Terror and Wonder: Architecture in a Tumultuous Age Book

INTRODUCTION

1 The Urban Drama
DISASTER
  RAISING UP A FALLEN SKY
  The Best Way to Fill the Chilling Void in the Lower Manhattan Skyline Is with a Great New Urban Center, Not a Reproduction of the Destroyed Twin Towers
  DON’T ABANDON NEW ORLEANS
  The Big Easy, an American Masterpiece, Deserves to Be Saved; Its Rebuilding Should Stress Substance over Show

SECURITY
  LAND OF THE SORT OF FREE
  In a Nervous City, Places like the Federal Plaza Run Scared, While the Daley Plaza Hangs Tough
  FORT WASHINGTON
  From the Heartland to the Capital, Federal Buildings Put on the Armor of a Nation under Siege
  HUBS OF FRUSTRATION
  Airports—A Symbol of Our Freedom of Movement—Have Become Dehumanizing

THE PROMISE AND PERILS OF REBUILDING
  A BRILLIANT TIGHTROPE WALK AT GROUND ZERO
  One Plan for WTC Rises above the Rest
  TOWER OF BANAL
  Latest Freedom Tower Design Erases Original Vision of Remembrance and Renewal

RECLAIMING THE PUBLIC REALM
  A PEOPLE’S PARK FOR THE FUTURE
  Why Millennium Park Has Instantly—and Interactively—Established Itself as Chicago’s New Town Square
  THE MILLENNIUM PARK EFFECT
  It Has Emerged as a Sparkling Example of How Big Cities Can Get Big Things Done

2 The Building Boom
WRETCHED EXCESS
  MONUMENTS TO MEDIOCRITY
  The Demands of Business Overwhelm the Art of Architecture in a Surge of High-Rise Residential Construction
  ONCE GRAND, NOW BLAND
  Boom in Branch Banks Is Shortchanging the Character of Neighborhoods
  A MICKEY D’S ON STEROIDS
  When Supersize Isn’t Necessarily Better
  A GALLERY OF ROGUES
  For Every Gem Produced by the Long-Running Building Boom, There Are Even More Clunkers

GEMS AMID THE ROUGH
  A SPARKLING NEW HIGH-RISE, THE CONTEMPORAINE, HERALDS THE REVIVAL OF MODERNISM
  LIGHTER-THAN-AIR SERTA HEADQUARTERS ELEVATES THE ORDINARY WAVES OF CREATIVITY
  The Aqua Tower, by Rising Star Jeanne Gang, Is One of Chicago’s Boldest and Best New Skyscrapers

DOES SUPERTALL MEAN SUPERB?
  THE DONALD’S DUD
  Trump’s Skyscraper, Shortened by the Post-9/11 Fear of Heights, Reaches Only for Mediocrity
  SCALING AESTHETIC HEIGHTS
  Skyscraper Adapts to Our World in a Stunning New Way
  LET’S TWIST AGAIN
  Third Time’s the Charm for Lakefront Tower—or Is It?
  HOW TO BUILD TODAY’S SUPERTALLS
  Elegance, Not Machismo, Is behind Chicago’s Unprecedented Reach for the Sky
  A SKYSCRAPER OF MANY FACES
  In Trump’s Context-Driven Chicago Skyscraper, Beauty Is in the Eye—and the Vantage Point—of the Beholder
  THE NEW BURJ DUBAI, THE WORLD’S TALLEST BUILDING, SHOWS THAT NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE EXCESS

3 The Age of Icons
CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE
  WINGED VICTORY
  Santiago Calatrava Marries Sculpture and Structure, and Molds a New Identity for the Milwaukee Art Museum
  A MUSICAL ARK FOR LOS ANGELES
  Frank Gehry’s Spectacular Disney Hall Draws Energy from the City’s Chaos and Steers It toward a New Vision of Community
  ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGHS AND LOWS
  Daniel Libeskind’s Denver Art Museum Addition Is a Striking Urban Presence but Doesn’t Soar as a Showcase
  BLADES OF GLASS
  The New Spertus Institute and Its Gemlike Wall Form a Welcome Counterpoint to Chicago’s Michigan Avenue Historic District

FROM THE SPECTACULAR TO THE SUBTLE A BRIGHTER IDEA
  Steven Holl’s Bloch Building at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City Redefines the Museum Addition
  CHICAGO’S TEMPLE OF LIGHT
  Much More than a Container for Art, Renzo Piano’s Refined Modern Wing Opens to Nature and the City
  A SIDEWALK THROUGH THE SKY
  With Quiet Nautical Flourish, the Nichols Bridgeway Connects the Modern Wing of the Art Institute to Millennium Park

BIG STARS ON CAMPUS BOLD NEW LOOK ON CAMPUS
  Can Sexy, Signature Buildings Successfully Fuse Form and Function?
  TRIUMPHANT HOMECOMING
  Helmut Jahn Designs an Illinois Institute of Technology Dorm that Looks Elegantly at Home
  THOM MAYNE’S STUDENT RECREATION CENTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI IS THE LATEST PIECE OF AN EXEMPLARY PUZZLE

4 The Changing Faces of Preservation and Conservation
NEW CHALLENGES FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION
  THE DANGER OF BECOMING SKIN-DEEP
  Chicago Historic Buildings Become Shells as New Rules of Preservation Are Letting City’s History Slip Away
  HEALING PROCESS
  It’s Unclear Whether Cook County Hospital Can or Should Be Saved, but There Hasn’t Been a Full Airing of the Question
  WHY LOSING SOLDIER FIELD’S LANDMARK STATUS MATTERS
  Uncle Sam Draws a Line, Saving Avant-Garde Architecture from Its Worst Excesses
  LOVE IT? HATE IT? OR BOTH?
  An Architecture Critic Revisits the Building He Despised as a Student and Has a Revelation
  THIS MIES BUILDING AT IIT CAN GO
  Squat Brick Structure Isn’t the Architect’s Best Work, and the Metra Expansion Merits Its Razing
  HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND GREEN ARCHITECTURE
  Friends or Foes?

THE BLOOMING OF GREEN ARCHITECTURE CHICAGO, MY KIND OF GREEN
  The Windy City Presents a Snapshot of the Sustainability Movement’s Strengths and Shortcomings
  GOING “NET ZERO” TO MAKE A GREEN STATEMENT
  First-of-Its-Kind Home in Chicago Will Produce as Much Energy as It Uses
  TEMPLE OF GREEN
  In the Grand Rapids Art Museum, a Measured Approach to Design Reveals that Elegance and Environmentalism Are Not Incompatible

5 A New Era and New Challenges
REIMAGINING REGIONS AND HOUSING
  GOING FORWARD
  Planning for Chicago’s Future Requires Burnham-Style Vision—and a Big Pair of Green-Tinted Glasses
  SHORTSIGHTED POLEMICS
  The Ideological Catfights over Housing Threaten to Marginalize All of Architecture
  CHA POLISHES ITS ROUGH EDGES
  Architect Dresses up the Dearborn Homes, Georgian Style, and Upgrades Living Spaces Inside
  BRICK BY BRICK
  Born as a Horse Stable, the Brick Weave House Provides the Perfect Home for a Pair of Urbanite Gearheads

THE BLESSINGS—AND BURDENS—OF INFRASTRUCTURE A GRANDER CANYON
  The Rebuilt Wacker Drive Has Emerged Not Only Fixed, but Finer
  CHICAGO’S SECOND WATERFRONT
  A New Stretch of River Walk Furthers the Dream of Turning a Once-Harsh Industrial Zone into a Prime Public Space
  NEW RANDOLPH STATION WORKS WITHIN ITS LIMITS
  Renovated Station a Bright Spot in Daily Commute
  THE WAY WE MOVE—AND LIVE
  America’s Infrastructure Crisis Arrives on Chicago’s Doorstep

HIGH HOPES, HIGH BUILDINGS, AND SOBERING REALITIES 
GOOD-BYE, ICONS; HELLO, INFRASTRUCTURE
  Obama Inaugurates a New Era of Architecture
  BACK TO BASICS
  President Obama’s Infrastructure Plan Won’t Match the Great New Deal Public Works Projects, but It Moves America in the Right Direction

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ILLUSTRATION CREDITS INDEX