Future Prentice & Reconsidering an Icon
Generating an alternate collective memory for a mid-century icon slated for demolition
Prentice Women’s Hospital under construction circa 1974.
HB-37810-A, Chicago History Museum, Hedrich-Blessing Collection.
Original photograph by Hedrich-Blessing, courtesy of Estate of Bertrand Goldberg. Collage by Strawn Sierralta with Renata Graw of The Normal Studio.
Bertrand Goldberg with Prentice window.
Photograph by Hedrich-Blessing, courtesy of Estate of Bertrand Goldberg.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
A collective call to action exploring possible futures for Old Prentice Memorial Hospital, an endangered, iconic building in Chicago by renown architect Bertrand Goldberg. The project was initiated with Future Prentice, an international ideas competition and materialized as a collection of images on exhibit at the Chicago Architecture Center titled Reconsidering an Icon which became a forum for debate centered on the preservation of Chicago’s mid-century modern heritage.
Future Prentice and Reconsidering an Icon generated an alternate collective memory for the building, despite its subsequent demolition.
DESIGNED FOR
The 2012 Chicago Prize Competition was ideated and launched by Strawn Sierralta for the Chicago Architectural Club in collaboration with the Chicago Architecture Center.
Partners: AIA Chicago, Chicago Architecture Center, Landmarks Illinois, Docomomo, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Geoff Goldberg, Estate of Bertrand Goldberg.
Made possible through the generous support of AIA Chicago and Chicago Bauhaus and Beyond.
IMPACT
Events: Public Announcement and Round Table Discussion with winning entries at the Chicago Architecture Center, moderated by Martin Felsen and Zurich Esposito, November 15, 2012
Mentioned in: ArchDaily, Chicago Reader, Bustler, The Daily Northwestern, Architect’s Newspaper, Competitions.org, Archinect, and Clog Magazine
Exhibited at: Chicago Architecture Center November 6, 2012 - March 28, 2013
Presented at: Chicago Bauhaus & Beyond Annual Meeting, Chicago Architecture Foundation, February 03, 2013
FUTURE PRENTICE
2012 Chicago Prize Competition
OPEN COMPETITION
Prentice Women’s Hospital, a concrete, cloverleaf-shaped structure was designed by visionary architect Bertrand Goldberg. It was completed in 1975 and was considered groundbreaking for its cutting-edge architecture and advanced engineering, as well as for its progressive design approach to organizing medical wards and services. Located in the downtown Chicago neighborhood of Streeterville, this brutalist structure was considered an iconic piece of architecture in the city by some and an eyesore by others.
Future Prentice: The 2012 Chicago Prize Competition was a single-stage, international, ideas competition and collective call to action exploring possible futures for Old Prentice Memorial Hospital.
The Chicago Prize Competition was established by the Chicago Architectural Club in 2003, held biannually, it is curated by the CAC’s presidents.
The history of the Chicago Architectural Club runs side-by-side with the development of the Chicago school of architecture. From its founding in 1885 as an architectural sketch club, to today's rich schedule of discussions, competitions and exhibitions, the CAC has consistently championed the work of Chicago architects, as well as fostering ongoing, vigorous debate on fundamental issues of art and practice.
Future Prentice was launched on August 20th, 2012 and received 71 entries from 13 countries.
Jury deliberations held at the Chicago Architecture Foundation on November 6, 2012
INVITED JURY
Carlos Martinez, AIA, Principal, Gensler
John Ronan, AIA, Founding Principal, John Ronan Architects
Martin Felsen, AIA, Co-founding Principal, UrbanLab
Kevin Harrington, Architectural historian and Professor, IIT
Zurich Esposito, Executive Vice President, AIA Chicago
William F. Baker, PE, SE, FASCE, FIStructE, Structural Engineering Partner, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP
Bonnie MacDonald, President, Landmarks Illinois
Zoe Ryan, John H. Bryan Chair and Curator of Architecture and Design, The Art Institute of Chicago
On November 15th, 2012, three winners and an honorable mention were unveiled.
FIRST PLACE AWARD
The Buildings are sleeping, you should go and wake them up, she says.
Cyril Marsollier and Wallo Villacorta
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SECOND PLACE AWARD
Superimpositions: Prentice as Additive Icon
Noel Turgeon and Natalya Egon
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THIRD PLACE AWARD
Bridging Prentice
James Wild, Lauren Haras, Katherine Lee, Andres Lemus, Tom Marquardt, Pedro Melis, Saman Moayer, Kerry Rutz, Katelyn Smith, Ashley Wendela
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HONORABLE MENTION
Project X
Anja Buttolo, Tilmann Lohse , Priska Lohse , Michael Pancost
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RECONSIDERING AN ICON
Partner Exhibition at the Chicago Architecture Foundation
EXHIBIT
As a companion to Future Prentice: The 2012 Chicago Prize Competition, Reconsidering an Icon focused on alternative solutions and critical conversations about the fate of one of Chicago’s most architecturally significant modern buildings, Bertrand Goldberg’s Prentice Women’s Hospital.
The exhibit was open from November 16, 2012 until March 28, 2013 in CAF’s Lecture Hall at 224 S. Michigan Ave.
INVITED PRACTICES
The exhibition featured ten discursive images by young Chicago architects, invited by Strawn Sierralta, alongside a proposal from Studio Gang Architects to further the discussion.
All 71 of the submitted and awarded proposals were displayed for public viewing alongside the 11 invited practices.
OPENING & ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION
A standing-room-only event brought concerned citizens, civic leaders, and designers together from across the region with introductions, award presentations and commentary led by:
Lynn Osmond, President, CEO, Chicago Architecture Foundation
Martin Felsen, AIA, Co-founding Principal, UrbanLab
Zurich Esposito, Executive Director, AIA Chicago
Karla Sierralta, AIA & Brian Strawn, AIA, Presidents, Chicago Architectural Club
November 15, 2012
All Hail Prentice
Bureau Spectacular, Jimenez Lai (Principal), Felipe Oropeza
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The Insider - Buildings within a Building to Save a Building on a Building.
CAMES/gibson, Grant Gibson (Principal), Sarah Blankenbaker, John Donoghue
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Kid Condenser
CLUAA, Clare Lyster (Principal), Joanna Nika
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Save the Prentice Wrecking Ball: The Monument to Bruce
Design With Company, Stewart Hicks, Allison Newmeyer (Principals)
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Of Style Site Matter Time
Futurework, Mary Pat Mattson (Principal), Monica Cass
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Panoptic Void within Object
HouseHaus + OCCO, Martin Kläschen and Carl Ray Miller (Principals), Jason T. Chernak
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VARIABLE FUTURES - FROM EITHER/OR TO BOTH/AND
Kujawa Architecture, Casimir Kujawa (Principal), Mason Pritchett, Patrick Johnson, Andrew Corrigan
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Razing Chicago
Studio IDE, Paul Tebben and Vladimir Radutny (Principals), Joe Signorelli , Fanny Hothan
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Nostalgic Amnesia
PORT Architecture + Urbanism, Christopher Marcinkoski, Andrew Moddrell (Principals)
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Future Prentice/Probable Prentice
Tim Brown Architecture, Timothy Brown (Principal)
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POST SCRIPT
Losing and Winning
A COALITION
This project was part of a larger effort launched by a coalition of organizations including AIA Chicago, Chicago Architectural Club, DoCoMoMo, Landmarks Illinois, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Preservation Chicago to save Bertrand Goldberg's Prentice Women's Hospital from being demolished by its owners, Northwestern University.
This was a very public battle between the owners and preservationists, supported by a long list of influential architects.
RIGHT BEFORE THE WRECKING BALL
Strawn Sierralta was invited to write about Future Prentice and Reconsidering an Icon for CLOG's "Brutalism" issue.
The competition has served its purpose. It sparked public debate and brought forward many designs and ides from around the world. Unfortunately, the fate of the building remains in the hands of its owners. In November of 2012 Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel publicly supported Northwestern's decision. Preservationists filed a lawsuit and the structure was granted temporary landmark status. Recently, the landmark status has been denied, and the judge has allowed the preservationists to file an amended lawsuit in 30 days. Time is running out.
LOOSING PRENTICE, SAVING MARINA
Old Prentice Women’s Hospital was demolished between 2013 and 2014.
The multiple components, including an international competition, an exhibition, a public discussion and many generated conversations offered opportunities to question who is in control of a city’s architectural legacy.
Which buildings should be preserved and which should be demolished? Is it solely in the hands of the building’s owner, or does the community have a say? When is a structure too young to be preserved or too old to serve its purpose? How do we measure the value of architecture? Is it in terms of efficiency, iconography, legacy, meaning, or experience?
In 2016 Marina City, another iconic Chicago building designed by Bertrand Goldberg, was granted landmark status. An article in the Chicago Tribune celebrates this win for the city, partially attributing it to the loss of Golberg’s iconic project.
“In a sense, Prentice died so Marina could live.”
Competition and Exhibit Curation
Karla Sierralta, Brian Strawn, as Co-Presidents of the Chicago Architectural Club
with
Gregory Dreicer, Vice President of Exhibitions, Chicago Architecture Center
Kate Keleman, Associate Curator, Chicago Architecture Center
Events
Kristy Peterson, Manager of Public Programs, Chicago Architecture Center
Manny Juarez, Manager of Teen Initiatives, Chicago Architecture Center
Exhibition Design
Amanda Micek
Project Type
Competition Design and Exhibition Curation for the Chicago Architectural Club.
Thanks
Geoff Goldberg from the University of Illinois at Chicago, The University of Chicago, and the Estate of Bertrand Goldberg; Renata Graw from The Normal Studio; Lynn Osmond, President and CEO of the Chicago Architecture Center, staff and volunteers at CAF and Lisa DiChiera of Landmarks Illinois.
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