Jump to content

Chicago Has Loads of Surreal, Never-Built Visionary Architecture

Featured Replies

Posted

We in Cleveland (and probably other Ohio cities) bemoan the many projects that were never built. This is going to come as a shock to some who play the "woe is me" card, but most cities have plenty of unrealized plans. Here are Chicago's......

 

Chicago Has Loads of Surreal, Never-Built Visionary Architecture

JOHN METCALFE 7:28 AM ET AUG 21, 2013

 

Chicagoans right now have a rare opportunity to gape at some of the most schizoid, cutting-edge architectural projects that were never built in their city.

 

At the Expo 72 Gallery in the Loop, there is a 160-foot panorama of Chicago's skyline sprawling along the walls. Visitors who download the "Phantom City" app can point it at different places on the image to reveal more than 100 visionary masterpieces, such as the Sears Tower deconstructed into a pile of flaccid tubes and a Ludwig Mies van der Rohe building submerged in Lake Michigan like a sinking ship.

 

The retrospective, which runs until September 29, was organized by Alexander Eisenschmidt, an architecture professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Since moving to Illinois five years ago, Eisenschmidt has become intrigued with the number of historically important visionary projects in the Windy City. So he and his students began a collection of the more celebrated and challenging ones, and last year took them on the road to show at the Venice Biennale.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2013/08/exploring-chicagos-lunatic-never-built-visionary-architecture/6610/

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

Create an account or sign in to comment

Recently Browsing 0

  • No registered users viewing this page.