Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
All this hand-wringing about whether Chicago is still on top - to all the doubters, name a single city in the world that is doing its own thing with building design, developing a unique new style.
Architectural movements will not take place in a localized fashion anymore, and we need to recognize that. The Chicago School was born out of a very small group of architects who collectively received hundreds of commissions for the booming early Chicago. When such a small group is asked to produce so much design, a style is bound to emerge. A similar thing happened with Mies, who came to Chicago and inculcated his disciples at IIT with his own brand of modernism. These students went out and formed their own firms, receiving commissions from around the world.
We now see the opposite, where many top-name firms compete for relatively few high-profile projects, and the other 99% of development receives poor-quality pastiches of modernism and traditional styles.
In a world where developers look around the world for the design of their projects, and large architectural firms operate out of multiple cities, movements and ideas in architecture will not form on a local basis. It's ridiculous to expect the buildings in any one city to be extraordinarily innovative when thousands of other cities are also being innovative at the same time.
I think what matters for the future of Chicago architecture is that we retain the amazing volume of talent and ideas that flow out of Chicago firms. We have an incredibly strong architectural community here that rivals any in the world, including top firms, schools, conferences, and organizations. We even have a strong public interest in architecture.
Let's stop all this insane comparing of cities and take a look back. Notice, for god's sake, the sheer amount of good buildings and architects we have in this city. What more is required?
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I will most certainly not deny that. Chicago has given birth to some of the most famous and well known architects of modern (possibly of all) time.
But to circle back with what you said in the first paragraph, I can indeed name many cities that are "doing their own thing" and "developing unique styles." New York, Dubai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghi, London, Las Vegas. Those are just a few names. What Chicago is doing to the skyscraper is without a doubt amazing, but it is indeed not alone. All of those cites I listed are producing or recently have produced, amazing structures that are quite unique. Different from what the eye has ever seen in a skyscraper.
Chicago is taking skyscrapers and architecture to new levels, but so are many other cities. That's the bottom line.