“The Art Institute announced a transformative $75 million gift Tuesday to construct a new gallery building and begin an ambitious reshaping of its sprawling campus in the heart of downtown Chicago’s lakefront.
“The lions will remain at their post in front of the historic 131-year-old main building along South Michigan Avenue, but their expansive backyard is set for a museum makeover, with the first of potentially several major structural additions.
“The largest single naming gift in the Art Institute’s history will create the Aaron I. Fleischman and Lin Lougheed Building, which will house the museum’s collection of late 19th century modern and contemporary art, according to a news release.
“‘We’re finally manifesting, in an iterative way, part of their larger vision for the campus,’ Rondeau said. ‘The Fleischman-Lougheed project will be the first of the Barozzi Veiga vision that is new construction.’
“Born from the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire, the Art Institute was founded in 1879 and moved to its permanent home a little over a decade later, rising up on landfill along the original Lake Michigan shoreline.
“The centerpiece of the Art Institute is a classical Beaux Arts building built in 1893 for the World’s Columbian Exposition, which was designed by Boston architectural firm Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge. The lions on pedestals were added the following year.
“Since then, the Art Institute has added seven more buildings, most recently the dramatic Modern Wing, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, which supplanted the original Goodman Theatre along Monroe Street. When it opened in 2009, the 264,000-square-foot building overlooking Millennium Park was dubbed a ‘temple of light’ by then-Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin.
“Like the Modern Wing, the Fleischman-Lougheed building will be an ‘autonomous architectural statement,’ but remain in concert with the classical museum campus, Rondeau said. If all goes as planned, he said, it will be the first of several new buildings as part of the reimagined layout.
“‘This is probably the fundamental anchor of our project,’ Rondeau said. ‘We do have aspirations that will touch other aspects of campus.’
“By century-old city ordinance, the new building can be no taller than the main museum, limiting it to three stories.
“As to where the expansion takes place, it will necessarily move away from the developed Michigan Avenue facade and toward Columbus Drive on the east, ‘repurposing spaces that are partly empty right now,’ Rondeau said.
“That could leave such features as McKinlock Court, a century-old outdoor garden with a replica of Carl Milles’ Fountain of the Tritons that has long served as a unique events space and alfresco oasis for weary museum visitors, vulnerable to redevelopment.
“‘Not necessarily, but it’s one possibility,’ Rondeau said.”
Preservation Chicago applauds the Art Institute of Chicago and Aaron Fleischman and Lin Lougheed for this extraordinary gift. The Art Institute of Chicago is a much beloved and treasured institution.
We encourage decision makers to recognize the value of McKinlock Court and other historic buildings near Columbus Drive. We further encourage decision makers to strongly consider spanning the exposed rail trench with new construction. This is truly a vacant site ripe for development. Additionally, this approach proved highly successful for Millennium Park, immediately across the street.
Read the full story at Chicago Tribune
- Art Institute announces $75M gift to create new gallery building on Michigan Avenue campus, Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune, 9/10/24
- Art Institute of Chicago receives $75 million gift to fund new modern art building; The money, a donation from art collectors Aaron I. Fleischman and Lin Lougheed, is the single largest naming gift the downtown museum has ever received, Courtney Kueppers, Chicago Sun-Times / WBEZ, 9/10/24
- $75M donation to fund new gallery building at Art Institute, Brandon Dupré, Crain’s Chicago Business, 9/10/24