There's no denying on the occasion of our University of Chicago 35th college reunion my friends and I are manifesting some annoying physical changes. But the good news is that we have lived long enough to be grateful to celebrate full lives and the heartening fact that the three friends I connected with are still active, committed liberals who attempt to contribute positively to society.
Our informal gathering took place amongst two of us former English majors, one of us who sang and was in the theater and the fourth who became an architect. Three of us currently do some form of teaching. At the time we attended the U of C, almost all arts activity was extra-curricular. I spend the bulk of my time my first two years at Doc Films and the latter two at The Chicago Review. Other than winning first place in the John Billings Fiske Prize in Poetry, there was little recognition or support from the institution.
In this nostalgic context, it was extremely thrilling to visit the new Logan Center for the Arts, open for preview until its formal opening in October. We even met some undergraduates who were doing Circus training: unthinkable!
Our tour of the space was made particularly fascinating by the in-depth critique of our architect pal who could answer our questions in ways that raised other questions...typical sign of a U of C education. One of the evident issues we discussed was: how do you integrate a 2012 building into a campus that is dominated by a college quadrangle built in the 1890s in Victorian and Collegiate Gothic ?
We concluded that the architects, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, designed a very compelling building. They redefined what it is like to inhabit a Tower Space, made great use of the staircases and light, provided humanizing detail and certainly engaged us. Not to mention the many art space requirements. It was also professionally instructive to see the details that were not quite perfect.
To quote the architects philosophy:
"We see architecture as an act of profound optimism.
Its foundation lies in believing that it is possible to make places on earth that can give a sense of grace to life - and believing that that matters. It is what we have to give and it is what we leave behind."
As a landscape designer, I can strongly relate to their intentions. We differ in what we leave behind since unmaintained gardens have very short shelf-lives.
This last image is one of the cool details...that may eventually be changed, so go see it now. For the present, there is an intended gap between the skeleton and the stairs. This made us soar and, of course, question assumptions about structure and space.
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