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Apparently, when it comes to architects and designers, nobody doesn't like Navy Pier, which announced today that 50+ design teams have responded to an invitation to vie for the chance to redesign the popular tourist attraction.The international search for designers of a new “Pierscape” represents the first step in implementation of the Centennial Vision planning framework for redevelopment of the Pier as it approaches its 100th anniversary in 2016. Navy Pier Inc. (NPI) and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) jointly approved the planning framework shortly before NPI took over management of the Pier July 1 under a 25-year lease from MPEA.The list is a who's-who of architects and their teams, both from Chicago - John Ronan, Ross Barney, Krueck & Sexton, Booth Hansen, Xavier Vendrell Studio, Perkins+Will, Lohan Anderson, and Epstein, among others - and internationally: OMA, Morphosis, Frederic Schwartz, Kengo Kuma, Rafael Viñoly, Safdie Architects, SOM, UNStudio, Weiss/Manfredi and Zaha Hadid, among others.
The request for qualifications and design proposals sent out on September 1 asked for multi-disciplinary teams “to reimagine the public spaces at Navy Pier.” And based on the number and quality of the firms responding, imagination won’t be in short supply, said a key advisor to NPI in its search.
Many of the non-Chicago teams include Chicago partners: Christy Webber with AECOM, Bruce Mau with James Corner (and with Booth Hansen), Goettsch Partners with Ingenhoven, Solomon Cordwell Buenz with Machado and Silvetti, David Woodhouse with Miraelles Tagliabue, Destafano Partners with Rios Clementi Hale, Brininstool Kerwin+Lynch with ShoP Architects, and Studio Blue with STOSS Landscpe Zoe Ryan and Thirst shows up as part of the !melk team, versus Robert Somol with UNSTudio, and Sarah Herda with Xavier Vendrell. Throughout the mix, there are also names like Michael Maltzan, Adjaye Associates, Hoerr Schaudt, Hood Design, Atelier Ten, Foster+Partners (with Epstein), Theaster Gates, and Arup, pretty much all over the place.
You can see the full list here.
The next step in the selection process will be to choose approximately 10 teams that will be asked to submit additional information about their team members, Haemmerle said. Then, approximately five design teams will be asked to submit design proposals and participate in oral interviews with Navy Pier. Final selection of a design team or teams that will work on the Pierscape is anticipated in February 2012.Such an assemblage of talent, but how much vision can a bureaucracy tolerate? Will the ultimate result be the next Millennium Park, or a giant mouse - a tweaked tourist trap?