James Corner completes first regeneration phase of Chicago's Navy Pier
POSTED 20 May 2016 . BY Kim Megson
A year long programme of celebrations will take place to mark the pier's 100th anniversary Credit: James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of Navy Pier Inc
The completed first phase of redevelopment at Chicago’s Navy Pier will be officially unveiled on 27 May, kicking off a year-long programme of celebrations.
Landscape architecture and design firm James Corner Field Operations have been revamping the pier since winning an international design competition for the US$278m (€255.9m, £197.6m) project in 2012.
Phase one includes new arts and cultural programming, restaurants and landscape design across nine acres. It has been completed in time for the pier’s 100th anniversary.
“We have reimagined South Dock as a new green spine,” said studio founder James Corner. “It extends all the way from Lake Michigan back into the city and anchors a series of plazas, museums, theatres, restaurants, and social destinations that exemplify the vitality of Chicago life and culture.”
The client is Navy Pier Inc (NPI), which wants to reimagine the space – once called the ‘People's Pier’ – as a public leisure hub by “reconnecting it with Lake Michigan, with culture, and with spectacle.”
NPI is targeting SITES certification – a new US Green Building Council-led international system for developing and evaluating.
Phase one includes the following completed works:
• New crossings and reconfigured traffic patterns have been added to assure a safer and more welcome arrival for pedestrians and cyclists.
• The landmarked Navy Pier Headhouse has been illuminated with architectural lighting to “amplify the importance of its historic façade.”
• The Polk Bros Fountain and Plaza has been recreated with a complex geometry of dynamic water jets. In winter, this area will be transformed into a skating rink.
• A curvaceous “Wave Wall” designed by nArchitects lets light and movement into the interior South Arcade while coalescing to create a grand south-facing stair, moving upwards and on-axis with a new Ferris Wheel.
• The South Dock Promenade has been installed with new herring-bone paving, large shade trees, grass and perennial plantings, social furniture and reflective kiosks and Lake Pavilions.
• New pier lighting, designed by L’Observatoire International, has been added to support all of the existing varied uses of the Pier and to create a view path to the city skyline.
Navy Pier welcomes more than 8m guests annually. Originally opened in 1916 as a shipping and recreation facility, it now has more than 50 acres of parks, restaurants, attractions, retail shops, sightseeing and dining cruise boats.
Other design, engineering and consultancy firms who have collaborated on phase one of the project include Gensler, Thorton Thomasetti, Environmental Systems Design, Terry Guen Design Associates, Jeffrey Bruce + Company, Fluidity Design Consultants, Pentagram, Re:Vision, Buro Happold, Billings Jackson, Primera, Kimley-Horn, Construction Cost Systems and D’Escoto.
James Corner Field Operations have been revamping the pier since winning an international design competition for the US$278m project in 2012 Credit: James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of Navy Pier Inc
Navy Pier receives eight million visitors annually Credit: David Bjorgen
Phase one includes new arts and cultural programming, restaurants and landscape design across nine landscaped acres Credit: James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of Navy Pier Inc
A new ferris wheel has been installed on the pier Credit: James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of Navy Pier Inc
PROJECT PROFILE:
Lakefront Kiosk Competition, Lake Michigan As part of the first ever Chicago Architecture Biennial, starting in October 2015, a lakefront architecture competition has been announced.
Marks Barfield Architects, the creators of the London Eye, have been tasked with
designing a cable car across Chicago that will become an “iconic attraction” for the city.
James Corner Field Operations have designed a vast glacial installation for the National
Building Museum in Washington, which will make visitors feel as though they are walking
through an underwater world of ice fields.
The Chicago Shakespeare Theater is expanding its footprint on the city’s iconic Navy Pier,
with US$35m (€32.2m, £24.9m) being used to develop a flexible third stage capable of
being adapted based on the performance.
Numbers from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, (ALVA) show that Royal attractions
saw a huge increase in visitor numbers during 2023 – the coronation year of King Charles III.
Off the back of the success of the first round of Everyday Heritage Grants in 2022, Historic
England is funding 56 creative projects that honour the heritage of working-class England.
Universal has revealed it will be adding new Harry Potter attractions, alongside Super Nintendo
and How to Train Your Dragon worlds to its Florida resort.
James Corner completes first regeneration phase of Chicago's Navy Pier
POSTED 20 May 2016 . BY Kim Megson
A year long programme of celebrations will take place to mark the pier's 100th anniversary Credit: James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of Navy Pier Inc
The completed first phase of redevelopment at Chicago’s Navy Pier will be officially unveiled on 27 May, kicking off a year-long programme of celebrations.
Landscape architecture and design firm James Corner Field Operations have been revamping the pier since winning an international design competition for the US$278m (€255.9m, £197.6m) project in 2012.
Phase one includes new arts and cultural programming, restaurants and landscape design across nine acres. It has been completed in time for the pier’s 100th anniversary.
“We have reimagined South Dock as a new green spine,” said studio founder James Corner. “It extends all the way from Lake Michigan back into the city and anchors a series of plazas, museums, theatres, restaurants, and social destinations that exemplify the vitality of Chicago life and culture.”
The client is Navy Pier Inc (NPI), which wants to reimagine the space – once called the ‘People's Pier’ – as a public leisure hub by “reconnecting it with Lake Michigan, with culture, and with spectacle.”
NPI is targeting SITES certification – a new US Green Building Council-led international system for developing and evaluating.
Phase one includes the following completed works:
• New crossings and reconfigured traffic patterns have been added to assure a safer and more welcome arrival for pedestrians and cyclists.
• The landmarked Navy Pier Headhouse has been illuminated with architectural lighting to “amplify the importance of its historic façade.”
• The Polk Bros Fountain and Plaza has been recreated with a complex geometry of dynamic water jets. In winter, this area will be transformed into a skating rink.
• A curvaceous “Wave Wall” designed by nArchitects lets light and movement into the interior South Arcade while coalescing to create a grand south-facing stair, moving upwards and on-axis with a new Ferris Wheel.
• The South Dock Promenade has been installed with new herring-bone paving, large shade trees, grass and perennial plantings, social furniture and reflective kiosks and Lake Pavilions.
• New pier lighting, designed by L’Observatoire International, has been added to support all of the existing varied uses of the Pier and to create a view path to the city skyline.
Navy Pier welcomes more than 8m guests annually. Originally opened in 1916 as a shipping and recreation facility, it now has more than 50 acres of parks, restaurants, attractions, retail shops, sightseeing and dining cruise boats.
Other design, engineering and consultancy firms who have collaborated on phase one of the project include Gensler, Thorton Thomasetti, Environmental Systems Design, Terry Guen Design Associates, Jeffrey Bruce + Company, Fluidity Design Consultants, Pentagram, Re:Vision, Buro Happold, Billings Jackson, Primera, Kimley-Horn, Construction Cost Systems and D’Escoto.
James Corner Field Operations have been revamping the pier since winning an international design competition for the US$278m project in 2012 Credit: James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of Navy Pier Inc
Navy Pier receives eight million visitors annually Credit: David Bjorgen
Phase one includes new arts and cultural programming, restaurants and landscape design across nine landscaped acres Credit: James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of Navy Pier Inc
A new ferris wheel has been installed on the pier Credit: James Corner Field Operations, courtesy of Navy Pier Inc
Marks Barfield Architects, the creators of the London Eye, have been tasked with
designing a cable car across Chicago that will become an “iconic attraction” for the city.
James Corner Field Operations have designed a vast glacial installation for the National
Building Museum in Washington, which will make visitors feel as though they are walking
through an underwater world of ice fields.
The Chicago Shakespeare Theater is expanding its footprint on the city’s iconic Navy Pier,
with US$35m (€32.2m, £24.9m) being used to develop a flexible third stage capable of
being adapted based on the performance.
Numbers from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, (ALVA) show that Royal attractions
saw a huge increase in visitor numbers during 2023 – the coronation year of King Charles III.
Off the back of the success of the first round of Everyday Heritage Grants in 2022, Historic
England is funding 56 creative projects that honour the heritage of working-class England.
Universal has revealed it will be adding new Harry Potter attractions, alongside Super Nintendo
and How to Train Your Dragon worlds to its Florida resort.