George Jetson meets Blade Runner: Architects on the Future of Chicago

Blair Kamin reviews the futuristic showcase, "Big. Bold. Visionary. Chicago Architects Consider the Next Century," curated by architect, Edward Keegan, on the anniversary of Burnham and Bennett's Plan of Chicago.

1 minute read

September 11, 2009, 8:00 AM PDT

By Alek Miller

"One of the reasons the Chicago Plan is celebrated today is that it was carried out piecemeal. We should be grateful that Chicago did not get everything Burnham and Bennett wanted, most notably a gargantuan, domed city hall that anticipated Albert Speer's megalomaniacal visions for Hitler's Berlin.

Plans that accept the framework of the existing city, but transform it, are often preferable to sexy, attention-getting drawings that suggest wholesale change."

"Smart additive architecture is also on display in a design floated by Keith Campbell of the Chicago office of RTKL for a new pier at 18th Street that would serve as a bookend to Navy Pier. Unlike Navy Pier, however, this pier, containing marinas and a farmers market, would be part of the real city, not a tourist trap."

FULL STORY: Chicago in the future

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 in Chicago Tribune

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