Two temporary structures will be installed in Millennium Park this summer, from June 19 to October 31, when the 100th anniversary of the 1909 city plan by Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett will be celebrated. The plan opened Chicago to Lake Michigan, laid the foundation for transportation infrastructure, streamlined the street network, and created a central government and cultural center. Also in the summer, as part of the anniversary events, a new building of the Renzo Piano Institute of the Arts of Chicago will open, overlooking Millennium Park and connected to it by the Nichols Bridgeway pedestrian bridge.
The pavilions were designed by Ben van Berkel with his bureau UN Studio and Zaha Hadid. Both of these structures will be dismantled after the end of the celebrations, with van Berkel's steel structure used as recyclable materials, while Hadid's structure will simply be moved to a new location.
The UN Studio pavilion will consist of a podium, two curved supports and a ceiling; its steel frame will be sheathed with plywood sheets and painted with shiny white paint. At night it is planned to illuminate it with multi-colored LEDs. The building will be located between the lake and Michigan Avenue, emphasizing the views from this point.
Zaha Hadid's structure, which resembles a clam shell, will be a fabric structure on a lightweight aluminum frame, with its metal rods echoing the diagonals of the streets and avenues of the Burnham Plan. The slots in the pavilion ceiling will provide natural light that changes during the day. A projection screen will be installed inside, which will show a film about the development and transformation of Chicago over a decade, complemented by a story about conceptual projects developed for the metropolis by local architects.
