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Chatting with Chicago Architects

In order to find out more about Chicago architecture, we wrote to several Chicago architects.

Here are the questions we asked:

Which Chicago buildings, in your mind, are the most significant?

Which Chicago architects, in your mind, were the most influential?

Who were your own architectural influences?

How, in your mind, is Chicago architecture different than other cities?

What should kids know about architecture?

We received responses from the following architects:

  • Ralph Johnson (of Perkins and Will)
  • Tim Sheridan and Derek Dinkeloo (of Harry Weese Associates)
  • Doug Garofalo (Owner of Garofalo Architects and Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture)
  • Robert Kurzon (Kurzon Architects)
  • Dan Baigelman and Lenore Weiss Baigelman (Full Circle Architects, LLC)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which Chicago buildings, in your mind, are the most significant?

 

 Ralph Johnson (of Perkins and Will) said:

 

Robert Kurzon (Kurzon Architects) said (and commented):
  • Monadnock Building - A "skyscraper" constructed with masonry walls bearing all the loads at the end of an old tradition in construction,but expressing the Modern for great height.
  • Reliance Building- The first steel framed skyscraper.
  • Carson Pirie Scott Store- A combination of Neo-Classical design with Modern technology. In this building Modern and Traditional architecture are visually identified.
  • Robie House-The greatest expression of the Prairie Style House a truly an American innovation.With the open plan, it's low linear, horizontal look blends the house with the land.

 

Dan Baigelman and Lenore Weiss Baigelman (Full Circle Architects, LLC) said:

 

  • Doug Garofalo said:
  • Stanley Tigerman (his influence as an educator)
  • Mies van Der Rohe

     

    Robert Kurzon said:

  • Frank Lloyd Wright
  • Louis Sullivan
  • Meis Van Der Rohe - One of the great Modern architects and a practitioner of International style. His buildings (860-880 Lake Shore Drive) are IIT skin (glass) and bones (steel) stripped of all decoration, their design strengths are their abstract composition.

     

    Dan and Lenore Baigelman said:

  • Louis Sullivan- functionalism
  • Frank Lloyd Wright- contexturalism, and the use of nature as a design influence.
  • Meis Van Der Rohe- modernism with regard to the expression of modern structural forms.
 

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Who were your own architectural influences?

 

  • Ralph Johnson:

    Architects listed in #2 (above) along with:

  • Louis I. Kahn
  • Le Corbusier

     

  • Tim Sheridan and Derek Dinkaloo said:

    Tim's List:

  • Frank Lloyd Wright 1867-1959
  • Alvar Aalto (Finland) 1898-1976
  • Harry Weese 1916-1998
  • Carlo Scarpa (Italy) 1906-1978
  • Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (Italy) 1598-1680

    Derek's List:

  • Eero Saarinen (Finland/ USA) 1910-1961
  • Santiago Calatrava (Spain) b. 1951
  • H.P. Berlage (Netherlands) 1856-1934
  • John Dinkeloo 1918-1981
  • Tadao Ando (Japan) b.1941

 

  • Doug Garofalo said:
  • Frank Gehry
  • Michelangelo
  • Antonio Gaudi

    Robert Kurzon said:

  • Frank Lloyd Wright
  • Louis Sullivan
  • Meis Van Der Rohe
  • Louis I. Kahn- Philadelphia, 20th century. Kahn was a master of materials and how they contrast. His buildings remain part of a harmonious whole, concrete against brick. Kahn also used marble, next to glass and steel but still organized them to have the image of ancient structures. He designed the Salk Institute, Richard's Medical Center, and the Yale Art Gallery.
  • Charles Moore and Robert Ventori- 2nd half of the 20th century. Moore was famous for his Vernacular Style, but Ventori was famous for his his reintroduction of the Classical Elements and his recognition of the ordinary and common place is also sometimes visually wonderful and exciting. Ventori and Moore are the fathers of post- modernism. They were both my teachers.

     

    Dan and Lenore Baigelman said:

  • Louis Sullivan
  • Frank Lloyd Wright
  • Edward Lutyens
  • Charles Rennie Mackintosh
  • Alvar Aalto
  • Mies Van Der Rohe
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How is Chicago architecture different than other cities?
  • Ralph Johnson said:

    Historically from 1890 to 1960, Chicago architecture was characterized by its honesty of structural expression. Recent Chicago architecture is not unique and is similar to work being done in other cities.

     

    Tim Sheridan and Derek Dinkaloo said:

    Chicago is truly the first American City. Cities on the East Coast were settled by European immigrants and, therefore, reflect those influences to this day. Chicago was settled early in the 1800's and grew quickly. It is predominantly a gridded street system. Also, the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 gave many architects of the time the chance to completely redefine the city. The group of architects known as the Chicago School (of which Burnham and Sullivan were part) set the standard for the newest building form, the skyscraper. This building form attracted great national and international architects to the city (Mies van der Rohe). This further enhanced the city's reputation as having the best collection of 20th century architecture in the world.

    Another key aspect of Chicago is that being in the Midwest, it tends to be much more conservative than architecture on either coast of the US. This is not a negative. "Midwestern values and sensibility" are much talked about in all aspects of life. Chicago's buildings have a lasting quality that other cities' buildings lack.

 

  • Doug Garofalo said:

    We have the best collection of Modern (meaning from 1900-1960) buildings of any city anywhere.

     

    Robert Kurzon said:

    Chicago is the birthplace of the first truly American architecture: the skyscraper and Prairie style. These styles are almost completely free from European influence and are very different from any American architecture that came before. Wright is especially important because he was strongly influenced by the orient ( Japan ) and introduced thought into the western architecture.

 

  • Dan and Lenore Baigelman said:
  • Meis Van Der Rohe modern influence- some of the 1st exposed structure and curtain wall.
  • Prairie style
  • The effects of the Chicago Fire created a "clean slate" for new architectural talent, ideas,and concepts as well as the emphasis on noncombustible materials.
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What should kids know about architecture?
  • Ralph Johnson said:

    Kids should be aware of the impact that architecture can have in shaping their lives; how we live, learn and work. Architecture at its best, a social art.

 

Tim Sheridan and Derek Dinkeloo said:
  • Architecture is both an art and a science. Equal parts of both are combined to create a building. Knowledge of both in equal parts is necessary to understand buildings.

    Architecture has a significant influence on society. It shapes how people live and dwell in the environment. It has the ability to impact life in both positive and negative ways.

    The architect has to be extremely well rounded. He must be part artist, engineer, psychologist, writer, salesman, and educator to be successful. Above all he must be a great verbal, written, and graphic communicator.

    The learning curve for most architects is very long, in part because it takes a long period of time to inhabit a building and determine whether or not it is successful.

    Thank again for your questions. I hope these answers are helpful. On a side note -- Not too many female architects have been recognized throughout history. One in particular that may be of interest is Julia Morgan of California in the early 20th century. She was the architect of San Simeon, the California home of William Randolph Hearst. That might be worth looking into for you.

 

  • Doug Garofalo said:

    Kids should understand architecture as both an art and a science - it is the only art form asked always to deal with human nature, and therefore it is capable of making us marvel at the state of culture.

     

    Robert Kurzon said:

    Architecture gives form to the world around us, cities, suburbs and even countrysides. Buildings are the places where most of our daily lives are spent and where most human activities take place. Buildings are architecture when they do more than just provide shelter, especially when they express the culture of which they are a part of. When they say to us something wonderful or thoughtful about ourselves and how we live when they bring awe and inspiration to us. Think of a great indoor space, large or small. Architecture isn't always serious, it can make us laugh too. Architecture is both art and science.

     

    Dan and Lenore Baigelman said:

  • "Form follows function"
  • "Less is more"
  • The built environment has a very strong influence on the way we function; not only on a purely physical level, but on every possible level.
 

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