I've seen that somewhere (1)

I walk around Chicago looking at the built environment, and I write about what I see: why are the structures the way they are, what are common features of the structures I see, what materials are they made of, the history of humman occupation of Chicago, how the world we live in now is different from the world in which the structure was designed, and so forth.  While I am overwhelingly Chicago-centric, I try to be aware of buildings elsewhere in the world.

Sometimes I read about some structure out in the wider world that reminds me of something around here.  I've seen several instances of structures that make me say "I've seen that before." I'll dedicate a blog post to each instance.

The first pairings reflect (1) a plan based on repeated octagons, (2) the building elevated above street level by circular pilotis, and (3) "brutalist" massing: simple geometric shapes frequently repeated, sometimes with variations that emphasize the repetition.

The Johnston R. Bowman Health Center on South Paulina Street in Chicago is an eight storey structure that is part of Rush University Medical Center. It is the nursing home attached to the hospital. I imagine that rooms for the residents on each floor surround a social space. While a hub-and spoke plan would be ideal, octagons could be a cost-effective realization. The Johnston R Bowman Center was designed by the partnership Metz, Train, Olson, and Youngren and constructed in 1977. Metz, Train, etc. is no longer in operation.

Round pilotis were made fashionable by Le Corbusier, and as this building is next to the elevated train, it makes sense to minimize the ground level.

I first saw this building a decade ago, and felt that it was a good example of "midcentury modernism." It was built a year after the old Prentice Hospital, and might reflect a similar spirit of the age.

Then I saw two different buildings by

Paul Rudolph. Rudolph was one of great midcentury modernists, and served as the head of the architecture department at Yale University for six years. Up until the mid '60s, Rudolph was widely admired, but became deeply unpopular almost immediately in the late '60s. (This sudden reversal of fortune was similar to LBJ going from winning a huge landslide in the 1964 elections to leaving in disgrace in 1968.) History has not been kind to many of his buildings, which have often provoked fierce arguments about their preservation or repurposing. Through the ''60s, Rudolph used exposed concrete, but later turned to metal and glass. After the mid '60s, Rudolph did most of his work in Asia.

Two structures by Rudolph deployed octagonal plans, pilotis, and massing that seems to be brut: Lippo Center, in Hong Kong, and The Concourse, in Singapore.

Both are towers, both are raised up from the ground on pilotis, and both have variations from floor to floor; in all of these, the designs by Rudolph are similar to the Johnston Bowman Center.

Consider these photos:

The Concourse, Singapore, 1994, Paul Rudolph

Lippo Center, Hong Kong, 1988, Paul Rudolph

Both display not just a hexagonal form, but a core geometrical idea with variations that seem to reinforce that geometrical idea, as does the building in Chicago. Both buildings display a complexity typical of many of Rudolph's designs.

 

Photo of the Johnston R. Bowman Health Center of the Rush University Medical Center by the author.

Photo of The Concourse from Paul Rudolph Foundation

Photo of Lippo Center from Wikipedia