“In this video, we visit Chicago’s most endangered building–the Thompson Center–and discuss issues related to its preservation and impending demolition.”
“Perhaps no building in Chicago is closer to a date with the wrecking ball than the Thompson Center. While those responsible for initiating this threat cite years worth of deferred maintenance and high costs of operation as the primary reasons for their decision, these are not the real reasons for the building’s demise. It suffers from a much more lethal ailment — treating it like a normal building. In this video, Stewart explains why the Thompson Center is definitely not a normal building and offers alternative ways to evaluate it. What if we considered it to be a piece of urban infrastructure or public plaza instead? Relating the building to Rem Koolhaas’ theory of ‘Bigness’, this video builds the case that the Thompson Center should be valued for how it brings people together in space rather than its colors, or material palette, or any other normal ways of evaluating mere buildings.”
The Most Endangered Building in Chicago [Thompson Center], Architecture w/Stewart Hicks
