Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Jay Pritzker Pavilion by me
Here I am talking about Frank Gehry once again. Well, besides that he is one of my favorite architects, I had the pleasure to fisically be at one of his masterpieces this past weekend.
On Saturday, I found myself in downtown Chicago, stading in front of the incredible Jay Pritkzer Pavilion, inside Millennium Park. And what a view! I was just amazed !! As an architect, I am constantly inspired by his unusual way to design. Really, I would love to hear from him, what was the inspiration to come up with something such wonderful like that.
Please find more details about the design and develpment below and the full article here.
From Wikipedia:
"Lying between Lake Michigan to the east and the Loop to the west, Grant Park has been Chicago's front yard since the mid 19th century. Its northwest corner, north of Monroe Street and the Art Institute, east of Michigan Avenue, south of Randolph Street, and east of Columbus Drive, had been Illinois Central rail yards and parking lots until 1997, when it was made available for development by the city as Millennium Park. Today, Millennium Park trails only Navy Pier as a Chicago tourist attraction.
In February 1999, the city announced it was negotiating with Frank Gehry to design a proscenium arch and orchestra enclosure for a band shell as well as a pedestrian bridge, that became BP Pedestrian Bridge, crossing Columbus Drive and that it was seeking donors to cover his work. At the time, the Chicago Tribune dubbed Gehry "the hottest architect in the universe" in reference to the acclaim for his Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and they noted the designs would not include Mayor Daley trademarks such as wrought iron and seasonal flower boxes. Millennium Park, project manager Edward Uhlir said "Frank is just the cutting edge of the next century of architecture," and he noted that no other architect was being sought. Gehry was approached several times by Skidmore architect Adrian Smith on behalf of the city. Gehry was originally approached about doing just a facade, but was not interested. A few months later the city asked him to get involved in Millennium Park, and he felt he would prefer to design a building, but that he could not complete it in time for the Millennium and that he would need a much larger budget than the city had envisioned. The choice of Gehry was a key component of having modern themes in the park. After it became clear that Cindy Pritzker would fund the project, Gehry accepted.
U.S. Equities Realty was responsible for negotiating contracts with Gehry and all contractors who performed construction, civil engineering, audio engineering and landscaping. In April 1999, the city announced that the Pritzker family had donated $15 million to fund Gehry's Bandshell and an additional nine donors committed a total of $10 million. The city sought Gehry, the donors supported Gehry and Gehry was interested in the project. The day of this announcement, Gehry agreed to the design request. In November, when his design was unveiled, Gehry said the Bridge was very preliminary and not well-conceived because funding for it was not committed.
Walsh construction was hired to execute three elements of Gehry's design: the structural steel supporting the stainless steel ribbons, the ribbons themselves and the trellis. Walsh subcontracted the work. They hired Zahner for the ribbons, the LeJeune Steel Company of Mineapolis for the structural steel, Acme Structural of Springfield, Missouri for the trellis and the Telaske Group of Oak Park, Illinois for the structure's sound system. The construction commenced with the pouring of concrete walls to support the pavilion's roof to cover the 100 feet (30 m) wide and 50 feet (15 m) tall column-free orchestra shell space. The effort included a dozen north-south trusses supported by east-west truss girders. The structural steel for the ribbons had an abnormally low fit tolerance of .125 inches (3.2 mm) rather than the standard 1 to 2 inches (25 to 51 mm). The construction was aided by the French CATIA software program and internet conferencing. In the end, budget limitations and architectural aspirations caused compromises that left many elements in their most straightforward form with things such as exposed pipes and conduits or rough concrete.
The proscenium's stainless steel ribbons are comprised of 697 panels that range from 6 to 300 square feet (0.56–27.9 m2) and 1,600 to 20,000 pounds (730–9,100 kg) with a thickness of about 14 inches (36 cm). They are aluminum with a stainless steel outer layer that has a uniform shade across all panels. The proscenium was inspired by Gehry's 2001 Issey Miyake flagship store in New York City which has titanium sculpturing that represents pleating similar to that for which the designer is known. During construction, about five cranes and 18 aerial lifts were on-site. The apex of the center element is approximately 150 feet (46 m) high, which was near the limits of basic construction equipment at the time. The glass doors of the proscenium are about 50 feet (15 m) wide and 100 feet (30 m) tall and are functionally like aircraft hangar doors clad in glass. They were the larges doors that Glass Solutions of Elmhurst, Illinois ever produced. The thickness of the glass was a design problem for the steel supports.
The trellis resulted from an explanation by the acousticians that the distributed sound system required speakers every 70 feet (21 m). This suggestion resulted in a comparison of placing speakers on pipes or columns and the forest of columns seemed discordant with the classy architecture. Gehry preferred the trellis although it cost about $3 million more than speakers arranged on posts. The trellis uses 22 criss-crossing arches in a lattice pattern. The arches use pipes varying in diameter from 12–20 inches (30–51 cm) depending upon the load requirements. Arches longer than 300 feet (91 m) have four or five different radiuses, where radius describes theextent of pipe curvature. The arch pipes connect to the structural steel of the pavilion structure without linkking to the metal ribbons.
Grant Park has been protected by 172 years of "forever open, clear and free" legislation that has been affirmed by four previous Illinois Supreme Court rulings. Aaron Montgomery Ward twice sued the city of Chicago to force it to remove buildings and structures from Grant Park and to keep it from building new ones. As a result, the city has what are termed the Montgomery Ward height restrictions on buildings and structures in Grant Park. However, Crown Fountain and the 139-foot (42 m) Pritzker Pavilion were exempt from the height restriction because they were classified as works of art and not buildings or structures. Some say the Pavilion is described as a work of art to dodge the protections established by Ward who is said to continue to rule and protect Grant Park from his grave.
The pavilion includes 4,000 fixed seats and a 95,000-square-foot (8,800 m2) Great Lawn that can accommodate an additional 7,000 people. Early plans to incorporate a surrounding waterfall and stairway were abandoned. It features a 120-foot (37 m) proscenium theatre with a brushed stainless steel headdress. The main stage, which can accommodate a full orchestra and chorus of 150 members, is connected by this frame to a trellis of interlocking crisscrossing steel pipes that support the sound system. The innovative sound system distributes sound to mimic indoor concert hall acoustics. The trellis is 600 feet by 300 feet (183 m × 91 m). It is located above and behind the Harris Theater and this has the benefit that the park's indoor and outdoor performance venues are able to share a loading dock, rehearsal rooms and other backstage facilities. The project cost 60 million dollars and is named after Jay Pritzker, a prominent Chicago businessman from the Pritzker family, who own the Hyatt Hotels. The family contributed $15 million to the construction.
This pavilion follows a series of open-air projects by Guggenheim Museum Bilbao designer, Frank Gehry, such as the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, the Concord Performing Arts Center in Concord, California, and numerous renovations to the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, California. It is also a part of a larger inner city redevelopment that includes a theater, extensive gardens and a Gehry-designed serpentine pedestrian footbridge that buffers against street noise. The redevelopment was part of an effort to overcome unsightly railroad tracks and parking lots. Much like his Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington, it suggests musical qualities. The trellis design was an effort to avoid the traditional obstructing forest of speaker towers.
The original design was much more modest. It had a smaller shell structure and speakers affixed to poles interspersed throughout the seating area. However, two things happened to change the original plans. John H. Bryan, former CEO of the Sara Lee Corporation, raised revenues to change the scope of the project. Also, Jay Pritzker's widow, Cindy, was unimpressed with the design and demanded that Gehry be involved. Despite the redesign, the pavilion has its blemishes: the supporting backside along Randolph Street is controversial, and the fact that the supporting proscenium braces are left exposed is offensive to some observers. Other people contest that the smooth rounded trellis and sharp-edged band shell are geometrically discordant.
The Millennium Park director has been honored for his contribution to making America more accessible. The stage is accessible by gently-sloped ramps instead of stairs as part of the overall parks accessibility aware design. There was controversy that the Great Lawn was not sloped as much as planned to save money, but Gehry says that the slope was more accommodating to people with disabilities and better able to accommodate lawn activities than originally planned."
