Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Chicago's Pomo Moment

We revisit a forgotten chapter in the city's rich architectural history and discover a surprisingly contextual, responsive, and intelligent movement.

Metropolis editors

FEED

Designed by the elder statesman of Chicago architecture Stanley Tigerman, the Self Park Garage on East Lake Street in the Loop is an icon of the Postmodernist period.

Photography by Jessica Pierotti

When it comes to great architecture, no other North American city can begin to rival Chicago. “Our real heritage,” says Stanley Tigerman, the elfish godfather of Chicago architecture, “is not so much its individual buildings, but in the way, after burning down, it was rebuilt all at once in a modern way.” That bracing modernity, he adds, “is the source of what passes for much of the city’s architecture today, yesterday, 30 years ago.” It’s a marvelously rich source material that is arguably less readily detectable in the city’s celebrated high-Modernist landmarks than in its neglected Postmodern buildings. The latter belong to a remarkable, if short-lived, period that is now nearly forgotten. On the eve of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the largest celebration of its kind to happen on this continent, it’s time to change that.

Our research into this forgotten chapter of Chicago’s architectural history points to a more refined, nuanced handling of Postmodern themes than was taken up elsewhere. The following architects and buildings toggle between several aesthetic sensibilities, but all in the belief that architecture can be many things—serious, humorous, and civic minded. —Samuel Medina