My Life Will Soon Be Very Unproductive

Force Unleashed 2 trailer:



Bioshock Infinite trailer:

I Found It!

When I was in Chicago last year, I was on a bus tour with my parents (against my protestations). And I saw, 2 streets off where we were driven, a building that warmed by mind.


By accident, I happened upon what it was. It's called The Contemporaine; and it won multiple awards. It's a residential building, which makes me both happy and ill. Why are such buildings so rare?

Epic Gods Fail

Chicago experienced an amazing storm this week, and the photos prove that all the gods failed.

Sometimes, a photographer goes out in search of a good photo--and, because of unforeseen circumstances, he comes back with a great photo, one that gets displayed all over the world.

And so it was last night as Tribune photographer Chris Sweda headed to the John Hancock Center skydeck to snap a few shots of the official debut of the Trump Tower spire--and a supercharged storm broke over Chicago.

Chris got the assigned shots as the spire turned from red to blue to white (below), but he got something much more powerful: A rare shot of lightning bolts simultaneously striking the Trump Tower and the Willis Tower (above).

A safe vantage point?

What Chris Sweda didn't capture is this: lightning also struck the building he was in, the elegant John Hancock Center (my favorite skyscraper ever). And at the same time.

But someone west of Chicago caught the whole thing on video.

Lightning strikes three of the tallest buildings in Chicago at the same time! from Craig Shimala on Vimeo.

Compare this to the Epic Gods Win posted a few days ago, and I think it's safe to say that the gods are total crap.

I Want To Go Back To Chicago

Lollapalooza 2010 in Grant Park will feature Green Day, Lady Gaga, and my winner for best album of 2009: Arcade Fire! All in Frank Gehry's brilliant Jay Pritzker Pavilion.

I gotta get out of here...

Ed. note: Lollapalooza is in Grant Park, not Millennium Park. Still, to watch those bands in that architecturally significant surrounding...

A Requiem For Art Deco Redux

I love art deco. Here are three examples of modern improvements of art deco, all from Chicago:

NBC Tower; Skidmore, Owings, and Merril (of the Sears and John Hancock towers fame); 1989

Citigroup Tower (formerly the Chicago And Northwestern Terminal Building), Helmut Jahn, 1987--note the tiered, arched entryway on the bottom right

United Terminal at O'Hare Airport, Helmut Jahn, 1987

Where did this pro-humanist aesthetic--with all of its attention to detail, craftsmanship, and ingenuity---go?

Great Design Wins; Why Isn't It Here?

A truly modern residential skyscraper: Aqua

Chicago's Aqua is Emporis' "skyscraper of the year." I'm sure other awards will follow.

Members of the jury praised Aqua for its fascinating shape, whose appearance changes dramatically depending on the perspective. It was also cited as a brilliant technical achievement for the precision of its construction, and lauded as an application of green design innovations to an extremely large building project.

As someone who lives among the sad attempts to recreate bigger versions of contemptible copies of outdated designs (and which have no respect for even past-modern aesthetics or craftsmanship), I say, "Hoorah!"

Why are people so easily herded into ugly, inefficient, and poorly designed homes?

I Have Problems With This

I'm not as negative on Mies Van Der Rohe as one might expect a Frank Lloyd Wright fan to be. I've marveled at his Seagram's building in New York City (it is more stunning than one would ever expect) and at several of his buildings in Chicago (which are legion). I don't agree with his style; but I do respect his anti-"everything built before WW2" ideals of clean lines, modern craftsmanship, and natural light. And he was a visionary who changed our skylines.

I loved watching this BBC documentary on Mies, but I disagreed with many of the narrator's points. I'll save my opinions, some of which might surprise my friends. Watch all 7 parts and please post your opinions: I think the man and his work warrant some discussion and debate. If you need more encouragement, the whole thing is too well-filmed not to watch and be mesmerized by pretty.

One Of Us Has To Get Crazy Rich

If one of us can just make or win millions, we will live happily ever after (and vertically) at Aqua.

So one of us is going to have to take one for the team and get drilled by an old rich guy. Since I'm the prettiest, you will all owe me one.

Aqua + Prarie Pre-Fab

I got a news flash a little while back and forgot to post it: another Chicago skyscraper was completed, and it's another first. When I saw it a few months ago, the roof still had a crane, but the building was mesmerizing nonetheless.

Aqua: The undulations are poured-in concrete balconies.

The 82-story hotel (eventually), apartment, and condo building is the world's tallest developed by an architectural firm headed by a woman.

Closer to the ground, Taliesin students have developed a prefab mod house for us all to drool over:

Can they make a non-desert, tornado-resistant model?

I love pretty.

Amazing

With the economy in the toilet, Chicago's planned Spire is a noble but dead dream. However, Roosevelt University will be constructing a new building, and it will stand out nicely in a city of stand-out architecture.

Defiant AND Beautiful

Someone should tell the many universities of the south that we don't really need Greco-Roman columns anymore. Really, we don't.