Archinect : Views : Chicago's Millennium Park: Enough to Spit About

Opened in 2004 under the aegis of mayor Richard M. Daley, Chicago's Millennium Park upstages its taller and more famous neighbors, the skyscraper forest it's nested within. The true power of my praise comes from a willingness to forgive the park its nature as a collection of follies-- there isn't much of a space there, really. The park is more a collection of organs floating without a body, left to bleed into the city. Confronted with the demonstrated ability to attract and entertain a diverse population, however, the architectural concern of space and the quality thereof seem like something of a folly in itself. An American public space that doesn't have to resort to neo-classical trimmings would be a great achievement, but until that's a cultural (and not just architectural) reality I'll excitedly take a place as active-- and at times beautiful-- as the Millennium Park any day.

Click here to view images of Millennium Park in the image gallery

Frank Gehry's Jay Pritzker bandshell pulls some important weight by being one of the most visible portions of the park itself and thus a bit of a landmark. The space created underneath the bandshell's adjoining canopy is a greater accomplishment, though, as it manages to encapsulate a rather vast swath of seating into a coherent theatre environment without cordoning it off. Nearby Lurie Garden designed by Gustafson Guthrie Nichols Ltd., Piet Oudolf and Robert Israel features a boardwalk atop a small stream which invites visitors to sit down, soak their feet, and stake a temporary claim. Here, it's the act of sitting for a moment and dipping one's feet in the water that makes the space.

If Gehry and the Lurie Garden team act spatially, Anish Kapoor operates in the realm of effects with a fantastical, hyper-reflective kidney bean viewing device. Kapoor's bean plays the important role of reflecting the city back to itself. Both on a personal "1,2,3, say cheese" kind of way and also as a means of seeing the city from the inside out in its totality. Those tall buildings at the perimeter of the park, looming over their newest competitor, are contained neatly by the smooth curvature of Kapoor's kidney.

The final site in the park combines all of this to great effect. Jaume Plensa's Crown Fountain creates a space of spectacle. And I mean this: it operates both spatially and spectacularly. Like the Lurie Garden, Plensa's spatial moves are light and effeciently deployed. Two glassblock monoliths and a puddle of water nary a space make. The brilliance of Plensa's design is thus in the necessity of all elements: it needs spatial cues and spectacle to function successfully.

A shallow puddle marks the area of opportunity, carefully demarcated by a monolith at either end. The minimal sense of enclosure provided by these monoliths allows just enough privacy to lower inhabtions so that people go a little crazy. That is, until a giant video portrait starts spitting water out of one of the internal faces of the monoliths and then everyone goes just plain bonkers. Children learn the system quickly -- line up to get in the direct spitting path, rush to the monolith, and catch the ensuing waterfall. Parents are not immune to the spectacle; seemingly no one is. When a giant video face offers to spit on you, well, you go for it.

That the Millennium Park gets people out and enjoying a public space in the heart of the city is a great accomplishment, but Crown Fountain's position as corner stone of this success is telling of something larger than Chicago itself. Plensa's monoliths succeed in activating the public realm in ways that an Oldenburg Clothespin never could while also avoiding the tired rehashing of traditionalist aesthetics. Here, modest technology is deployed to create a contemporary spectacle of corporeal experience without crossing the line into camp or cartoon. Crown Fountain is entertaining hordes of visitors on a daily basis, but it's also helping us inch closer to accepting a built public realm that's as contemporary as the urban visions we dream up.

Bryan Boyer's shoes are still a bit funky after splashing around in
Crown Fountain.

brian-

friendly disagreement . . . Kapoor's 'Cloudgate', or The Bean (its real name per Chicago) is the crown jewel. it is so strong that Gehry's bandshell and canopy are an energetic graphic foil to its dense, intense, magnetic presence. it is months behind schedule, and it has been enclosed for months for final polishing to erase the seams on its surface. latest eta is september-october. when uncovered last summer, it attracted enormous crowds. the outer surface brings the sky and skyline down to the viewer. then you go in beneath the bean's arched lower surface (the gate) and enter a chrome cave where the interior rises steeply into a concave omphalos that pulls your energy up like the oculus of the pantheon. i swear my crown chakra opened.

'real' chicagoans' reaction to most artwork is "what the f**k is that?" . . .even those guys get the bean. it is powerful and astonishing, no shit. Plensa's wonderful fountain is everything you said, brian, but come back when the bean is done.

It was a disappointment to see the bean mostly covered up, but what I found particularly interesting about the fountain in comparison to the bean is that it only works as a fusion of space/technology. Spectacular though it may be, the reflective surface of the Kapoor piece is nothing new, whereas the fountain comes off as a fresh approach to the intersection of space and technology. Good to hear that it's equally as popular with the community though!

bb-

that's valid.

and there's more on the way. renzo piano's north wing addition to the art institute of chicago is sited across monroe street directly to the south of the lurie garden and pritzker bandshell. it includes a slender pedestrian bridge that will arc from the third floor of the museum, flying over monroe and the garden to touch down at the concourse between the bean and the fountain, on the west flank of the bandshell canopy.

art institute's link to the project is: http://www.artic.edu/aic/aboutus/newbuilding/index.html

I have visited the park twice in the past week due to the Grant Park Music Festival going on. I was also there on opening night of the park last year, and it was a fantastic event.

While there last Friday night, I did something I do every now and then here in Chicago, and that's try to see the city through the eyes of a tourist. I went to San Francisco with my girlfriend last September, and it was the first big city I'd visited in the time I've lived here, other than a vacation to Paris in 2003.
In San Francisco, I was really impressed with how welcoming the city was, and how we felt so comfortable being in outdoor spaces, not knowing if the people around us were tourists or locals. Out shopping in the evening, walking down Market Street, around Union Square, down various streets and such. It's always a really great feeling to take in a new city - the excitement, something new around every corner.

So, last Friday I looked at Millenium Park that way, and I was left with one main feeling: It is a really great place that might be underestimated to a point.
One thing it's not is a central location for people to congregate. Thanks to the downtown's main transporation being just a bit west, Millenium Park is a destination, not a place you pass through. The Daly Center Plaza in the middle of the Loop is more of a "pass-through" place.
That's what I liked about Union Square in SF. People passed through, stopped off, it's centrally located to shopping, dining, transporation.

Millenium Park is a great place because for the average person, I think it's really inspiring and eyecatching. Who else has those glass monoliths? Or an outdoor Gehry pavillion? It may be a hodgepodge of ingredients that don't all fit together, but totally raised the bar for major new public space developments in the US.

Finally, the pavillions acoustics are just incredible. I seriously doubt there is a better outdoor music venue in the world. The sound is so natural when it comes to classical/symphony music. You can be a good distance away from the entire pavillion and still hear the music anywhere.

When I visited Millenium Park, the bean wasn't covered. My evaluations is similar to brian's. There were a number of people being fascinated by the bean, for sure, but only about 10% of the number that were playing in or around the fountains (it was summer time).

MM,
following tourists is fun, or vagrants, or whomever for that matter. Last year I TA'd a second year studio that traveled to Savannah, GA for analysis and subsequent intervention. Before leaving we gave the students different situationist texts, and upon arriving, recommended that they follow different types of occupants (in Savannah the common types where tourist groups, students of SCAD and homeless people), mapping their itineraries etc. Good times...

When I visit a centralized public space (ie - a square, plaza etc, not promenade) I follow children and street performers (children performing = double whammy). In the case of Millenium Park, both of these were to be found at the fountain. Not sure what that says, but it reflects my specific attraction to the wonderful social phenomenon that is public space.

Andy Culbertson is my name and I work for an architecture firm deep in Chicagoâ€™s loop. Looking northeast from the office is the new Millennium Park, home to the â€œBeanâ€ and world renowned architect Frank Gehryâ€™s Pritzker Pavilion. Following the western shore of Lake Michigan southward your eye catches Grant Park and Buckingham Fountain, which is probably more affiliated with the â€˜80â€™s and â€˜90â€™s sitcom, â€œMarried with Childrenâ€ and Frank Sinatraâ€™s hit song, â€œLove and Marriage,â€ than it is with the city itâ€™s located in. I was asked by Baxter to write a column relating architecture and the environment, but Iâ€™d rather clamor about urban planning and public space. So here I am and here it goes.
Over a hundred years ago the Fine Arts Building was erected and stands today as one of the oldest and most important buildings in Chicago, all Sears and future Trump towers aside. The Architects Partnership (TAP) sits some 80+ feet above South Michigan Avenue adjacent to Chicagoâ€™s most substantial green space. The completely unobstructed view provides us CAD monkeys with a luxury most offices in big cities are withoutâ€¦escape, vision, and sometimes even tranquility (yes, we are still talking about sitting in the office). Every once in a while Iâ€™ll stroll over to the nine foot window bays and look directly down at the metal vessels cruising impatiently over the concrete sea that is Michigan Ave. Then I minimize my trajectory and begin looking at Millennium Park and all its visitors.
What elements are essential for the creation of a successful â€œpublic space?â€ How do we even define what constitutes public space? Does it have to be green space, are they two separate beasts? Is public space a space which anyone has the authority to inhabit and exploit at their discretion? How do we then scrutinize and differentiate between public and private spaces, particularly in urban settings? Planners work with the city commission in an attempt to design spaces that will attract the public and offer them, or us I should say, with a place to break away from the routines and normalcyâ€™s of our ordinary lives, right? If this is true, then isnâ€™t this also an attempt to guide us to one commonplace that is conveniently bordering consumer shops and the same things weâ€™re trying to distance ourselves from? At least these are my observations of the two year old Millennium Park.

i'm back and will be back some more because i have exceded the character amount....ths "rant" requires many postings for people who encounter this animal everyday

Millennium Park (M.P.), itâ€™s located in between the magnificent mile and Lake Shore Drive (L.S.D.), the busiest streets in all of Chicago, excluding the eight-lane I-94 expressway. Columbus Dr. runs longitudinally through Millennium Park and is home to Chicagoâ€™s largest eating festival, The Taste of Chicago. Inside the park, however, is where it all goes down (the crapper). The main feature of Millennium Park is the Pritzker Pavilion, a concert space designed by a world famous architect with large, organically shaped steel panels that allegedly enhance the acoustics of string and woodwind instruments. It also puts Chicago on the map as one of the few cities in the world with an award winning Frank Gehry structure (surely this is a mandatory requirement for any successful public space.)
M.P. is not complete with just one Frank Gehry design, so the city commissioned him to design the BP (as in the Gas Co.), Bridge that connects Daley Bicentennial Park with M.P. I have no beef with this particular structure; actually Iâ€™d like to praise some of its outstanding qualities. This strong element allows visitors to walk across L.S.D. with ease and curiosity. The bridge does more than take you from side of the highway to the other. Instead, it curves and serpentines its way with a natural elegance that almost takes you away from the city. Itâ€™s impossible to ignore the smooth, shiny metal panels that join seamlessly to the treated wood decking which comprise the bridge.

and here i am again....sorry. get over it.

Ah yes, let us not forget to thank the Boeing Corporation for adding another fine installation that neglects association to its surroundings. The small explanation about â€œThe Boeing Galleries,â€ in M.P. on www.millenniumpark.org went a little something like this (as is my interpretation): â€œThe Boeing galleries were made possible, blah blah blah black granite steps, blah blobbity granite Crown Fountain, blah blahhh pre-cast concrete staircase.â€ Oh, if you were wondering where the vegetation is, donâ€™t worry, there was a small mention of some graceful sycamore trees being a rarity in Chicago that line the galleryâ€™s perimeter. It seems to me the large contributing conglomerates are on center stage while the public and green spaces play second fiddle on stages B and C. This park reminds me more of a formal garden from Europe than a place for visitors and pedestrians to relax and lay in the grass or against a tree, or in this case on some black granite.
Speaking of limited green space and lack of trees, itâ€™s a darn good thing the designers put some in thereâ€¦in steel cagesâ€¦like they do animalsâ€¦at the zoo. So come on down to Millennium Park and get a load of these rare species like Hemerocallis â€˜Gentle Sheppard,â€™ and Echinacea â€˜Rubinglow.â€™ But donâ€™t get too close, thereâ€™s no telling what those Good Sheppards will do if a finger gets near the cage. They claim that this 2.5 acre plot pays homage to the cityâ€™s motto, â€œUrbs in Horto,â€ (City in a Garden). First of all Iâ€™d like to urb and horto all over the person that came up with that motto and secondly, this is a pretty pathetic display of plants and vegetation for such a large city. If they want to â€œpay homageâ€ to the city of Chicago, tell everyone to check out the â€œChicago Botanic Gardens,â€ http://www.chicago-botanic.org/ in Glencoe, IL.

and BAH-ZING!

Iâ€™m not going to lie about the artistsâ€™ installations in this park because honestly, I think these things bring something to the visitorsâ€¦and theyâ€™re pretty rad. â€œCrown Fountain,â€ engages its visitors with a unique material palette, and the element of water. Giant LED screen towers with peopleâ€™s faces spit out water onto a floating granite ground floor that allows the water to flow equally throughout the space until it is quickly recycled back into the towers, only to be spat out again (like a giant Japanese desk fountain). Letâ€™s just say Iâ€™m a sucker for oversized LED screens and kids running around laying and drinking recycled water.
â€œCloud Gate,â€ the other artist installment is fascinating. One can see this giant, shiny bean shaped sculpture from anywhere in the park and from about a mile down Michigan Avenue. Conceptually, this is a passionate piece that complements the cityâ€™s skyline and offers different perspectives with its distinctive contours. Again, it sits atop â€œSBC Plaza,â€ and was made possible by a gift from the SBC Company (that is very important information to know while interacting with this immense sculpture). However, after being revealed for the first time last summer, the Cloud Gate has spent the rest of the year under a large canvas for buffing and welding, and will most likely not be unveiled again until this fall.
Directly in front of â€œCloud Gate,â€ is â€œMcCormick Tribune Plaza and Ice Rink.â€ What public space isnâ€™t complete without an overpriced concession stand that sells baguettes and Pepsi cola? The ice rink is a nice touch though, especially during those Spring, Summer and Fall months when itâ€™s just a 16,000 square foot pad of concrete that the restaurant uses to expand and promote its outdoor seating (of course there are small planters surrounding the patio that can be moved out of the way to accommodate more hungry visitors). Moving onâ€¦

IN CONClusion.....

I donâ€™t want to rant too much about this next space because I love my Cubbies and they know how to treat their fans, but apparently weâ€™re not in the friendly confines and weâ€™re not their fans. Wrigleyâ€™s donation helped to erect a Doric-style monument and, â€œâ€¦tree-line areaâ€¦with an inviting open space for visitors to relax on the lawn or stroll paths.â€ What this really is is a reminder to us, the public, that very important people made the construction of this park possible. They didnâ€™t stop at the imperious and misplaced colonnade of stone either. Instead, the names of all the â€œfoundersâ€ of Millennium Park, i.e. the corporations, have their names etched in stone for all to seeâ€¦because Iâ€™ll take a nice block of concrete with â€œBob Smitheâ€ carved in it over a nice plot of grass any day.
With a blatant disregard for design and continuity, Millennium Park embraces celebrity design and large corporate monetary contributions inevitably placing the individual on the backburner. This park does not cater to relaxing or remaining in one spot for and extended period of time, for there are far too many sculptures and structures on display. Many of the small, grassy areas are â€œoff limitsâ€ and visitors are encouraged to use stationary benches and concrete ledges. If one does happen to stumble upon an inviting, peaceful green space, itâ€™s more than likely surrounded by concrete, dwarfed by a couple hundred thousand pounds of steel, off limits or there by mistake and should be covered up with more concrete. The site is dominated by an overload of concrete walkways that force pedestrians to move quickly through the space leaving them with little time to pause, think and just be in the park.

xoxoxo