South Loop/Prairie District Events

I got an e-mail today from the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance that has a couple of items in it worth passing along:

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Frank Lloyd Wright and the Fine Art Interior

Friends of Historic Second Church is pleased to announce the second lecture of the 2010 Evening Lecture Series: 

Date:   Thursday, May 6, 2010
Time:   6:00pm reception / 7:00pm lecture
Place:  Second Presbyterian Church, 1936 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60616
Cost:    $5
For more into email historic2ndchurch@yahoo.com or call 800-657-0687.

In 1898, Frank Lloyd Wright opened his Oak Park studio with the intent of revolutionizing American architecture. His furniture designs and interior compositions were vital to the unified environments he created for each commission. He hired artists, sculptors, and skilled craftsmen, such as Richard Bock, Orlando Giannini, and George Mann Niedecken, to assist in achieving his vision. As a result of these collaborations, living rooms were filled with Wright's straightforward furniture mingling effortlessly with reproduction Hellenistic sculptures and vibrant contemporary murals; sunlight streamed through elaborate art glass windows to light entryways; and color and pattern could be found not only on the walls but in custom-designed rugs and fabrics. Together the overall effect led to a new era of progressive residential design. 

Brian Reis, Assistant Curator at the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, will present the second lecture of Friends of Historic Second Church's 2010 Evening Lecture Series.  The 2010 Evening Lecture Series has been generously funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

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Reminder - New Docent Training to begin in April


Tours of the stunning art and architecture of Second Presbyterian Church are vital to the mission of Friends of Historic Second Church, which is to educate a worldwide audience about the building's historical and cultural significance. The backbone of the tour program is the well-informed corps of docents who graciously share their time and knowledge with thousands of tour guests.

Schedule: Four 1-1/2 hour sessions beginning at 6:30pm will be held on the following Wednesday evenings: April 28, May 5, May 12, and May 19.

Enrollment: Friends invites your participation in the docent training and requests that trainees commit to attend all four training sessions, as make-up sessions will not be offered. Those interested in learning about the art and architecture but who do not wish to become docents are also invited to enroll. There is a $10 materials fee payable on the first night of training. If you wish to sign up, please send an email to historic2ndchurch@yahoo.com and an enrollment form will be emailed back to you. 

Columbia College Gets a New Dorm

The colleges in Chicago's Loop just keep expanding.  The latest is Columbia College.

It's leasing a 16-story building at 626 South Clark Street, formerly known as the Dwight Lofts.  Sorry I can't post a photo of the building right now.  I have one, but can't access it right now since I'm writing this on a train.

Columbia is giving up its dorm at Two East 8th Street.

Here's Columbia's press release:

More on Columbia College's New Media Production Center

A couple of days ago I published an article here about Columbia College's new Media Production Center (1600 South State Street).  Although the location is starting to get a little off the beaten path, the building is very well done.  More importantly, it preserves a piece of Chicago's silent film history -- a chapter of the Windy City's evolution that is too often overlooked or forgotten.

In that article I also whined that my attempts at getting on Columbia College's media distribution list over the last year or so had fallen on deaf ears.  The most recent attempt was December 3, 2009.  Fortunately, Steve Kaufmann saw my complaint posted here and took it upon himself to rectify the situation.  Now the (hard to believe) thousands of people who read this blog will be a little better informed.

If any other P.R. folks are reading this, you can send your releases to press@chicagoarchitecture.info and either I, or the other employee here will take care of it.

Mr. Kaufmann sent along the official press release for the MPC, and some photos of the interior and exterior.  Much better pictures than I've seen elsewhere.  As always, click on the pictures to make them bigger, and you can read the full Columbia release after the pics.

Columbia College Chicago Officially Opens Media Production Center,

Its First Newly Constructed Building in 120-Year History

Designed for form, function and sustainability, the 35,500-square-foot South Loop facility 

provides students with state-of-the-art professional production studios

  

(February 5, 2010) Columbia College Chicago’s first newly constructed building in its 120-year history – the $21 million Media Production Center (MPC) at the southwest corner of 16^th and State Streets – will provide film and media arts students with invaluable hands-on experience in a state-of-the-art professional production studio while creating a next-generation collaborative learning environment.

The 35,500-square-foot facility, designed by Chicago architect Jeanne Gang & Studio Gang Architects, officially marks its opening today (Feb. 5) with a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by Columbia College Chicago President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D. and Board Chairman Allen M. Turner with Mayor Richard M. Daley. The building opened to students for the start of spring semester classes on Monday, Jan. 25.

“This hands-on facility will allow Columbia College to completely change how filmmaking and other communications arts are taught,” said Dr. Carter. “Our faculty collaborated closely with the amazing team at Studio Gang to design the Media Production Center. From the outset, the goal was to provide a 21^st century professional experience for our 4,200 School of Media Arts students to replicate the environment they’ll encounter in the working world.”

The MPC experience also provides for enhanced collaboration among media arts students and faculty in a variety of disciplines, with many production classes now under one roof.

“We didn’t just build a soundstage, we built an integrated curriculum encouraging interaction and collaboration between students across disciplines and departments, including Film & Video, Interactive Arts and Media, and Television,” said Doreen Bartoni, dean, School of Media Arts. “In this new age of film, video and television, segments of the industry are increasingly sharing skills and crossing boundaries - consider films like Avatar, combining both computer animation and live action footage.”

“This is our first building developed from the ground up, and we’re certainly pleased to have it come in under budget and on time – less than 12 months from our groundbreaking,” added Turner. “I’m also proud of how we were able to deliver our vision of this building as a breathtaking yet practical experience for faculty, staff and students that cannot be equaled by any other teaching facility in the world.”

The MPC was constructed for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification with a number of key sustainable design elements. They include a 50-percent green roof, radiant heating and cooling in the two soundstages, extensive use of windows for natural lighting throughout the building, and sets of lobby/mezzanine lighting fixtures that can progressively illuminate the lobby area as outdoor light decreases.

The 40,000-square-foot site, a vacant lot, was a “brown field” when it was sold to the college in 2008 by the City of Chicago specifically to build the MPC and help enhance the emerging neighborhood.  

“I’ve witnessed the transformation of this formerly contaminated plot of land into an architecturally significant, environmentally sustainable building that is a welcome addition to the revitalization of this area. Already, activity generated with classes in this building is increasing patronage to local businesses,” said Third Ward Alderman Pat Dowell.

“It has been truly remarkable watching the MPC come into fruition. The quality and style of films and media we create are now limited solely by our dreams,” said senior film student Michael Lencioni, Columbia Student Government Association executive officer and student representative to the Board of Trustees.

Highlights of the Media Production Center (MPC) include:

• Two professional soundstages (7,300 square feet and 2,200 square feet) will allow for Film & Video students to experience the culture of high-end studio film production both by observation from soundstage bleachers and eventually by hands-on participation

• A 2,000-square-foot Motion Capture Studio for the creation of 2D and 3D film and gaming will allow students to better understand and visualize human movement using sophisticated 12-camera motion capture technology at professional industry standards. The Motion Capture Studio was designed to integrate state-of-the-art learning technologies with the study of 3D computer animation, digital filmmaking and game arts.

• An animation lab, a high-tech set of classrooms, provides students with industry-leading technology for development of computer-aided design and animation

• Four “wired” classrooms with fiber optic technology to link the soundstages and Motion Capture Studio to classes, including the camera-eye-view, so that students can learn from the processes being conducted elsewhere in the facility in real time

• A fully equipped, 2,000-square-foot Production Shop with loading dock for the design, construction and delivery of set pieces

• A docking area for the college’s two-year-old High Definition Media Production Truck that connects to internal cabling to enable live feeds from the facility with professional and student operators

• An 11-by-13-foot LED screen, suspended in the lobby, comprises seven adjustable 9-foot-high LED panels that can operate seamlessly as one screen or independently and can rotate 180 degrees for film and video viewing  

• The 25-foot–tall terra cotta Lasky Arch, an artifact from the now-demolished, nearby office of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, the parent company of Paramount Pictures formed in 1916 by Adolph Zukor. It uniquely honors Chicago’s important role in early film industry

Columbia's New Building Has A Crunchy Surprise Center

Today was the day that Columbia College debuted its new Media Production Center (1600 South State Street) in the South Loop.  We weren't there because our repeated requests to be added to Columbia College's press release distribution list have fallen on deaf ears.  I guess we're just not good enough for a college that constantly gets confused with a more prestigious institution elsewhere.

Regardless, WBEW blogger Lee Bey was all over it, publishing a piece early this morning with lots of pictures inside and out.  The Chicago Tribune's Blair Kamen came along later with his story, heavier on meat, but lighter on potatoes.  Kamen uses words like "vibrant" and "inspired" to describe Jeanne Gang's latest production.  But then again, I've never read an article by Mr. Kamen involving Ms. Gang that didn't involve a certain amount of gushing.  Bey goes with, "a nice piece of work... that doesn’t visually scream across the intersection, yet it will hardly be ignored."  I'm going to abstain since I haven't been inside.

My primary interest in this new building isn't the new building -- it's the old building trapped inside.  Back when it was still warm in Chicago, I wandered past this construction site and saw the wonderful arch behind glass.  At the time I wondered if it was historic or a recreation, and couldn't find anything on the internet about "Famous Players Lasky."  Fortunately, Mr. Bey is a better researcher than I.  According to his write-up, the arch once stood as part of a building on 13th Street and Michigan Avenue, designed by Rapp & Rapp.

It's a wonderful piece of Chicago history, and if you're not aware of the city's historic leading role in the film industry (Chicago was Hollywood before there even was a Hollywood), take some time to do some research.  It's a shame that Chicago is now a studio backwater, but it's fascinating to learn about how the film industry was pretty much born here.

Status Update: OneMuseum Park West

One Museum Park West (1201 South Prairie Avenue) is chugging along pretty quickly these days.  The crane is down and the glass is up to the top.  The developer should be able to stick the proverbial fork in this one pretty soon.  It's hard to tell since the building's web site hasn't been updated in 11 months.

Video: New Book About Soldier Field

There always seems to be a new book coming out about Chicago and its buildings.  The latest one focuses on Soldier Field.  It's called Soldier Field: A Stadium and its History. Its author, Liam Ford, was interviewed about it on WTTW's Chicago Tonight program:

Slice of Life: The Triangle Sunrooms

At one point in my life I lived in an old paint warehouse that was converted into lofts.  So I'm always interested seeing how other loft conversions are done.  This is one of the best ideas I've seen in a long time.  It's the old Merganthaler Linotype Building (531 South Plymouth Court), which was renovated in 1980.  The space between two windows was joined by a metal triangular floor, and then the whole thing enclosed in two walls of glass.  Since the whole thing is south-facing, it makes for a great solarium.  I wish I had something like that at my old loft.

Slice of Life: The Shedd at the End of the Street

In the South Loop, ooking east on Roosevelt Road, past the Hotel Roosevelt , The Columbian , 1212 South Michigan , and One Museum Park West toward the Shedd Aquarium way off in at the end of the street.

Slice of Life: The Pining Icee

A blue Icee® gazes out the window of the Roosevelt Road Target store at the South Loop skyline wondering what life would be like if he wasn't a Blue Icee.

In other news, we finally have to acknowledge that there is a South Loop skyline:

South Loop Surface Lot Lives to Park Another Day

It's not easy being a surface parking lot in Chicago.  People think you're ugly.  They drive all over you.  They let their dogs wee on you.  They wish you were replaced by nice gleaming towers of glass, steel, and stone.  Well, one surface lot is going to hold on a little longer, thanks to the flaccid economy.

The apartment complex proposed for the southwest corner of Clark and Polk isn't going to happen.  At least not any time soon, according to Crain's Chicago Business Chicago Real Estate Daily.  It quotes the developer as saying that groundbreaking has been pushed back until at least May, 2010 -- maybe further, depending on what happens with the economy.

The same article notes that the property immediately to the south will have the opposite future, but for the same reasons.

Because of the bad economy, no one wants to buy the property at 1000 South Clark that's been on the market for months.  Now the owner is going to develop part of it into low-end retail to at least recoup some money while waiting out the recession.

It remains to be seen exactly what kinds of stores would end up along Clark Street.  The article states, "D2 aims to attract lower-priced retailers that need bigger spaces and want to be next to a Target."  That sounds an awful lot like "dollar store" to our uneducated ears.  Let's hope the developer's desperation doesn't turn what was once a promising location into something less than desirable.

What to do About the Unfinished Bit of Grant Park?

The city of Chicago's great "front lawn" has been a work in progress for over 100 years.  From swamp to dumping ground to parade ground to playground, it has long been a great urban space that the city almost... but not quite... figured out how to embrace.

The latest piece of this puzzle being worked on is the southwest corner.  We're talking about an are north of Roosevelt Road, and west of Columbus Drive.  Mostly what's there now is Illinois Central railroad tracks, a great big lawn, and a sprawling sculpture called Agora.

This area was actually zoned for a residential skyscraper.  But the owner, who is also the developer of Central Station, gave the land to the city to complete Grant Park's quadrangle.  Now the question is -- what to do with it?

The obvious answer is to deck over the railroad track and build another Disneyfied fantasy park like the one up at Randolph and Michigan Avenue.  But that means money.  And is it really the best use of that space?

(Jon Orlove of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture presents his firm's vision of what the park could be)

A public meeting was held last week to gather ideas about what the park should -- and shouldn't -- be.  Not surprisingly, the crowd was mostly elderly, and mostly interested in seeing the area used as a traditional park.  By "traditional" we mean wide lawns with occasional groves of trees.  They see it as the only natural use of a park, and the only way to bring nature in the city.

There were dissenters in the crowd, and one of them very astutely pointed out that there is absolutely nothing natural about lawns and manicured groves of trees.  In fact, the traditional park landscape is about as far from nature as one can get without actually laying asphalt.

Still, the notion persisted that this corner of Grant Park should be much like the rest of it -- open lawn with the occasional alley of trees.

This is a real shame, because the two firms that are working on the project presented some really imaginative proposals.  Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture and EDAW|AECOM are the two finalists chosen to rehab the space.  They showed some magnificent examples of public spaces from Paris to Barcelona to Croatia.  They talked about ways to use rainwater to power fountains, plants to clean storm water runoff, solar cells to illuminate the walkways, and the power of human feet to generate electricity.  It's all very fascinating stuff.  The stated goal is to not just make the park energy neutral, but to actually have the park create more energy than it uses, and leave the surrounding air and water cleaner than it was before.

While it's nice to have a park as a showcase, the overwhelming sentiment on all sides is that this shouldn't be another Millennium Park.  Millennium Park has done great things for the city, its profile, and its finances.  But the new (Insert Corporate Sponsor Name Here) Park at the corner of Michigan and Roosevelt shouldn't be for tourists -- it should be for the locals.

To that end, there was lots of talk about bright, but subtle illumination at night that would draw people from the neighborhood into the park.  There was also a call for some kind of activity that would allow this to be a year-round park.  Maybe some kind of skating facility that would link to Monroe Harbor.  Or a sledding hill.  Or maybe a cafe or other property that would draw people in year-round.  Also seen as important is seating.  One jogger noted that there are virtually no places to sit south of Balbo Drive.

Everyone seemed appreciative of a slide showing the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris where 5,000 chairs are scattered throughout the park for people to re-arrange and enjoy at a whim.  Interestingly, though, the slides showed a very woodsy portion of the park.  We've been there, and it's mostly lawns and parade ground, and all those chairs are not very welcoming on a hot Gallic afternoon.

Speaking of Paris, and there was much speaking of Paris that night, there is apparently a park somewhere in the city that have the same problem as Grant Park -- a giant rail line cleaved through the middle.  That unnamed park found a solution -- the gravel rail beds have been replaced with a carpet of blooming flowers that change patterns during the summer.  Since the trains easily clear the plants, the two manage to coexist in a single space, and what was once an ugly scar has been turned into a floral work of art.  It's certainly compelling, especially considering Maggie Daley's fascination with flowers and the great job the city does with landscaping certain areas.  The idea was actually proposed by the same woman who designed Millennium Park's Lurie Garden.

Though the park plan is still in its early stages, expect progress to be rapid.  The goal is to have a plan ready to present to the International Olympic Committee when it comes to inspect our fair city in April, 2009.  Grant Park is a key to Chicago's proposed Olympic experience, and this corner is intended to be a gateway linking the Olympic village and sports venues with the spectator and event zones in Grant Park.