IIT plans forget historyClllCAGO-Although I applaud the Illnos In-

stitute ofTechnology's p1ans to revltalize 116campus, l question the (acl. that it. ,archltect,Rem Koolhaas. would be allowed to attach hisbuilding to Mie. van der Robe's awardwlnn.ingCOTIUUonsBulldng, alterlng il In such a waylhat il no longer retains iu pristine and elegantsymmetry. I flnd 11ironie that al a Urne when thehstonc and aichitectural monumento ln thIs,city have been for the most part proteeted, or atleast llagged Ior preservstlon, in ths case no onei.speaklng out regarding this latest act of archi-lectural vandalismoWhy i.it that Ihere il; no word from !he stalf

ofthe Cbicago Architectural Landmark Com-mission regarding this rnatter? mer. does IheLandroark Preservation Counci! or Dllnois standon ths ssue?Certainly ths building, now beLng ignored,

whch in I953 reeeived theAmerlcan Institute ofArchtects highesl awaro for arcftecture, is eli-gible for landrnark status.CouId 11be that too many saered cows ara n-

valveliol1, whch ntated the architectural seleetlonproeess, a foundation that supporta landmarkpreservatlon, has paradoxcaly fostered a badarchitettura! precedent.I!seerns we never leam from the past.Lrs-

member when Roosevelt Unlversity "remod.eled" ts great Audltoril!ln Bsnquet lIalllly tear-ng out 1,ou15 Sullivan's skyl1ghted celng andreplacng it with f1uoresccntlightlng, folowedby a celebraton ofthe evenl wth a banquet in

the newly refurblshed space, Now they ara wse-ly seelting funds to restore the former Audtor-um Bsnquet Room lo ts orIgInai splendor. Therewas a tme when the CharnIey House by Adlerand SuUlvan was about lo be used as an en-trance to a condamInium ~omplex fuat wouldhave been an embarrassment tor tbe city of Chl-eago.Fortunately protests frompreservatlomsts

prevented thls from happening and today thi.landmark bailding is """tored and safeIy in thehands of the Societ}, of ArchitecturaI Hislorians.!t ts noi too late tu ,ave!ha Commona Bailding

from'wanton defacement WhY ean't the unver-sity request !hat the Cornmons ha reused In amON sympathet1c mallner? Does Koolhaas bavetu use !he buildlng as a loadlng dcck wlth semi-tralers bscklng Into il? Can't he let the interiorofthe building be reslored to ts orgnal openS)'Illmetrical pian wlthoot hls demonstratlve in-terventtons? And does he need to place a park-ng lot on its oI)' remanng open corner eleva-tlon?

Il would not take mncnto rethlnk thls aspsctof the project and stili retaIn a dlalog betweenKoolhaas' bullding, the "U' tracks and Mies' ar-chitecture, Ara we sa nalve as lo Ihink that Ilhas to be dona In such 8 destructve mannsr?Are Wl! 50 blInded by tbe glamour of htrlng

outside ceIebrlty arehtects that lII1e accept bisnovel ideas at the expense of dilutLng the pro-faund architeetural contributlons made by atowarlng figure cf our tinre and city?

John VInti\1nd'/l(l\mpArc]u'l2c1s (ne'.

,\I:ijUl\dp.rof'tfa)funaots lIutitule c('n!

Mies forces 1000preservaion

battle over newllT building

S, __ 10TfUIIUNf. ARCH!'rtC'n1R1.. CIliTlC

In a victor y for renownedar chttect Rcm Hoolhaas,state preservation otncialshave rever-eed an ee rlierrecemmendarcn that called for01 elear seperaelon between rhene w C3rnpU6 center at tb e lll -no ls tnsmcte cf Technolog yand an adjoning campus buld-inG by t he late maarer mcu-er nist Ludwig Mies V3n derRcbc.

"1 think t's 3 setbeck forpreservation." sete Ch icaguarehtect JOM vnct. an adjunctprcfeescr of architecture at ll'I'and an esteemed ereservauon.Ist. "l! you can do this to B Mle.'Jbuluing. you can do thts to any-thlng."

But Bill Wheeler, the associ-ere mrector or tne lllinai! Hls-totfc Preservatlon Agency. tbesta", body charged wUh protect.

ing Iandmarks, c.barscteri1edtne latesr plen al "afinal com-promise that everyone waahappy Wlth.','The coro or the dJJputo 1.'1

Whether the campua c:entit, 00'11I

g:~bnu~~~l~~~:J~~r:t~~IIbould direetly ebut the soutbend or tb~ Commons,l'l sreet-IlJJd-dlw pavillon tIIoUihllo bea prec uraor to Mies' epccb-definlng crewn 1W1'a\3360 S.StateSt,

KooUta86, who recetved th.e2000 Pritzkt!r ArchitecturePrze, 'Ul:K1!sted thal tIIe!WObolinked in his cornpertton-wtn-nlng design [or tho '-"6.5 millionCAWpUS center project. Under1\i5 plen. the Commons. ncwhome to a atore and other usee.

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