Chicago architecture honored

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Chicago architecture honored

By Blair Kamin
Tribune architecture critic
Published November 19, 2004

Good architecture is impossible without good clients. That was the theme Thursday as the Chicago Architecture Foundation recognized the clients who made possible Millennium Park, new buildings at the Illinois Institute of Technology and a bold new condominium tower.

At a luncheon at the Palmer House, the non-profit foundation presented its first awards seeking to promote innovation among developers and other architectural clients. Known as the Patron of the Year Awards, the honors were presented in three categories--commercial, institutional and governmental.

The commercial award went to CMK Development Corp. and its president, Colin Kihnke. The firm developed the Contemporaine, a 15-story condominium high-rise designed by Ralph Johnson of Perkins & Will. Located at 516 N. Wells St., the building is a pinwheeling composition of exposed concrete.

The Illinois Institute of Technology received the institutional award. IIT was recognized for its campus master plan by Chicago architect Dirk Lohan and for its new buildings, the McCormick Tribune Campus Center by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and the State Street Village dormitories by Chicago architect Helmut Jahn.

The govenmental award went to a variety of clients for Millennium Park, the 24.5-acre extravaganza in the northwest corner of Grant Park.

They include Mayor Richard Daley, the project's prime political backer; Miguel d'Escoto, Chicago commissioner of transportation, who was recognized for the Millennium Park bicycle shelter, designed by Muller & Muller of Chicago; and John Bryan, chairman of Millennium Park Inc., who helped raise contributions for the park.

Also lauded were some of the park's private patrons: the Crown Family for the Crown Fountain, designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa with Krueck & Sexton Architects of Chicago; Joan W. Harris and her late husband, Irving, for the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, designed by Thomas Beeby of Hammond Beeby Rupert Ainge of Chicago; BP for the BP Bridge, designed by Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry; and the Pritzker family for the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, also by Gehry.

Stein, Ray & Harris, a Chicago law firm that represents construction-industry clients, sponsored the awards. Sarah Amelar, a senior editor at New York-based Architectural Record magazine, chaired a seven-member jury.
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune