This year, these projects raised our spirits
The design of St. Regis Chicago, a new bridge, pandemic-ready Rush Hospital among them
Even asCOVID-19 upended, and ended, lives, architecture raised our sights and spirits. Here are the year’s best projects fromChicago.
1. The St. Regis Chicago, the city’s third-tallest building and theworld’s tallest building designed by awoman, graced the skyline with its undulating curves and sophisticated environmentalism.
Designed by Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang, the 1,191-foot hotel and condominiumtower at 363 E. Wacker Drive is topped in Chicago only by the 1,451-footWillis Tower and 1,369-foot Trump International Hotel& Tower. In lateNovember, the skyscraper, previously called “Vista Tower,” was renamed “The St. Regis Chicago.”
2. Wolf Point East, a 665-foot apartment high-rise byNewHaven, Connecticut, architects Pelli Clarke Pelli, added another bright presence to the skyline, this one atWolf Point along the Chicago River. The tower’s thin-layered planes and handsomely detailed exterior provided a contemporary counterpart to the strong vertical lines and powerful limestone facade of the neighboringMerchandiseMart.
3. After escaping demolition and years of dashed hopes for redevelopment, old Cook CountyHospital reopened as a hotel, food hall and home of Cook County medical offices. TheWest Side project, by Skidmore, Owings& Merrill andKOO architects, gave new life to a powerful symbol of compassionate care for the poor at the very time doctors, nurses and other medical professions battled the coronavirus.
4. When a 14-story hospital at Rush UniversityMedical Center opened along the Eisenhower Expressway in 2012, its butterfly-shaped exteriorwas the focus of attention. This year, that focus shifted to the building’s interior, whichwas designed to serve as a treatment center in the event of a bioterrorist attack or pandemic.
The forward-looking project, by architects Perkins andWill, put the hospital on the front lines in the region’s fight against the coronavirus.
5. Always an antidote to crowded cities, parks and other public spaces assumed fresh importance as a relief value to stay-athome orders prompted byCOVID-19.
One of the bestwas the Riverview Bridge, a gently curving, ultra-long pedestrian and bike bridge over theNorth Branch of the Chicago River. Itwas designed by AndrewMetter, a former principal at the Chicago architecture and engineering firm of Epstein.
6. In a dramatic departure fromits Collegiate Gothic past, theUniversity of Chicago opened theDavid Rubenstein Forum, a bold series of stacked boxes that will host conferences, academic symposiums and other meetings.
Designed byNew York architects Diller Scofido + Renfro, the 10-story high-rise is expected to carry out its convening role once the pandemic ends.
7. The drive to protect buildings that reflect Black history reached a milestone when the Commission on Chicago Landmarks recommended landmark status for the Chicago house of Emmett Till, whose brutal murder in Mississippi helped spark the civil rightsmovement.
In another positive step, a local nonprofit purchased the redbrick two-flat at 6427 S. St. Lawrence Ave. and will try to turn it into a museum.
8. The female namesake of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s FarnsworthHousewon long-overdue recognition in a fascinating exhibition that restored her presence to the modernist landmark in far southwest suburban Plano. Curated by ScottMehaffey, the show, titled “Edith Farnsworth’s CountryHouse,” replaced the house’s coolly elegant Miesian furniture with modern pieces, often inwood and influenced by Scandinavian design, that Farnsworth herself chose.
9. An engaging traveling exhibition showcased thework of Balkrishna Doshi, who in 2018 became the first architect from India to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Titled “Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People,” the exhibition at theWrightwood 659 gallery (running through Dec. 12, though the gallery is
closed) highlighted ideas and buildings that uplift human experience.
10. A chance to peek inside Chicago’s architectural gems has long been the chief attraction of the OpenHouse Chicago, but whenCOVID-19 made indoor tours verboten, the festival’s organizer, the Chicago Architecture Center, nimbly switched to outdoor and online tours.
The change produced an innovative smartphone app that served as a guide to more than 20 city and suburban neighborhoods. More than 38,500 people used the app and the OpenHousewebsite, according to the architecture center.