A Friday (7/24) post at Chicago classical radio station WFMT includes a lengthy interview with architect Ed Uhlir, design director of the Millennium Park Project, who speaks about the 80-year history of the park’s various pavilions and “how he worked with approximately twelve different architectural design firms to make Millennium Park the most musical park in America. ‘The first pavilion, which was based on the design of the Hollywood Bowl, was a series of concentric planes that went back from a larger concentric circle to a smaller one in the back…. The second pavilion’—the Petrillo Bandshell—‘was sort of wedge-shaped, trapezoidal-shaped, made of a translucent material…. It was up the first year, 1978…. The Pritzker Pavilion was designed by Frank Gehry…. It’s designed to be acoustically perfect in terms of the orchestra hearing themselves—you can’t make great music unless you have an environment that promotes that.” Also described is Pritzker’s overhead trellis structure for loudspeakers and ongoing upgrades including LED lights to be installed in the fall; and Millennium Park’s Cloud Gate, Crown Fountain, and Lurie Garden.
Posted July 27, 2015
