Crunching the Numbers: Perkins + Will number 3 on Architectural Records's list of top 250 firms

It's that time again.  Architectural Record has released its 2012 edition of the Top 250 Architectural Firms in the U.S.  And, of course, quality doesn't always equate to quantity.  Studio/Gang, John Ronan, Tigerman/McCurry, Krueck and Sexton, and many more award-winning Chicago firms are nowhere to be found.

On the 2008 list, total architectural revenues for the top 250 totaled over $12 billion, 18% of it from overseas projects.  On the 2012 list, total revenues were under $9 billion, with almost a quarter coming from foreign projects.

Perkins+Will, at number 3, remains Chicago's largest architectural firm.  Its 2011  revenues of $365 million was down 10% from 2008, but was good for third place among U.S. firms.  San Francisco based Gensler, which has a large Chicago office, moved to number one by growing it's revenues by nearly 20%, to $764 million.  The former number one AECOM Technology of L.A., saw its revenue in free fall, at $445 million, less than half what it took in in 2008.  VOA, at 42, was the second biggest Chicago firm.

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is new on the list this year at position 87, with revenues of $28.5 million, all but $1 million of which comes from foreign projects.  SOM, which has a large Chicago presence, continues to have a roughly 50/50 split between foreign and domestic, while over 70% of Goettsch Partners' (#111) revenue comes from overseas.  In contrast, the billings of Solomon Cordwell Buenz (#83) are entirely domestic.   Also making the list this year:  FGM Architects, Epstein, Wight and Company, Legat, Anderson Mikos, Chipman Design and DLA Architects.

All told, Chicago proper has eight firms on the list, with another five in the suburbs.  Gone from the 2008 list are DeStefano (disbanded), OWP/P (absorbed by Cannon Design) and Teng (derailed by their failed bid to become real estate developers).  Murphy/Jahn, which held down 72nd place in 2008, with over $50 million in reported revenues, has completely dropped off the 2012 list.  Of course, the firm is in good company.  Last year, AR acknowledged that firms such as Gehry Partners never respond to requests for information.  Pelli Clarke Pelli, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, and Richard Meier and Partners are also among the Bartleby contingent of heavyweights that never appear on the list.

Check out the full Architectural Record list here.

The Billion Dollar Mansion where No One Sleeps

photograph: Jhariani, Wikipedia

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Back in 2010, we wrote about how architects Perkins+Will and interior design firm Hirsch Bender Associates had become extremely shy when it came to talking about their new billion dollar, 550-foot-high mansion, named Antilla, they had just finished in Mumbai for the Ambani family.  168 parking spaces. Three helipads.  400,000 square feet.  A billion dollars.  You can appreciate their dilemma.

photograph: Shashi Bellamkonda, Wikipedia

From a PR standpoint, it was a no-win scenario, but as a challenge - and a commission - how could you pass it up?  Still, the situation couldn't be more delicate.  Or could it?

The Engineering News-Record is reporting that at the billion-dollar-mansion, it's Nessun Dorma, each night, every night. 

According to the principles of Vastu Shastra, a home's eastern side should have enough windows or other openings to let residents receive sufficient morning light. The Ambani home fails on that and other counts, reportedly leading the family to believe that moving in will bring them bad luck and misfortune.

And so, while in sunlight hours you will find Ambani's galore populating Antilla, the "21st-century Taj Mahal", at end of day, as sleep beckons, all the Ambani's slip away.  That's the story.  A family spokesperson demurs.

According to the just-published Forbes list of the world's richest people, Mukesh Ambani is now, at $22 billion, the 19th wealthiest person on the planet.  Just two years ago, in 2010, at $29 million, he was fourth.  He remains the richest man in India, where the per capita annual income is $1219.  In India, the Gini coefficient, where a larger number indicates greater income inequality, was 36.8 in 2004.  In the United States, in 2007, it was 45.0.

It's said that, as recently as the 1970's, the Ambani lived in a two-bedroom apartment.

Waiting for the Skin: 400 South Jefferson Stripped to the Bones

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Above is the corner of Jefferson and Tilden in February.

This was the corner of Jefferson and Tilden this weekend.

400 South Jefferson was constructed in 1946 for the Newman-Rudolph Lithographing Company.  Architect Alfred S. Alschuler II's streamlined, Art Moderne structure slipped a bit of the Bauhaus into Chicago beneath the radar of controversy,  Set within a  near West Side commercial district full of turn-of-the-century loft buildings, it was an optimistic statement for a post-war Chicago that was actually about to enter a final peak flowering just before going into steep decline.  Now it's being skinned alive of its gracious, multi-toned masonry facade.  Late 20th century printing presses could thrive bricked up like Fortunato; 21st century office workers chafe.

Newman-Rudolph Lithographing moved out in 1966. Although the building would remain home to a number of other printing companies, its most famous occupant was the Selective Service, as seen in the 1967 photo below, courtesy of the Chuckman Archive.  During the Vietnam War, thousands of inductees were processed like cattle on their way to the slaughterhouses of Southeast Asia. 

In the last decade, the derelict near-West Side has again come alive as a primarily residential district, one loft building after another converted to condos or apartments, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel still has plans to reinvigorate it as a commercial district, as well.  Last December, he announced that 400 South Jefferson is to become the home to half of the Sara Lee Corporation, relocated from Downers Grove with the assistance of $5 to $6.5 million of taxpayer assistance through the Canal-Congress TIF.   Sara Lee is splitting itself into two companies, and we're getting what's currently operating under the placeholder name of MeatCo - Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, etc. The press release claimed a minimum of 500 jobs would be coming to Chicago, a number less than half the division's current employee head count.  Reports that a Mrs. Nellie Lovett of London has been contracted to manage outplacement of non-survivors remain unverified.

According to a recent Advertising Age report,  MeatCo is in the midst of a year-long process to come up with a permanent identity. Apparently Wild Onion Meats has already been ruled out.   Reportedly also falling away from the list of finalists are Dead Animal Flesh 'R We, and Beatrice.

Sterling Bay Companies acquired the 230,000 square-foot structure, on a two-acre site, in January of this year, and have entered into a long-term lease with MeatCo for 95% of the space.  "Sterling Bay began a complete renovation of the building, including: replacing the façade with a new glass curtain wall, installing new passenger elevators, updating all major building systems, and creating indoor parking for over 60 cars."  The city's Department of Community Development Report lists Gina Berndt of Perkins+Will as architect of the $30 million project, which should look pretty much like this when finished next year . . . 
[image removed]
(Note:  comments to this post from Proteus Group objected to not being credited in the rendering of the project.  It was presented at a public press conference, but we've still removed it.  Normally, we're more than happy to accept corrections, but the snarky, self-satisfied tone of their posts doesn't encourage humility.  Proteus Group is not mentioned in the official city document we cited, and Sterling Bay failed to respond to our request for the names of the architects for this project.  If you want to be properly credited, don't ignore our emails.  Or at least get your client's website to admit you exist.  The renderings there don't show your copyright either. And speaking of accuracy, you may want to fix your own website, which claims "Proteus Group focuses 100% on healthcare facilities."  And try not to be such pompous windbags.)

Rm W Vu, Wi-Fi, Oxygen: Rush Presbyterian's Proud Tower on the way to January opening

It's a long way from here . . .

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. . . to here:

The countdown is on towards the scheduled January 9, 2012 opening of Rush-Presbyterian's new 806,000-square-foot, 14-story, billion dollar East Tower, designed by Perkins+Will, the hospital's first major new facility in 25 years, with over 300 beds.

The top five floors, in a stretched cloverleaf reminiscent of the design of Bertrand Goldberg's threatened Prentice Hospital, is for acute and critical care. Each single-patient room is identical, with discrete areas for patient, caregivers, and visitors, and including a sleeper sofa, Wi-Fi, 42-inch flat panel, and large windows with spectacular views.

The columns of the 3-story high entry pavilion are wired for oxygen, so the space can be converted into a treatment center with temporary beds in case of a catastrophic epidemic or bio terrorism event.

On Saturday, December 10th of this year, the hospital will be offering one hour preview tours of the new facility. Registration required. Info here. The hospital's website is also offering an interactive tour.

 

Sometimes, architectural traditions aren't really worth continuing: Northwestern's OCP

In a presentation to SOAR this summer, this is actually how Northwestern described the design for it's new 25-story, $344 million Outpatient Care Pavilion, to be built at Fairbanks and Erie . . . .

"The OCP is a campus building continuing the architectural tradition of Feinberg, Galter and Prentice . . . "

Could they set the bar any lower?

This is the new Rush Presbyterian Hospital, designed by Perkins+Will, and the adjacent Midwest Orthopaedics building . . .

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This is the Zimmer Gunsul Frasca's new Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital . . .

. . . and this is Northwestern's new OCP . . .

Can anyone explain the logic of this design?  Why, on the Erie and Fairbanks elevations shown above, the precast concrete piers or fins are rendered as being continuous, while on Ontario street . . .

the concrete piers start, and then stop, and then the curtain wall is all steel-and-glass, and then it stops, and then the piers start again, and then they stop again, and then its steel and glass again, and then it's a steel penthouse like the top of a cheap medicine bottle.  And what's the deal with those metal louvers like hanging chads that cover over half the windows between the piers?  If they're venting the parking garage, why are they on only some of the parking floors?  Could there be any more graceless way to do this?

Could a design be any more jumbled and incoherent? If it were a patient, attention-deficit-disorder would be the easy diagnosis.  I suppose you could try to pass it off as a kind of Mannerist Modern, but I'm not sure even that would wash.

As someone who was recently there for an outpatient procedure,  I can attest that Northwestern's medical credentials are top drawer.  It's now embarked on a campaign to establish itself as a world-class institution, on the level of the Cleveland and Mayo Clinics.  So why does it insist on presenting itself through buildings whose profiles are relentlessly indifferent, so generic and forgettable?

And why is it so hell-bent on destroying the only truly distinctive work of architecture on its campus, Bertrand Goldberg's Prentice Hospital?

Clare Tower, Bird-Friendly Design, Jones College Prep, Ace Mentor benefit at the Vertigo Lounge, Bus Rapid Transit in Chicago - August far from dead: two dozen great items on this month's Architectural Calendar

Yes, it only seems that everyone's closed up shop and moved to the country.  The August Calendar is alive and well.

Just this Thursday, AIA Chicago offers a tour of Perkins+Will's Clare Tower, and Friends of Downtown have a program on the same firms new building for Jones College Prep, while at Wishnick Hall at ITT, there's a symposium on Bird-Friendly Building Design.  The Commission on Chicago Landmarks also meets on Thursday.  Still no Prentice, and the Permit Review Committee for the month has been cancelled. (Having trouble finding an architect left on the Commission to run it?)

Next week, on Tuesday, AIA Chicago has a session on Community Planning for Wicker Park and Bucktown.  Later in the month, the Metropolitan Planning Council marks the release of its report, Bus Rapid Transit: Chicago's New Route to Opportunity, with a roundtable discussion on Wednesday, the 17th, while on Tuesday, the 23rd, the ACE Mentor Program, which helps Chicago area high school students explore careers in architecture, construction and engineering, holds its annual fundraiser at the Vertigo Sky Lounge at the Dana Hotel.

I'm sure we'll find more, but even now there are over two dozen great programs on the August Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.  Check them all out here.  Or here.*

*this is a test to see how many times we can get you to click on the exact same link.

The Raw and the Cooked: The Peshtigo is dead. Long live 500 North Lake Shore?

When developer Related Midwest announced it in 2007, the Peshtigo did not seem one of  Ralph Johnson's most felicitous designs.  58 stories tall,  massive and top-heavy, with a massive parking podium at the base, it seemed a long way from the Perkins+Will's architect's more elegant designs - the Contemporaine, Skybridge, The Clare, and last year's dash-dotted facaded 235 West Van Buren. 

The Peshtigo's hammer head profile was an expression of its irregular floor plan, with Johnson replacing the standard glass box with what he described as a "bent bar", with multiple angles designed to provide minimal corridors and a maximized perimeter. 

The view from the west was even bulkier . . .

It was to be called The Peshtigo because of the street on which it was to be built, block-long Peshtigo Court, home for decades to Mundie, Jensen's 1937 streamlined Kraft Cheese Company building.  After the corporation fled to the suburbs, the structure was purchased by the Chicago Police Department, and in 2003 it was demolished.

Some have commented that Peshtigo was not exactly a good luck charm as a name.  It's best known for the great fire of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, which occurred the same evening, October 8, 1871, as the far more famous Great Chicago Fire, but was vastly more deadly.  Final estimates of the dead in Chicago ranged upwards to 300.  The Great Peshtigo Fire, raging through the town largely built by former Chicago mayor William Ogden to service his vast lumber holdings, was estimated to have killed between 1,200 to 2,400.

In the final analysis, however, it wasn't bad kharma or irregular design that killed The Peshtigo, but a collapsing economy.   It was intended to have 358 condominium units near the top of luxury pricing.  The units were larger than usual, the smallest 882 square feet.  But early on, there were snippings that those luxury prices came with generic quality finishes and appliances.  And then came the crash.

The Peshtigo is dead.  Ralph Johnson is out; Solomon Cordwell Buenz is in.  Courtesy of 42nd Ward alderman Brendan Reilly, who's holding a community meeting on the revised project at the Sheraton this Wednesday, we give you - 500 North Lake Shore Drive:

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. . . 120 feet shorter, a half million square feet smaller, with as many as 150 more units, as small as 600 square feet, cheaper price points, and at least 400 parking spaces in a bustle that looks like SCB spirited away the bottom of Brininstool & Lynch's 550 North St. Clair.

So we're back to the elegant glass box, with Buenos Notches, a la Legacy, but no trademark SCB curved corner.  Eminently reasonable. Very clean.  Not overbearing - plays well with its neighbors.  Has a little park.  Several steps above everything around it.

So why am I feeling a pang of loss that we'll never be able to grow to love the brawny, lopsided pug?

Pebbles go Bam Bam or Broken Glass Boogie Woogie

It was a dark and stormy night.
It was a dark and stormy night.
It was a dark and stormy late afternoon.

Last Friday, 77 mile-per-hour winds and a lot of unnecessary wetness stormed through Chicago's Loop doing rude things. Most of the publicity went to the two windows that popped out of the Tower Formerly Known as Sears. Two more cracked.

Big deal. The real action was over at 22 W. Washington, the 17-story Perkins+Will skyscraper anchoring the southwest corner of uncharmed Block 37.

Before:After:(Thanks, as always to our indefatigable correspondent Bob Johnson for all the great images accompanying this post.)

No fewer than 35 windows were damaged, shattered, according to news reports, by pebbles carried off the rooftops and hurled by the wind against the glass at a far higher velocity than that commonly required to get someone's attention.

When 22 West first opened in 2008, the Trib's Blair Kamin reported that the beleaguered developer used a cheaper quality of glass than that recommended by architect Ralph Johnson, resulting in unwanted distortion in the curtain wall's reflections of the buildings surrounding Daley Plaza.

Now, at least for the moment, 22 West's Dearborn facade is a late-Mondrian-like mosaic of dreamy reflectivity and dull, dark voids created where opaque, off-the-shelf replacement panes have been installed. It's like a picture puzzle with a lot of a pieces missing. And for the traditionalists among us, there's even a window boarded up with old-fashioned plywood.22 West would probably be a more interesting building if, instead of fixing things, they broke a lot more windows, and made the whole thing a more artful counterpoint of reflection and void, contrasting to the uniform mirroring of the structure's other elevations: the almost cliché illusion of structure dissolving into reflections, rudely interrupted by prosaic punctuations of materiality.

That's unlikely to happen, however, so enjoy the eccentricity while it lasts.