Maintaining a facade
the new facade at 618 S. Michigan is getting old
06/15/2012 10:31 PM
The new old facade is coming along (photo by Bonnie McGrath)
The old new facade has come down
It's really happening. The facade at 618 S. Michigan Avenue is getting older as I write. Hour by hour, day by day, week by week until it gets back to the turn of the last century. I told you the story of what Columbia College Chicago aims to do last August: rip off the 1950s glass facade put on by IBM when it inhabited the building--and put up a new glass facade made to look old. (In between IBM and Columbia, the building housed the Spertus Museum, which built a brand new modern glass building next door a few years ago.)
In any case, the pictures at right show the progress, and I plan to let you know the minute the time traveling facade gets to where it's going. Since I will be teaching in that building in the fall, as well--I will let you know what it's like being on the other side of the facade when the time comes, too.
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By Susan from SL
Posted: 06/20/2012 11:49 AM
FYI, it was Spertus Institute not just Spertus Museum (which was a part of the institute) that used the building inbetween IBM and Columbia. The museum part of Spertus is now closed, but the Institute lives on with many interesting classes and degree programs. Too bad about the museum, though.