WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

I just noticed--really noticed--Trump Tower in recent weeks.

It's not that I hadn't been aware of the building. I had been. Acutely so. I was part of untold early design meetings about Trump Tower when I was deputy chief of staff to Mayor Daley in the early 2000s. And then I worked for SOM, designers of the tower, after leaving the mayor's office and was an in-house adviser on the project. While at SOM, I was there with Donald Trump, Bill Rancic and seemingly half the world in 2004 when the wrecking crew took the first swings the building that previously occupied the site--the old Chicago Sun-Times building where previously I'd spent almost 9 years as a journalist. Believe me: I was all too aware.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

(photo by Lee Bey)

A few months ago, I watched an architecture jury lavish praise on an out-of-town adaptive reuse project that turned an old factory into residences.

"Adaptive reuse" has been a hot term in architecture circles for a while now, even more so among the green element of the field. But recycling a building is old hat in the 'hood, where structures built for one purpose have had to morph into other uses, sometimes out of financial necessity. For decade after decade on the South and West sides, banks routinely become funeral homes; restaurants become medical offices, car dealerships become churches, and so on.The historic former Chicago Defender Building at 35th and Indiana was once a synagogue.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

(photo by Lee Bey) 

We're having a warm May so far. A year ago, it was still chilly in June.‚  There's an early thaw in the cold weather city and its denizens took to the streets over the weekend, grateful. The wind had a little crispness still, but we'll take it--especially when it comes with temps that topped 67 degrees.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

More "found" stuff from Chicago's past. Back to more contemporary issues next week.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

(photo by Lee Bey)

(photo by Lee Bey)

(photo by Lee Bey)

...and two great sites discussing this masterpiece: Steven Dalhman's informative Marina City Online and the online archives of the complex's architect Bertrand Goldberg. Meanwhile, Rice University Architecture Dean Sarah Whiting will discuss Goldberg and his works--including this one--at the Art Institute of Chicago at 3pm‚  Sunday. Details here. The AIC says the talk is in preparation of a exhibition on Goldberg's work there in 2011.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

A few months ago, I told you of suburban Schaumburg's unrealized circa 1970 plan for a complex called Outer Planets. It would have contained the world's tallest building.

Quite a few of you emailed, asking to see more of the unbuilt development. So behold, today I give you concept plans for the residential interiors. Outer Planets' inner‚  space, if you will--or more precisely, the bathroom suites that were proposed.

Let's begin--shall we?--with the multi-colored bathroom above, where 2,000 years of interior design have been distilled into a single space with shower, vanity and adjoining bathroom.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

(photo by Lee Bey)

I spotted this Dumpster in a downtown lot recently and wondered what the perpetually riled telepatriots on right wing tv and radio and their followers would make of it.‚  Maybe nothing, actually. I mean, nobody complains much about this. Or even this. (...and maybe I'm not complaining about that last one, either, now that I think about it.)

(photo by Lee Bey)

What do you think?

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet