CHICAGO: Old Prentice Hospital - a Goldberg masterpiece being shamefully demolished

[Lecom]

Originally Posted by george

7-20

A keeper

I really love the connection detail between the arches at the very bottom of the concrete structure. Mid-century buildings like these often present deceptively simple forms, making it easy to miss fine structural details like that.

[ThatOneGuy]

I don't understand how people find this building nice and then say the Verizon Building is ugly...

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by ThatOneGuy

I don't understand how people find this building nice and then say the Verizon Building is ugly...

the verison building isn't ugly, just dreadfully bland and boring

prentice, on the hand, isn't pretty or ugly, it's just magical.

cantilevered arches.

genius!

[The North One]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

the verison building isn't ugly, just dreadfully bland and boring

prentice, on the hand, isn't pretty or ugly, it's just magical.

cantilevered arches.

genius!

Why not just continue the floors all the way down. Would it have made any difference?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by The North One

Why not just continue the floors all the way down. Would it have made any difference?

no magic.

[Standpoor]

I would give all my money if every architect just submitted plans for the current building. The amusement of it would make it worth it.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Lecom

I really love the connection detail between the arches at the very bottom of the concrete structure. Mid-century buildings like these often present deceptively simple forms, making it easy to miss fine structural details like that.

The top floor of the podium was added later. Originally that overlap detail was much more visible.

[ThatOneGuy]

It looks like a Soviet nuclear bunker with a chemical weapons manufacturing facility on top.

[PhillyToNYC]

I really don't like this building. If it were tore down and replaced with a glass box, I honestly would be more impressed.

[modkris]

It's a little worn out, but you have to see it in person. It can be cleaned up very easily. It's just so perfectly odd and of it's time and so much more interesting than all of the newer Northwestern buildings that surround it. It's designed by one of Chicago's most important architects ever and if this city doesn't preserve it, I will be incredibly pissed off. All the haters just don't get it. This is Bertrand Goldberg! This is Chicago! Can't believe there is even the slightest possibility that this would be torn down. Shouldn't even be up for debate.

[ThatOneGuy]

People don't hate this building because it's in 'Merica. If it were in China it would be hated.

[plinko]

^No. This is the equivalent of trying to tear down an old Oscar Niemeyer building in Sao Paulo or Kenzo Tange building in Tokyo because you don't like the shape.

It's part of the Chicago architectural vernacular. The fact that you and others don't happen to find it appealing (and can't see past that to at least appreciate what it contributes) doesn't change that.

[-Filipe-]

yea..no tear it down, waste of space

[Steely Dan]

here's some radical thinking:


A Vision to Avoid Demolition for a ’70s Pioneer

CHICAGO — A familiar sort of preservation battle has been stewing for months here over the fate of the old Prentice Women’s Hospital, a concrete, cloverleaf structure from 1975 by Bertrand Goldberg, the Chicago architect. It’s a groundbreaking, wonderful oddball among the architectural monuments in this city. High-profile designers like Frank Gehry, Jeanne Gang, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien have signed petitions entreating Northwestern University, which owns the building, not to tear it down, arguing for landmark status and pleading for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to step in.

The architect Jeanne Gang's vision for a new research tower on top of the hospital. More Photos »
The university says it needs new biomedical research facilities and that Prentice is too small, old and quirky to feasibly retrofit. A new building, the university argues, would bring to the city millions of investment dollars, create jobs and save lives.

No surprise, Northwestern has been winning the debate. On Monday Brendan Reilly, an alderman representing the Chicago ward that includes Prentice, announced that he was leaning toward demolition. “I remain open to suggestions,” he added, according to The Chicago Tribune. “And believe me, if there’s a eureka moment, I’m all ears.”

So here is a suggestion: Build a research tower on top of Prentice.


full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/ar...wanted=1&_r=1&




images courtesy Studio/Gang, Jay Hoffman

[Steely Dan]

another good article on prentice:



Prentice Hospital debate goes deeper than surface appearance
Bertrand Goldberg's design not loved by all, but it is important and should be saved
By Cheryl Kent, Special to the Tribune
1:09 p.m. CDT, August 24, 2012

Bertrand Goldberg did not believe in preservation. He said so. If he were still here we would be having a disagreement. Goldberg was, of course, the architect of the original Prentice Hospital as well as the much-loved Marina City; he died in 1997.

It's a surprise to few reading this: There is a fight over Prentice between its owner, Northwestern University, which wants to demolish the building, and the preservationists who want to protect it.

The building should be saved.

Prentice meets three — arguably four — of the city's seven criteria for landmark designation:

•It is a rare and innovative example of hospital design and of a thread of modernism characterized by expressive forms.

•It is the work of a well-known architect and engineer whose work is strongly identified with Chicago and who was influential internationally.

•It represents an architectural and social theme of humanism that was particular to its era.

•Its distinctive appearance is a neighborhood landmark in Streeterville.


full article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entert...,0,70032.story

[Baronvonellis]

Why do institutions insist on very high 20 ft ceilings in office buildings today? 20ft ceilings don't make you more productive than 10 ft ceilings and I think it would cost much more to build a building with such high ceilings.

[Tyler Xyroadia]

Originally Posted by -Filipe-

yea..no tear it down, waste of space

Curmudgeon I may be, I will disagree here...
All history should be preserved even those you don't like. ESPECIALLY Those you do not like... I may "Dislike" a building, but once built it is built, it exists. Baring factors like deterioration, or design flaws it should be preserved. Because, as many others have said before, saying "Ew I don't like it, tear it down" is EXACTLY The type of thinking that led to the Singer Building, Penn Station and a host of other treasures being destroyed.

More to the point, Bertrand Goldberg is a rare bird. There are very few examples of his work left, and his work in Chicago is widely regarded as one of his best works. It very much should be protected just as much as the SInger builder should have been.

[photoLith]

Wow, that tower built on top would be totally kick ass, I love the design, hell it even compliments the old building.

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by -Filipe-

yea..no tear it down, waste of space

The empty two blocks across the street is the only "waste of space" in this equation. . .

. . .

[george]

10-23