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Observations and Images on Architecture, Culture and More, in Chicago and the World. See it all here. |
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-by Lynn Becker
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[March 23, 2007] - After a silly season of "best of" lists that's ranged from the American Institute of Architect's lazy and inane America's Favorite Architecture to the Illinois Bureau of Tourism's beauty contest quest for the Seven Wonders of Illinois, AIA Illinois has finally gotten it right. With 150 Great Places in Illinois, (the magic 150 number comes from the AIA's current celebration of its 150th anniversary year), they've finally come up with a compilation that 150 Great Places succeeds in no small measure due to its superbly designed website, which consists of but a single, simple and elegant page, where the visitor can easily navigate to richly detailed information and photographs for each entry. The look and 150 Great Places is highly idiosyncratic, and that's putting it lightly. For Bertrand Goldberg, only Marina City is listed - no Prentice Hospital, River City or Hilliard Homes. Myron Goldsmith is among the missing, as is Stanley Tigerman, Burnham, Root, and, as far as I could tell, Adler and Sullivan (!) Sears Tower makes the cut; the Hancock does not. Movie palaces like the Rialto in Joliet and Paramount in Aurora are included, but none of the grand hallucinations in Chicago. That may be the best thing about the list, however - how it goes beyond the usual As you can see from this selection, the list is also highly eclectic. There's no snobbery over styles or periods, but, unlike the other "best of" lists, there's no apparent pandering, either. Excellence rather than mass popularity seems to be key. In most cases, there is one external link to a web site with more information; in at least a few instances, alas, already broken. Another Otherwise, I found the site to perform flawlessly, and the project, itself, to be the first of its kind that didn't feel like I was lowering my intelligence just by browsing through it. 150 Great Places in Illinois is a class act, and its website is an addictive pleasure. See it here. Join a discussion on this story. © Copyright 2007 Lynn Becker All rights reserved.
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