harbors near pier, 31st St. set to get lots of bells, whistles
$110 MIL. PROJECT | Restaurants, trams, remote parking, shuttle proposed
Comments

September 11, 2009

BY FRAN SPIELMAN AND LISA DONOVAN Staff Reporters

Chicago is getting a sneak peak at two new lakefront harbors that will create more than 1,100 new slips and absorb boaters displaced from Monroe Harbor if Chicago wins the 2016 Olympic sweepstakes.

The 240-slip Gateway Harbor south of Navy Pier includes plans for a new Navy Pier park "to be developed by others," a "transit circulator" serving multiple stations and "on-pier trams" operating in "designated tram lanes," according to a zoning application filed at this week's City Council meeting.

The north dock would be at Navy Pier's Festival Hall; the south dock at the Family Pavilion. New restaurants, kiosks and harbor facilities would be provided in two new buildings on the east and west sides of the new harbor.

Remote parking and shuttle buses would divert traffic away from already congested Navy Pier.

The new 31st Street marina with space for 840 boats would include a new restaurant, lakefront community center and parking for 300 cars. The sleek new building designed by Brook Architecture includes a translucent glass curtain wall.
The two new harbors are the first to be built by the Chicago Park District in nearly a decade -- since Du Sable Harbor opened with 420 slips.

The $110 million project will be financed by a revenue bond retired by 20 years of boat mooring fees................

..

^^
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31st Street
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Nice find spyguy. I am liking the designs of the boat houses just fine but it sure looks like Navy Pier will look congested. I would think it could detract from the vista if there are too many boats especially with the commercial piers that jut out.

I absolutely love these plans. Anything to get more people using the lakefront- not sure I like the 300 parking spaces, but if the green roof works well with the surroundings I guess we can deal with it. I want chicago to interact with the water as much as possible- we're goin' marine! All I need to do is become a millionaire so I can boss a yacht or scooner.

^ I"m not a fan of open lakefront being marred by more boat slips.

I mean, I realize it's inevitable and all, but yachts and boat slips to me say "resort town in Florida" more than "international city"

As long as the ratio of marinas vs. open park land doesn't skew too much farther, I'm all for it. It would be ideal to build more inland marinas, or build up those anemic breakwalls into useable Northerly Island-type areas, but those are obviously way more costly than what's currently proposed.

yet another reason why we need the olympics!

imho, concerns about overexposure to marinas and the like are a bit overdone. This is on the near south side, not near belmont harbor - if anything it helps equalize the uneven development of the lakeshore.

EDIT - whoops, didn't see the navy pier option

New South Campus Residence Hall and dining facility
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/6425/39417080234a05c54f1db.jpg
University of Chicago Magazine/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagomagazine/3941708023/)
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/8377/39416970315ed81d2f22b.jpg
University of Chicago Magazine/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagomagazine/3941697031/)

^ I"m not a fan of open lakefront being marred by more boat slips.

I mean, I realize it's inevitable and all, but yachts and boat slips to me say "resort town in Florida" more than "international city"

I share TUP's concern, not about 31st street, but about the site that is adjacent to Navy Pier. Remember that this site will be part of the famous vista that Navy Pier-goers see as they look toward the Loop or to the south. The marinas do create quite an obstruction to the view. I am not saying that it is terrible, but I would lean toward a smaller marina at the Navy Pier site, or perhaps a marina that only allows boats on the south side of that narrow walkway.

This thread needs a boost:
revised Reva and David Logan center for performing arts at the University of Chicago (sorry but this is the largest photo I can find)
http://arts.uchicago.edu/i/logan/logan_rendering.jpg

^^ Kinda makes me wish I had a scanner, as the latest uchicago alumni magazine had a larger pic of it.

http://interactive.chicagobusiness.com/closer/constructionpipeline/private/

2009/10/05 University of Chicago - Center for Creative and Performing Arts 182,000-square-foot performing arts center, $46 million S Drexel Ave & E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637, USA Cook

Here's Thom Mayne's losing design:
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/9472/ccpa01elevationnorthl.jpg
More here (http://morphopedia.com/projects/university-of-chicago-center-for-creativ) if you're interested

YOU! The Experience
YOU! The Experience brings these elements together into an interactive exhibit examining and celebrating the experience of life itself. It is one of the first and largest exhibitions to showcase the connection between the human mind, body and spirit in the 21st century.
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/9047/61213509.jpg

Science Storms
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4805/iphpasciencestormsi06.jpg
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/4289/3987211109fbf655eb4db.jpg
evidence.design flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/evdbklyn/3987211109/)

New Chicago Theological Seminary - Nagle Hartray
60th and Dorchester
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/7425/ctsjm.jpg
Unfortunately, the University is going to destroy the nearby community garden because they claim they need it as a construction staging area. The groundbreaking ceremony was yesterday although construction won't begin until March.

Update renderings of the hospital pavilion - Viñoly
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/9747/hospital1.jpg
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/1738/hospital2.jpg
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/4005/hospital3.jpg
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/8334/hospital4.jpg

Mansueto Library construction update (bottoming out)
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9109/397266389685777e7871b.jpg
University of Chicago Library/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagolibrary/3972663896/)

^ Wow, a lot going on with the U of C campus.

I'm really looking forward to seeing that new hospital pavilion. It's massive!

Some really massive hospital expansions going on in Chicagoland right now.

I'm particularly fond of how the U of C hospital creates a powerful visual terminator for that street. You just don't see a lot of that nowadays anymore

I'd probably need to see it in context, but to me, given what the rest of the campus looks like, the hospital pavillion's massing looks overbearing.

I'd probably need to see it in context, but to me, given what the rest of the campus looks like, the hospital pavillion's massing looks overbearing.

It might just be the rendering. The first image makes it seem as if the hospital was plopped down on a park or something, when in reality 4 story buildings cover all of that green space. The new 10 story biomedical building is just to the east, as is the fairly tall Cummings center. So while this is a very large building, I don't think it's quite of out of place.

Looks like the best architectural development in Chicago going on right now isn't downtown, it appears to be in the University of Chicago campus, Hyde Park.

Now if only we can get the Gang tower built down there cap it all off. If it's true that U of C wants to significantly expand its faculty, then most assuredly there should be a demand for more housing in the neighborhood. Lets keep our fingers crossed...

Famous Players -Lasky/ Paramount Pictures arch saved from 1327 S Wabash (Glashaus)
http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/5139/4029483261be3043a0cbo.jpg
lilacolum/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42117748@N07/4029483261/)
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/5199/4029483817c553ffdb85o.jpg
lilacolum/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42117748@N07/4029483817/)

^^^^^

where is that?

It is the new Columbia College media center at State and 16th, South Loop. I believe Jeane Gang is the architect.

Obama presidential library: U of Chicago? (http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/10/obama_presidential_library_u_o.html)

It'll be interesting to see not only where it is located, but if he'll go with a PoMo or more modern design.

I would prefer to see it go somewhere downtown but the UofC makes a worthy and very understandable second option.

Looking at the other Presidential libraries (including the new GWB renders) in my judgement they are relatively undistinguished and mediocre with the exception of Clinton's library which I think looks great.

I remember reading an article about how the Obamas filled the White House with all sorts of modern/contemporary art. That gives me hope that the eventual library will be more cutting-edge, less PoMo.

Update - Sun Times article here: http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1811700,w-obama-white-house-art-100709.article

Reva and David Logan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/2681/wc2736image.jpg
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/4976/wc2737image.jpg
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/3327/wc2738image.jpg
http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/6140/wc2739image.jpg
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/2172/wc2740image.jpg
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/4518/wc2741image.jpg

http://news.uchicago.edu/news.php?asset_id=1768

Detailed plans for Logan Arts Center to be unveiled Nov. 10

Architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien will unveil detailed plans for the $100 million Reva and David Logan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at the University of Chicago Law School. The event is free and open to the public.

The husband–and–wife team also will provide insight into the creative process that has elevated them to international acclaim as preeminent designers of public arts and culture spaces. Well–known for their elegant, modernist design and subtle integration of context, Williams and Tsien were selected in June 2007 to design the Logan Arts Center. This event will mark the first public viewing of their ambitious plans for the complex, which is slated to open in spring of 2012 south of Midway Plaisance.

The luminous glass and stone structure will have 170,000 square feet of space, bridging architecture and art and providing a framework for uniting artistic theory with practice—a hallmark of the University’s approach to the arts. Many departments and disciplines will share the facility, including visual arts, theater, music, as well as cinema and media studies. The structure will add much needed space to the University’s vibrant arts scene, and will feature studios, rehearsal space, director’s cut screening rooms, state–of–the art acoustical theaters, lecture rooms and set–building shops.

In addition, the center will serve as a southern gateway to campus, opening the University to its neighborhood and the city, and providing a place for distinguished local and international artists and scholars to create, debate, exhibit and perform.

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2009/11/museum-of-broadcast-communications-gets-state-money-others-get-honors.html

Museum of Broadcast Communications gets state money; others get honors
By Phil Rosenthal

Bruce DuMont on Saturday announced a $6 million appropriation from the cash-strapped state of Illinois that should facilitate completion of stalled construction on the Museum of Broadcast Communications.

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2009/11/museum-of-broadcast-communications-gets-state-money-others-get-honors.html

Museum of Broadcast Communications gets state money; others get honors
By Phil Rosenthal

Bruce DuMont on Saturday announced a $6 million appropriation from the cash-strapped state of Illinois that should facilitate completion of stalled construction on the Museum of Broadcast Communications.

:cheers:

Kinzie St is definitely one of the winners in this boom

Really not what I want to spend my tax dollars on, but it'll be nice if they can finally finish that thing. Anything to fix the damn sidewalk along Kinzie.

Plans take new look at Northerly Island
With 2016 dreams dashed, what should become of Meigs site?

November 10, 2009

BY LISA DONOVAN Staff Reporter ldonovan@suntimes.com
A month after Mayor Daley’s Olympic team washed out in the race for the 2016 Games, the tide has shifted as planners focus on Northerly Island’s long-term place in the lakefront landscape.

Before Chicago lost to Rio de Janeiro in the Olympic contest, the Park District was eyeing how to develop the 91-acre man-made island east of Soldier Field, while making the former site of Meigs Field a temporary home for Olympic venues for beach volleyball, the canoe and kayak slalom courses and even an observation point for sailing contests.

Today, Chicago Park District officials are holding a public meeting downtown to unveil a series of sketches for the site, pen-to-paper ideas that will serve as a conversation starter, says Gia Biagi, director of planning and development for the Chicago Park District. “We’re not holding up a particular concept,” she said. “But looking at what are the components of a great park.”

The Park District hired a design team that includes Studio Gang Architects, best known for the Aqua Building at the Lakeshore East site near downtown, to sketch out ideas — though officials did not release the cost of the work.

One thought is to extend the swimming and beach areas on the eastern edge of the island. Another is to carve out portions of the “island” — really a peninsula — creating bays or coves or even inland waterways….

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1874829,CST-NWS-island10.article

The meeting's tonight in the Spertus Institute from 6-9PM.

http://chicagoismynewblog.wordpress.com

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/1017/1257887830view01exterio.jpg
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/2803/1257887841view03aerialf.jpg
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/5863/1257887835view02exterio.jpg
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9594/1257887848view4courtyar.jpg
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3389/1257895294ucpaclobbyrev.jpg
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9042/design7theatershops.jpg
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/1032/1257887853view07ensembl.jpg

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2009/11/with-a-new-dorm-plans-for-an-arts-center-and-other-projects-the-university-of-chicago-builds-a-bridg.html

With a new dorm, plans for an arts center and other projects, the University of Chicago builds a bridge across the moat of the Midway
Blair Kamin

There are really two Universities of Chicago. One, north of the Midway Plaisance, is the picture-postcard campus famous for its serene, neo-Gothic quadrangles. The other, south of the Midway, is a thin strip of buildings that forms a veneer of institutional order in front of the struggling Woodlawn neighborhood.

...And much more is planned, including the installation next spring of 40-foot-tall light pylons (below) that will seek to make the vast Midway more inviting to pedestrians, particularly at night.

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3839/95443630.jpg

Northerly Island, Grant Park have big changes in store
Both getting fresh designs -- maybe for the better
Northerly Island

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2009-11/50615083.jpg
A design team recently held a public workshop for remaking Northerly Island, the 91-acre peninsula that once was home to Meigs Field. The team was led by JJR landscape architects of Chicago and including Studio Gang Architects, the Chicago firm responsible for the spectacular new Aqua tower. One of the ideas floated at that forum was integrating the peninsula's massive Charter One concert pavilion into a hillside as part of an effort to create a more naturalistic landscape. (Tribune photo by Alex Garcia / November 10, 2009)

Blair Kamin CITYSCAPES

November 20, 2009

They are two of the most contested pieces of ground on Chicago's lakefront -- the first, where the Chicago Children's Museum wants to build its controversial kiddie bunker; the second, where Mayor Richard M. Daley executed his infamous "midnight raid" and shut down Meigs Field.

Big changes are in store for both. And -- hold your breath -- they might even turn out for the better.

The Chicago Park District on Wednesday hired the highly regarded New York City landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh to redesign 25 acres in Grant Park's northeast corner, an area that encompasses the dreary Daley Bicentennial Plaza and, within it, the proposed site of the mostly subterranean Children's Museum...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-kamin-northerly-20-nov20,0,615212.story

http://mobile.suntimes.com/suntimes/db_9945/contentdetail.htm;jsessionid=9CF85F8549D87DFA3A81BC3254F16BC5?contentguid=TxXO2qCg&detailindex=3&pn=0&ps=5&full=true

Good vs. evil do battle joyously
BY HEDY WEISS Theater

Hellfire and damnation, and a whole lot of heavenly singing and earthly argumentation. That's what you get in "The Message Is in the Music (God Is a Black Man Named Ricky)," Jackie Taylor's red-hot new musical for the Black Ensemble Theater.

...Taylor, a proud new grandmother, told her audience that $13 million of the $15 million needed for her theater's new home (with two stages and classrooms) has been raised. Groundbreaking is set for June, with a September 2011 opening.
---
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/4466/89930305.jpg
4440 N Clark

^ Of course, there is a parking lot across the street, but why build on that if we can just replace an existing building? :ohno:

^ You can't build on property unless you own or lease it.

Also, looking at that pic it looks like they are using the existing building.

Mansueto Library
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/447/4203169333b2a77f0a5cb.jpg
University of Chicago Library/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagolibrary/4203169333/)
Media Production Center
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/5726/409923296811ae519096o.jpg
lilacolum/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42117748@N07/4099232968/)
http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/1852/40984704554d6139af7eo.jpg
lilacolum/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42117748@N07/4098470455/)

Over the weekend I was told that the façade glass colors are based on the SMPTE target:

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/test-patterns/images/colour-bars-smpte-75-640x480.gif

Simulcra, if you haven't been to campus lately it looks... different.

It might just be the rendering... The new 10 story biomedical building is just to the east, as is the fairly tall Cummings center.

The Knapp Center, due to its reflectiveness, is quite prominent on the skyline in a way that darker, skinnier Cummings isn't. (Urban legend around campus is that Cummings is actually a little taller than Rockefeller, due to mismeasurement.) The original plans for the new hospital pavilion envisioned a building about as big as the DCAM, both in floor and site area; the new plans call for something more than twice the size, yet on the same site -- and hence 50% taller. It will be pretty unavoidably big in several views of campus -- say, looking south from the ballfields.

It seems that the sidewalk will still be too wide. I realize that they might want to have campus security cars driving on these walkways, but the thing could be narrower and allow a car to use the walk.

The whole thing is a walkway. The middle panels are made of pervious aggregate paving, the outer parts are pavers. It's now Chicago's largest pedestrian mall!

Over the weekend I was told that the façade glass colors are based on the SMPTE target:

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/test-patterns/images/colour-bars-smpte-75-640x480.gif

I'll believe it...Haha. For what seems like such a quick construction, the building turned out really well. I love the lobby too. Plus, I'm always a fan of another green roof and this one's got it.

http://chicagoismynewblog.wordpress.com

^Not a joke about the SMPTE target. Various building features are illustrations of cinematic devices such as frame-within-a-frame, etc.

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2010/01/-chicago-theater-2010-black-ensemble-teatro-zinzanni-steppenwolf-theater-wit.html

New theater spaces coming in '10
January 06, 2010
Chris Jones

...Of Chicago's major institutions, the only one with big plans on the books is Steppenwolf Theatre, which is in the very early planning stages of an expansion, probably filling in that surface lot directly to the south of the theater and also involving the unfinished parking garage farther south. Look for greatly expanded audience facilities, perhaps drawing on the model of Britain's National Theatre, with its bars, restaurants, bookstores and lecture spaces. Or that, at least, is what I think Steppenwolf should do, for the cultural betterment of Chicago.

A visual tour of Columbia's new media production cente (http://columbiachronicle.com/media-production-center-virtual-tour/)r

A visual tour of Columbia's new media production cente (http://columbiachronicle.com/media-production-center-virtual-tour/)r

Is the exterior of the Media Production Center completely done? I hope they don't leave the concrete exposed. It'd look more complete if it was painted or had some siding on it. From afar, aside from the front glass walls, the whole building concrete exterior looks crappy.

Mansueto Library
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/6229/42890606721cc705945eb.jpg
University of Chicago Library/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagolibrary/4289060672/)

http://cms.colum.edu/newsandnotes/archives/009831.php

Media Production Center Opens for Classes

Columbia College Chicago's new 35,500-square-foot Media Production Center (MPC), the first new-construction building erected in the college’s 120-year history, opens to students with the beginning of spring semester classes January 25, 2010. The opening comes just 13 months after the initial groundbreaking.

Designed from the ground up to accommodate a new way of teaching filmmaking and media production for the twenty-first century, the project saw its beginnings in conversations that began in 2001, shortly after Warrick Carter began his tenure as president of the college and made the creation of a state-of-the-art production facility one of his priorities. The project gained momentum when Allen Turner, a partner in the Pritzker Organization, became Chairman of Columbia’s Board of Trustees in 2005, acting as a catalyst to bring the project to fruition.

The innovative structure is a model for the incorporation of sustainable design and construction processes, a hallmark of architect Jeanne Gang / Studio Gang Architects. One such element is the green roof that covers 50 percent of the building. The facility also commemorates Chicago’s long role in the history of filmmaking, incorporating a 25-foot terra-cotta arch salvaged from the former Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, a parent of Paramount Pictures, whose facilities once stood nearby.

The building is anchored by a 7,350-square-foot main soundstage, with a 2,085-square-foot motion-capture studio as well as a smaller soundstage, prop and wardrobe studios, classrooms, an outdoor dock for the college’s remote media truck, a rooftop terrace, and a lofty, glass-walled lobby that acts as an informal gathering space for students.
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/9633/mpcatnightbytomnowaksma.jpg
Tom Nowak

http://www.chicagojournal.com/News/01-27-2010/Lights._Camera._Action.

Lights. Camera. Action.

01/27/2010 10:00 PM
By MICAH MAIDENBERG

A few minutes past 8:30 on Monday morning, David Moravec, an instructor in Columbia College’s film department, asked his students to get on their feet and stand on either side of a beam of light that shone from a stage lamp after the overhead lights went out.
---
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/43/38813928.jpg
Charles Celander/ twitpic (http://twitpic.com/zsw0h)

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/dec/25/local/chi-architecture-foundation-movedec25

Chicago Architecture Foundation’s blueprint for growth

By Pam Defiglio
December 25, 2009

The Chicago Architecture Foundation can’t get much more visible – it’s on Michigan Avenue in a Daniel Burnham-designed building – but it would like almost twice the current space and to be able to charge admission to help the budget.

That means a decision must be made to revamp the disjointed space at 224 S. Michigan Ave. or move. Under study for two years and with its lease up in March 2011, the foundation expects to decide within three months.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2664/4098470455_bdd441813c_d.jpglilacolum/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42117748@N07/4098470455/)

The staircase reminds me of two things:
1. The cafeteria inside UIC Circle Center/Student Center East. In the cafeteria, the steps are designed as permanent seating (there are normal tables and chairs, too). No photo available.
2. The staircase at the Prada store in Los Angeles. Photo! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bob_karol/2341387877/)

Media Production Center Open House
http://www.colum.edu/mpcopenhouse
Feb 5, 2010
2:00 PM - 6:00 PM

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/6599/4314541450d93db7bc26bh.jpg
lilacolum/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42117748@N07/4314541450/)
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/7251/4314540604fe6f345e39b.jpg
lilacolum/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42117748@N07/4314540604/)
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/791/4314540680428bb46e1cb.jpg
lilacolum/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42117748@N07/4314540680/)

I <3 it, even if the lettering is a bit garish.

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/6599/4314541450d93db7bc26bh.jpg

^ With Columbia boasting the largest film school in the nation, does anyone else kind of wonder what could happen if a future Columbia grad makes it big in Hollywood? Imagine a future producer/director giving back to his alma mater to build a major campus building in the South Loop. Given Columbia's proclivity to quality design & architecture, we could see something spectacular.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/us/07cncpastry.html

New Chef Will Help Pastry Level to Rise

By BEN GOLDBERGER
Published: February 6, 2010

Chicago has long attracted ambitious immigrants from all corners of the world. World champion bakers from tiny Alsatian villages are not usually among them.
---
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/us/07cncwarren.html

A High-Tech Alternative for Hollywood Hopefuls

By JAMES WARREN
Published: February 6, 2010

“House lights up!” proclaimed the silver-haired former lawyer who, with blue jeans, black T-shirt, black safari jacket and Nikes, looked oh-so Hollywood in an oh-so Chicago bastion, the Merchandise Mart.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/2044019,CST-NWS-oldtown12.article

Old Town School plans $18 million expansion
BY FRAN SPIELMAN
February 12, 2010

Chicago's wildly popular Old Town School of Folk Music is finalizing plans for an $18 million expansion -- complete with classrooms, dance studios and a 133-seat performance venue.

The zoning application filed at Wednesday's City Council meeting calls for the new building on vacant land acquired by the school at 4543 N. Lincoln Ave.

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/2092/neighborhoodn.jpg
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9796/outside2o.jpg
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/5764/lobby4.jpg

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/foundation/release_012010.html

Annual Letter from John Barr, President
January 20, 2010

...Early in 2010, the Foundation will break ground for the construction of a permanent home for poetry in Chicago. Four years in the planning, under the management of our CFO Caren Skoulas, the building will house Foundation and magazine offices, our twenty-five-thousand-volume poetry collection, and a performance venue acoustically designed for the human voice. Like the beautiful space just opened by Poets House in New York—itself a cause for special celebration—and like other dedicated poetry spaces around the country, our building will be a physical manifestation of the nationwide resurgence of poetry in American culture.

To go along with the Poetry Foundation HQ post above ^^, this is information about that project as listed on John Ronan Architects website (sadly, no images yet):

"Chicago Illinois The Poetry Foundation is a not for profit organization which grew out of Poetry magazine dedicated to the promotion of poetry in contemporary culture. Their headquarters building, in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, is comprised of a building in dialogue with a garden space. The garden space that is created by erosion within an implied volume as determined by the property boundary, resulting in a relationship whereby the building pushes into the garden and vice versa. Visitors reach the building by walking through the garden; the building’s internal arrangement is configured to allow for views from all spaces back out onto the garden.

The garden is a conceived of as an urban sanctuary, a space that could mediate between the street and the building, blurring the distinction between public and private. Functions more public in nature (a poetry reading room, a gallery, and library) are located on the building’s ground floor, while offices for the organization are located on the second level, organized into three areas corresponding to operations (foundation administration, magazine-website staff, and programs staff). Upon entering the garden, visitors perceive the double height library space that borders the garden, announcing that they are entering into a literary environment. Once inside, an exhibition gallery connects the library to the poetry reading room, where poets read their work to an audience against the backdrop of the garden.** *

Tectonically, the building is conceived of as a series of layers that visitors move through and between. The layers, of zinc, glass, and wood, peel back like pages of a book to define the various programmatic zones of the building. The building’s outer layer, a cladding of oxidized zinc, becomes perforated where it borders the garden, allowing visual access to the garden from the street, encouraging public investigation. Inside the garden, a layer of perforated natural zinc reflects light into the north-facing space, creating a more internalized garden experience that provides a sense of removal to prepare visitors for the programs inside."

^Yeah, for some reason they never released any renderings. However, if you search through Ronan's website you can find some images of what is likely the Poetry Foundation building.

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/6853/poetry1.jpg
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/4286/poetry3.jpg
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/2206/poetry2r.jpg

LOL! You never cease to amaze spyguy - I was on their website earlier and I didn't see any of that. You really are a magician!! :)

Mansueto Library
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/7539/mansuetolib1.jpg
http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/456/mansuetolib2.jpg

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/5671/44107782413c46bac279b.jpg
Charles MacEachen/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmaceachen/4410778241/)

Geez. It looks like they're building a particular accelerator, not a library. This will be one the finest pieces of architecture in Chicago.

Bucky Fuller would be proud.

What the hell are those column things? They're all the same height, so they can't be structural columns.

They're pretty massive and bulky for lighting, too. Wouldn't you want the lights to be arrayed around the perimeter pointing up, and then reflected down to illuminate the room?

ugh, i hate it, if only because it'd be really annoying to have no access to what looks like a seperate building except through the main library via a basement connection. it probably would've been better go with a design that makes it look like an actual library annex, not a standalone.

ugh, i hate it, if only because it'd be really annoying to have no access to what looks like a seperate building except through the main library via a basement connection. it probably would've been better go with a design that makes it look like an actual library annex, not a standalone.

There is a covered, ground-level connection between the Regenstein and the new Mansueto annex. Not sure what you are referring to..

There is a covered, ground-level connection between the Regenstein and the new Mansueto annex. Not sure what you are referring to..

Sorry, the diagrams I looked at for some reason made me think that the connection was made from one level down in the Reg to the Mansueto annex.

http://www.chicagojournal.com/Blogs/03-10-2010/Master_planning_continues_at_UIC

Master planning continues at UIC
By Micah Maidenberg

...In other UIC news, the U. of I. trustees were expected to vote March 10 on awarding a $3.7 million contract to the Barton Marlow Company for renovation of Douglas Hall, in the heart of the school’s eastern campus.
http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/9361/douglas1.jpg
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/2274/douglas2u.jpg

New Hellenic museum to rise in Greektown

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2010-03/52781811.jpg
An artist's rendering shows the planned facility for the National Hellenic Museum in Greektown. The new museum is expected to open in the fall of 2011.

The Greektown community, still reeling from a fire last month that destroyed a number of longtime businesses, is encouraged by construction activity on the site where a new National Hellenic Museum will rise and serve as a gateway to the area.

Plans for the museum have been under way for nearly a decade, but the last of 24 caissons for the three-story 40,000 square-foot structure on the northeast corner of Halsted and Van Buren streets only went in last week. The foundation is expected to be poured next month and the facility should open in fall 2011....

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/ct-x-c-hellenic-museum-0317-20100317,0,3306583.story

University of Chicago Mansueto Library progress: 03.15.10

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/4436213769_1282cbc610_b.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagolibrary/

Jahn's entry for Northwestern's new music school building. Remember, Goettsch Partners won the competition but their design has not been released.

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/6045/numusic1.jpg
http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/4831/numusic2.jpg
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9404/numusic3.jpg
http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/5326/numusic4.jpg

^^ I'm excited, that must mean Goettsch Partners plan is even better than that ridiculously awesome concept.........Or not.

I like the most is the stadium. The design of it is awesome.

FRACK me! OK, the colored lighting is a bit gimmicky and, contextually, the entire building may be incongruous with northwestern, but dang if i can't say that that ain't pretty. Definitely looking forward to the Goettsch Partners design.

Poetry Foundation - Dearborn & Superior
Ronan's website states that the groundbreaking ceremony will be held on April 21 but I can't find any confirmation of that elsewhere
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/2315/pf1.jpg
http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/107/pf4.jpg
Also note that even though it's only two floors, it's about the same height as the buildings it replaced.

http://www.law.uchicago.edu/alumni/magazine/spring10/south-campus

The View South
Robin I. Mordfin

...And this year the University will select a design firm to expand the Harris School of Public Policy.

Still to come, and to be completed before 2020, is a residential commons for the Booth School of Business, along with more residential space and possibly a hotel.
---

Good news about the Harris School expansion. I thought we were going to be stuck with DeStefano's ugly design. IIRC, SSA is also supposed to expand into a new building with an underground connection to the Mies.
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/5290/ssa2c.jpg
(Conceptual rendering)

The new Booth dorm is supposed to replace an old building at 60th and Woodlawn (not sure if the footprint includes the Mott Building next door).

A dorm for the Booth school? Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is new, right? I always figured Booth students were generally commuters.

A dorm for the Booth school? Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is new, right? I always figured Booth students were generally commuters.

In my experience, full-time students at Booth tend to live off campus in Hyde Park. Most full-timers come to Chicago from somewhere else specifically to attend the school, so few would know enough about the city to be inclined to commute. The part-timers who attend the program downtown are another story, of course.

http://www.marinacityonline.com/news/mbc0413.htm

Museum still waiting for state money to finish new State & Kinzie home

* Half-finished building no longer for sale and could be completed next year
* Deal with Tamarind and Johnny Rockets fell through

By Steven Dahlman

Funding has been approved and capital bonds sold to pay for it, but the Museum of Broadcast Communications is still waiting for $6 million from the State of Illinois to finish its building at State and Kinzie Streets.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?articleId=33277

Pritzker Military Library seeks Michigan Avenue beachhead
By: Eddie Baeb April 19, 2010

The little-known Pritzker Military Library is marching to Michigan Avenue, a move that will give the 6½-year-old organization a high-profile foothold across from Millennium Park and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Sources say the library, founded by James Pritzker, a member of the billionaire Pritzker family, could move as early as this summer to a Gothic-style building at 104 S. Michigan Ave., where renovations are under way. A library official won't comment, saying the timing hasn't yet been determined.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/foundation/release_042110.html?id=186214

Poetry Foundation Builds a Home in Chicago

The Poetry Foundation announced today that it has begun construction of a new home (poetryfoundation.org/building) that will be Chicago’s first building dedicated solely to the art form of poetry and the first permanent venue for Poetry magazine in its nearly 100-year history in the city.

...The ground floor of the two-story building will be devoted to public use, including a multipurpose performance space expected to be one of the leading venues for the spoken word, a public garden, a 35,000-volume non-circulating collection that is currently in storage, and an exhibition gallery.

...The Foundation’s program staff, including the employees of Poetry magazine, the online, media, youth, and events initiatives, and the Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, will be relocated from their current offices on Michigan Avenue to the second floor of the new building. In addition to housing current activities and the new library program, the Foundation’s new space will allow it to increase the number of public events it sponsors within its existing programs. Additional functions envisioned for the space include staged events combining poetry and the visual or performing arts; gallery exhibits from the Poetry archives; discussion groups with teachers and students; collaborations with other literary organizations; and audio and video archiving of on-site events.
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/6853/poetry1.jpg
http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/3987/poetry2k.jpg

^^excellent.

Hey spyguy, any possible way you could 'whip up' the renderings from Goettsch Partners' winning proposal for the Northwestern school of Music?

Interesting little project I saw on Smith+Gill's new firm's website (http://pepractice.com/). I'm going to take a guess and say it's for 175 W Washington.

The National Museum of Health and Medicine Chicago, an ongoing design project in conjunction with the Buonacorsi Foundation, features a highly innovative and sustainable retrofit of an existing building in the Loop.
http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/9942/nmhmc1.jpg

FYI, the ground breaking ceremony for the Logan Arts Center is tonight.
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/6021/bannerps.jpg (http://ard.uchicago.edu/groundbreaking/?msource=FC2010)

Poetry Foundation - Dearborn & Superior
Ronan's website states that the groundbreaking ceremony will be held on April 21 but I can't find any confirmation of that elsewhere
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/2315/pf1.jpg

Also note that even though it's only two floors, it's about the same height as the buildings it replaced.



:badnews::tongue::tongue::tongue: That is a terrible location to put this. It belongs somewhere in the far southside. I would prefer to see another highrise in that space (its possible)

Mansueto Library dome erection begins - May 4
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4009/4578834025_6f8ee55b5f_b.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagolibrary

^^ I think that might look a little better once its down than what it looked like on the rendering

http://news.uchicago.edu/news.php?asset_id=1995

University Selects Award-Winning Preservation Architect For Historic Building Renovation
May 20, 2010

Ann Beha Architects, a Boston firm that is a national leader in the preservation and adaptive reuse of landmark buildings, has been selected to work on renovation of 5757 S. University Avenue, which was formerly owned by the Chicago Theological Seminary.

The University purchased the Chicago Theological Seminary’s main building (5757 S. University Ave.) and McGiffert Hall (5751 S. Woodlawn Ave.) in 2008 because of the buildings’ location at the heart of the central campus and to establish a new use that will revitalize the historic architecture for decades to come. The Chicago Theological Seminary will move into a new building, currently under construction. The renovation project is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2013.

The architects at ABA have been charged with conducting a programming study to determine the academic needs of the Department of Economics and the Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics, and to assess whether the building can fully meet those needs. The University will respect the historical significance of the main Seminary building as it works with the ABA team on exterior renovations. Plans for renovating the interior, including Hilton Chapel, will be part of the overall architectural assessment.

...A top priority for the project is ensuring that the Seminary Co-op Bookstore remains a vital asset to the campus and the community. The University is working actively with the bookstore management and board to ensure that the bookstore retains its important role in a central location.
---
Construction webcam for the new CTS building
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/875/imagepzu.jpg (http://ctscam.uchicago.edu/view/index.shtml)

Will giant eye sculpture lure tourists?
By A. Pawlowski, CNN
June 7, 2010 7:41 a.m. EDT

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/TRAVEL/06/07/chicago.eyeball.sculpture/t1larg.jpg
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/06/07/chicago.eyeball.sculpture/index.html?hpt=C2 (http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/06/07/chicago.eyeball.sculpture/index.html?hpt=C2)

(CNN) -- Tourists are used to staring at unusual attractions, but visitors in Chicago, Illinois, will soon have one staring right back at them in a big way.

EYE, a three-story tall "incredibly lifelike" sculpture of an eyeball, will go on display in July in the city's Pritzker Park as part of a celebration of public art in the Loop, Chicago's business district.

The three-dimensional installation, complete with a blue iris, was created by contemporary artist Tony Tasset...

...EYE will be on display from July 7 through October. Perhaps appropriately, it ends its run on Halloween.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/06/07/chicago.eyeball.sculpture/index.html?hpt=C2

^^ Lol if I was a tourist I would never travel to chicago just to see a giant eyeball :ohno: thats just rediciulous...

^^ I know people who had made trips to the Loop to see Millennium Park when they could've just kept driving through Chicago. While that's just anecdotal evidence, I'm sure there are plenty of other people who could be persuaded to see the sights a bit more in Chicago with some provocative art.

That being said, that rendering of the eye is really creepy and I think more people would be creeped out away from the area than attracted.

^^ Lol if I was a tourist I would never travel to chicago just to see a giant eyeball :ohno: thats just rediciulous...

You obviously missed the whole "Year of the Cow".

Mansueto Library - U. of Chicago June 8, 2010 - The steel frame seems to be (nearly) complete
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4036/4682497737_b161a1a4c4_b.jpg
(Photo by John Pitcher/University of Chicago Library flickr)

http://www.suntimes.com/business/2380712,CST-NWS-uofc11.article

Lab School seeks expansion
June 11, 2010
BY DAVID ROEDER AND FRAN SPIELMAN

The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, enjoying a surge in popularity, wants to demolish the old Doctors Hospital at 5800 S. Stony Island to accommodate expansion.
http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/1105/061110uofccstfeed201006.jpg

wowow ...Great Buildings Chicago!

http://www.museum.tv/newssection.php?page=573

Governor Quinn Announces $6 Million Capital Grant for the Museum of Broadcast Communications
June 11, 2010

Governor Pat Quinn announced a $6 million capital grant to the Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) to assist with the completion of its new facility at 360 North State Street in Chicago at a MBC event this evening. As one of only three museums dedicated to broadcast history in the nation, completion of this project will help further enhance Illinois’ successful tourism industry. MBC anticipates this project will create approximately 200 jobs.

..."The Museum of Broadcast Communications is grateful that Governor Pat Quinn and the Illinois General Assembly have recognized and honored the significant role Chicago has played in American radio and television history with this grant. We will commence construction on our new home at State and Kinzie this coming Monday, creating over 200 jobs for the next year," said Bruce DuMont, President & CEO of MBC.

http://www.suntimes.com/business/2380712,CST-NWS-uofc11.article

Lab School seeks expansion
June 11, 2010
BY DAVID ROEDER AND FRAN SPIELMAN

The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, enjoying a surge in popularity, wants to demolish the old Doctors Hospital at 5800 S. Stony Island to accommodate expansion.
http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/1105/061110uofccstfeed201006.jpg

love the design! but horribly incongruous with the surroundings...

Pritzker Military Library seeks Michigan Avenue beachhead
By: Eddie Baeb April 19, 2010

I was looking for info on this move and came across this random tidbit from a winter 2010 Northbrook Chamber newsletter (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CBsQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.northbrookchamber.org%2FUserFiles%2Fjan2010news.pdf&rct=j&q=%22104+south+michigan%22+%2Bwoodwork&ei=PuEWTMP7M4KonQflk-2hCg&usg=AFQjCNHW7FoSFpQHvK_MdQ5gOSqYDClN5A) (*PDF*):

Bernhard Woodwork was recently commissioned
by general contractors Bulley and
Andrews, Chicago, to participate in the
renovation of the Pritzker Military Library,
104 South Michigan Ave., Chicago. The
project involves construction of the architectural
millwork on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th
floors of the building, particularly the two
story auditorium with balcony, the administrative,
research and display areas. The
museum features the Pritzker’s private
collection of militaria as well as areas for
research and education. The work is expected
to be completed in late 2010.

Sounds like this could be quite an expansion in a really visible location. And the Monroe building is already owned by Pritzker and houses his Tawani Foundation. Anyway, little things like this or restarting work on the MBC make my day.

http://www.suntimes.com/business/2380712,CST-NWS-uofc11.article

Lab School seeks expansion
June 11, 2010
BY DAVID ROEDER AND FRAN SPIELMAN

The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, enjoying a surge in popularity, wants to demolish the old Doctors Hospital at 5800 S. Stony Island to accommodate expansion.
http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/1105/061110uofccstfeed201006.jpg

nice info man. thanks for this...

While viewing this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKzdsz7_aNU) I saw something that looks like DePaul's new Theatre School building at Fullerton and Racine. Not sure if this is the latest Pelli design though.
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/2997/depaul.jpg

Logan Arts Center webcam
http://webcams.uchicago.edu/logan/displayimage.php?x=1278515262727 (http://webcams.uchicago.edu/logan/)

http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dcd/provdrs/afford_hous/news/2010/jun/mayor_introducesordinancessupportingaffordablehousingcommercialg.html

Griffin Theater

Another ordinance authorizes the negotiated sale of the former 20th District Police Station in the City’s Edgewater community for one dollar to turn it into a performing arts theatre.

The Griffin Theater Company will rehabilitate the 6,150 square foot building at 1940 West Foster Avenue and build an addition to create a new performing arts center in the 40th Ward.
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4760/36015493.jpg

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/2575872,CST-NWS-harbors08.article

Harbor expansion tied to Olympics is still on
31ST ST. | Scaled-down project on track without Games

7, 2010

BY LISA DONOVAN AND FRAN SPIELMAN Staff Reporters
Mayor Daley's fleeting dream of bringing the Olympics to Chicago may be water over the dam, but a plan to expand the lakefront's harbor system -- once tied to the bid for the 2016 Games -- is moving forward, albeit a bit of a scaled-down version.

Within weeks, construction will begin on a $102 million harbor at 31st Street Beach, which will include 1,000 new boat slips, as well as a single-story building housing a 235-space covered parking garage -- adjacent to a 100-space open-air parking lot -- public washrooms as well as showers and lockers for boaters, retail space and a "community room," Chicago Park District planners say.

In addition, a peninsula will be built adjacent to a pier at 31st Street -- adding an acre of parkland with views of the downtown skyline.

The harbor, with construction cost to be paid with revenue bonds, is expected to be open by spring 2012.

But plans for a restaurant and community center there have been put on hold for financial reasons, said Bob Rejman, director of lakefront construction for the Park District............

..

Lab Early Childhood Center
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/5771/eccse.jpg
http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/7268/eccpedestrian20entry.jpg
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/4343/ecccourtyardcirculation.jpg
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/7082/ecclibraryalt.jpg

DePaul Theatre School
http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/9974/depaul1.jpg
http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/3605/depaul2.jpg
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/1702/depaul3.jpg
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/6816/depaul4.jpg

They've been renovating the Monroe Building for quite some time now. You can kind of see the green Spanish tile they're using on the roof to restore the building to its original look.
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/9984/p1010773x.jpg
More interesting is the fact that the Pritzker Military Library is moving from Streeterville to this building and expanding, taking the 2nd-4th floors. The move will hopefully bring attention to this relatively unknown organization (they produce a TV program from their studio) and add another cultural destination to Michigan Avenue.
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/4437/p1010774l.jpg

Update on the Mansueto library addition @ U of C:
(photo by John Pitcher)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/4997193124_4a0248d096_b.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagolibrary/

Wow. That's just...whack. (In a good way.) Now, if we could just get DePaul to build things like this...

Update on the Mansueto library addition @ U of C:


That is just.... wow...

Wow. That's just...whack. (In a good way.) Now, if we could just get DePaul to build things like this...

Depaul isnt in the same league,
but I would argue its doing very well for itself,
much more than i ever expected from them.
Looking back to how the campus was in the seventies
and eighties they have come a long long way.
Especially when they are done with their present construction.

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/294/50330143458dd67bace0b.jpg
University of Chicago Library/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagolibrary/5033014345/)
http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/1525/5033082109dd37a2eb4cb.jpg
University of Chicago Library/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagolibrary/5033082109/)

Poetry Foundation
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/488/p1010834j.jpg

http://www.evanstonnow.com/story/news/bill-smith/2010-09-29/nu-unveils-new-music-school-plans

NU unveils new music school plans
Wednesday, September 29, 2010, at 4:42 pm by Bill Smith

Northwestern University gave Evanston city staff a look this afternoon at plans for the new Bienen Music School building on the lakefront.

The plans call for a five-story, 155,000-square-foot building with three public performance spaces sheathed in limestone and glass-clad classroom and office areas.
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/3260/fromlakeimg9417.jpg
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/3179/towardlakeimg9420.jpg

Definitely a combination of the new Astellas HQ + Block Museum

Update on various University of Chicago projects:

Knapp Center (ZGF) and Jahn's utility plant
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/9954/u1rleg4j.jpg
Stephanie V./ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/softjunebreeze/5069833434/)

New Hospital Pavilion (Vinoly) and the old CTS/ future Milton Friedman Institute (Ann Beha Architects)
http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/6063/5075488841710eac5faab.jpg
tie/chi/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/katesonaplane/5075488841/)

Mansueto Library - I can't wait for this thing to open
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/9120/5075470466e421b6fd31b.jpg
University of Chicago Library/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagolibrary/5075470466/)
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/581/5075470832b48f5e7303b.jpg
University of Chicago Library/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagolibrary/5075470832/)
http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/6429/50755147005885be32efb.jpg
University of Chicago Library/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagolibrary/5075514700/)
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/6561/5074872919b4fd2614dcb.jpg
University of Chicago Library/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uchicagolibrary/5074872919/)

Fall Update: University projects take shape on campus and worldwide (http://news.uchicago.edu/news.php?asset_id=2126)

Planning has proceeded for the Institute for Molecular Engineering to be housed within a new physical sciences building, following broad faculty input and approval of the Institute by the Council of the University Senate in February. The joint University–Argonne search committee for the Institute’s founding director, supported by a generous naming gift from the Pritzker family, began its work over the spring and summer, and plans to bring leading candidates to campus fall quarter for interviews by faculty leaders.

HOK and Jamie Carpenter have been selected as the architects for the new science building, which will be built on the site of the Research Institutes building and will house the Institute for Molecular Engineering and portions of the Physical Sciences Division. Schematic designs will be completed this fall, and the Research Institutes building will be vacated beginning in early 2011 in preparation for the new construction.

Amazing shot (http://www.flickr.com/photos/yochicago1/5149584735/) of Mansueto Library from the air by YoChicago.

Memorial for the Navy - obviously shaped like a ship's bow with some kind of water feature
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/1909/navy1r.jpg
http://img574.imageshack.us/img574/3682/navy2.jpg

North Grant Park Renovation Plans (http://www.grantparkconservancy.com/calendar.html)

When: Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - 6:30 p.m.
Where: Columbia College Chicago, Stage Two Center
618 S Michigan Avenue, 2nd Floor

Columbia College Chicago has graciously agreed to host us! Come out and review the concept plans for the North Grant Park Renovation Project. The landscape architecture firm, MVVA, will present plans and gather input. We have worked with them and the Chicago Park District on what are very exciting plans. A large-scale model and images will be presented. This plan was created after the Chicago Park District and GPC/GPAC organized a large public input meeting attended by over 200 people as well as input taken via the internet and several other public meetings.

We need your input to further refine the plans. They include many very interesting and innovative concepts with all-season design and activities as well as other creative outdoor spaces connecting Millennium Park to the Lake. The plans are very green.
Thank you for your participation!

National Museum of Health + Medicine - Chicago satellite location
Smith + Gill

They are currently trying to raise $5 million with an additional $40 million needed to complete the museum by 2014. You can find more information about what the museum will include here (http://buonacorsi.net/joomla1/index.php/the-chicago-expansion.html).

AS+GG envisions a new kind of museum that is itself a living organism: both metaphorically in
keeping with the museum’s theme + content, and literally, as the high performance building
will actually generate its own sustainable energy. As visitors engage with interactive exhibits
throughout the museum, they will be able to individually generate energy that will power the
building--mirroring the activities of nutrients within the human body.

These developing energy technologies--such as a heel-strike system which harvests force
produced by foot traffic-- will be visually represented on both interior surfaces and the building
envelope, showing visitors the “real-time” display of their energy generation. When the museum is
lightly populated it will exude a quiet energy; at peak times it will visibly flicker and pulse from the
physical presence of its occupants.

The building’s facade will also incorporate a new high-tech “wrapper” that projects imagery
relating to the museum and its programming. This dynamic exterior will intrigue visitors and
engage in an architectural dialogue with the Pritzker Pavilion bandshell to the east on Washington Street.

The foundation of NMH+MC’s green agenda is the adaptive re-use of the original building, a key
principle of sustainable construction. The Washington Street façade, which will be visible through
the translucent wrapper, will be refreshed by replacing missing portions and extending around to
the east side, which is not currently exposed to public view.

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/10/nmh1.jpg
http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/7037/nmh5.jpg
http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/1723/nmh3.jpg
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/7820/nmh2.jpg
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/2/nmh4.jpg

^^
This is a very nice project, I wish they build it, Chicago needs places like this one

New University of Chicago science building
HOK + James Carpenter
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/7285/sci1a.jpg
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/9986/sci2.jpg
http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/338/sci3.jpg
http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/6595/sci4.jpg

University of Chicago lighting project
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/341/52974447655d482f7a3ez.jpg
Bryan Chang/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bchang/5297444765/)
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/9425/5298041740bf41b3cb30b.jpg
Bryan Chang/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bchang/5298041740/in/photostream/)

http://news.uchicago.edu/news.php?asset_id=2202

Laboratory Schools early childhood facility named for alumnus Earl Shapiro
January 4, 2011

...Earl Shapiro Hall will be located in the 5800 block of South Stony Island Avenue. The City Council approved the plans for the early childhood campus in November. Construction on the new building is scheduled to begin next fall, with completion projected for summer 2013.
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/7505/110105shapiro.jpg

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/2681/newshapiroimage.jpg
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/9241/47846661.jpg
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/2524/pedestrianentrance.jpg

Logan Arts Center update
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/9074/5404337189d090b44d2ab.jpg
Web Services - IT Services/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nsitwebservices/5404337189/in/set-72157625821174399/)
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/716/5404334003a04d01cbb5b.jpg
Web Services - IT Services/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nsitwebservices/5404334003/in/set-72157625821174399/)
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/653/5404940570f463001abdb.jpg
Web Services - IT Services/ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nsitwebservices/5404940570/in/set-72157625821174399/)

^^^

How come IIT haven't built crap in years? Its seems like the only college in this city that is not expanding.

How come IIT haven't built crap in years? Its seems like the only college in this city that is not expanding.

With a diminishing student population there really isn't a need for lots of new construction. On top of that, a good portion of the main campus is landmark protested, so it makes more sense to invest in the existing structures since you have to keep them anyways. It is a huge campus for roughly 7,000 total students, many of which commute to the area... if enrollment starts to blossom once again you will see more expansion.

ps... are the 2003 works of Rem Koolhaas and Helmut Jahn not recent enough for you?

Poetry Foundation
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/3306/p1010898r.jpg
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/9110/p1010899e.jpg

Northwestern's new Bienen School of Music should start construction this spring

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/5503/bienen.jpg
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/7693/aerialview.jpg
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/4687/eastview.jpg
http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/3893/westview.jpg
http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/1197/bsmrecitalhall.jpg

^^^

How come IIT haven't built crap in years? Its seems like the only college in this city that is not expanding.

They have been redeveloping existing buildings significantly of late. They most recently completed the Technology Park, just to the west of IIT Tower, in what was before that a nearly entirely unused building. Before that, they did renovations of two of their lecture halls on 33rd Street, upgrading the mechanical systems and replacing the windows. Before that was the Helmut Jahn dorms which were preceded by the Campus Center. Main Building also got an ADA upgrade that included a new elevator and reworked bathrooms, along with some other interior remodeling.

I am not aware as to whether they carried them out yet, but there were also plans in the works to do gut/rehabs on what are commonly referred to as the "married dorms" on the north end of campus, just south of the baseball field.

The school has been building new or renovating for about a decade now and isn't planning to stop.

The master plan for the campus involves reworking the entire "quad" area where the fraternities and sororities currently reside, though this is currently, and will remain, a highly politicized task, as the school is very passively aggressively attempting to force the entire greek community off campus. This will prove difficult as most of the fraternities have very strong contracts in place to remain where they are and don't plan on going anywhere if they're not getting brand new houses out of the school accompanied by guarantees that they can remain on campus.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/4731323-418/new-pritzker-military-library-opens-on-south-michigan-avenue.html

New Pritzker Military Library opens on South Michigan Avenue
BY KARA SPAK

U.S. military forces have advanced onto Michigan Avenue.

The uniforms, medals, flags and thousands of military-related books in the Pritzker Military Library were recently transferred to spacious new digs at 104 S. Michigan Ave., across the street from the Art Institute of Chicago.

In 40,000 square feet, the private nonprofit foundation aims to tell in a nonpartisan way the story of the military through the lives of the men and women who have served in uniform.

Would be willing to bet that the architect of NU's school of music is the same as Penn State's graduate school of law.

http://worldontrial.psu.edu/images/trailer.jpg (http://worldontrial.psu.edu/)

Good thing nobody took me up on the bet!

Penn State's Dickinson School of Law was designed by New York City's Ennead Architects (http://ennead.com/#/projects/dickinson-school-of-law) while Northwestern's Bienen School of Music was designed by Chicago's very own Goettsch Partners (http://www.gpchicago.com/users/folder.asp?FolderID=1542&SubCat=the+americas).

Good thing nobody took me up on the bet!

Penn State's Dickinson School of Law was designed by New York City's Ennead Architects (http://ennead.com/#/projects/dickinson-school-of-law) while Northwestern's Bienen School of Music was designed by Chicago's very own Goettsch Partners (http://www.gpchicago.com/users/folder.asp?FolderID=1542&SubCat=the+americas).

I guess it's off topic, but that Penn State law building infuriates me. It looks nice, but you can't touch it. It's set off in the center of a field for no apparent reason, way off on the edge of campus. It's beautiful, but they might as well have put it in the center of a big, deadening Soviet plaza.

Would be willing to bet that the architect of NU's school of music is the same as Penn State's graduate school of law.

http://worldontrial.psu.edu/images/trailer.jpg (http://worldontrial.psu.edu/)


reminds me of University of Illinois's Temple Hoyne Buell Hall which is also set off in a hidden corner of the South Quad.

http://www.perkinswill.com/files/project-imagery/UofIllTempleBuell_Exterior_main2.jpg

Beneath this bubble, a book-storing marvel; Jahn's ambitious design for new Mansueto Library will prove good for students as well as their research material

Cityscapes by Blair Kamin
May 18, 2011

Call it the Book Bubble. The Dome for Tomes. Or the Spaceship That Made Reading Oh-So-Cool.

However you describe it, Chicago architect Helmut Jahn’s audacious new Joe and Rika Mansueto Library at the University of Chicago is a convention-busting marvel, pairing a soaring elliptical dome that shelters a grand reading room with a dramatic underground storage space in which giant robotic cranes retrieve books stacked in mausoleum-like bins of stainless steel.

Mark my word: a sci-fi thriller or a movie like “The Social Network” will be shot in this library someday. It is an ingeniously conceived and largely well-executed design, one that students seem to love because it lets natural light pour inside, liberating them from the university’s dimly-lit reading rooms.

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2011/05/beneath-this-bubble-a-book-storing-marvel-jahns-ambitious-design-for-new-mansueto-library-will-prove.html

All images are from: http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/
http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/7972/mansueto4.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/854/mansueto4.jpg/)

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/3856/mansueto2.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/820/mansueto2.jpg/)

http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/7876/mansueto3.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/848/mansueto3.jpg/)

Robotic book retrieval system
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/4016/mansueto1.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/32/mansueto1.jpg/)

Milton Friedman Institute (University of Chicago)
http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/2348/friedman1.jpg
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/189/friedman2.jpg
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4227/chicago5.jpg
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/2717/chicago6u.jpg
http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/2499/chicago7m.jpg
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/3258/chicago8.jpg