2 architects to design Burnham pavilions

Two internationally renowned architects, including Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Zaha Hadid, will design temporary pavilions in Millennium Park to serve as focal points for next year's regionwide ...

[what the]

First of all, temporary? Like the Petrillo Music Shell was supposed to be temporary? Like the Charter One Pavilion was supposed to be temporary? Yeah, sure, temporary.

Second ... "The budget for the pavilions is expected to be tight. Organizers, who stressed that fundraising is in progress and that the scope of the project could change, put the cost at roughly $500,000 per pavilion. Rosa estimated $250,000 to $300,000. But he predicted that the temporary nature of the structures, which won't be fully enclosed, would keep expenses down.'It's almost like a tent,' he said."

If it's 'almost like a tent,' then why not put up a TENT? It would cost a lot less than $500,000 and it would indeed be temporary. What an outrageous waste of money!

[Benjamin]

Although I am not particularly enamored with the architects asked to design the pavilions, I do respect the Burnham Plan Centennial Committee's decision to look at the centennial as another progressive step in the history of Chicago's urban plan. By inviting the avant-garde of architecture to contribute to the centennial, perhaps they will be able to open the perspectives of the public to many opportunities that still lie within Burnham's plan.

The suggestion that Duany and Plater-Zyberk or the classically inclined may present an equally refreshing viewpoint seems laughable. To me, an equivalent blunder would be asking Thomas Kinkade to commemorate the work of Picasso's or Braque's first works of cubism.