The 2009 Chicago 7

Michael Reese Modern

The Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center campus located along Chicago’s lakefront on the Near South Side offers a compelling vision of post-World War II optimism in the power of rational design to improve the quality of our lives.Today, as the medical center’s 130-year history comes to an end, the Michael Reese campus is slated to become the site of the Olympic Village for the 2016 Olympic Games. Currently, only the orange-rated 1905 main building has been recognized as worthy of preservation, leaving the future of the rest of the campus in doubt. Preservation Chicago sees in the Michael Reese campus a wealth of pioneering humanistic modern architecture ready to be reclaimed and repurposed as part of the planned Olympic Village and future residential community. We urge the City of Chicago and the 2016 Committee to carefully consider the preservation and reuse of this fine group of mid-century buildings.

Healthcare facilities rarely survive to old age. Their lives are short. They quickly become obsolete and succumb to the everchanging needs of new technologies and practices. They are remodeled, retrofitted, expanded and eventually replaced. But this campus of human-scaled, sensitively-designed mid-century architecture deserves a second life. These buildings were conceived as residential in character and intended to be welcoming and joyfully full of life. Their conversion to residential and other collateral uses as part of the Olympic Village seems like the natural answer to their future. Preservation Chicago urges that the best buildings on the Michael Reese campus be preserved and reused as part of the Olympic Village project. Conscientious reuse of existing buildings on the site would be one more way in which Chicago can present itself to the world as the “green” capital. There is perhaps nothing more environmentally sensible than adaptive reuse of existing structures. Showing off the rich architectural and cultural heritage of Michael Reese to Olympic athletes and the world can be both practical and economical.

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