Chill's Closet: A VISIT AT THE MILLENNIUM PARK

Friday, February 12, 2016

A VISIT AT THE MILLENNIUM PARK

The famous CLOUDGATE aka THE BEAN

On the first night that I was in Chicago, I made sure that I get to see the Millennium park. I have used this park as a reference and case study for several projects that I have worked on and designed so naturally, I would want to see the real deal. It was a good thing because the park was just a few corners away from Hyatt Regency, the hotel where I was checked in for the ASLA convention.

My view from my hotel room at Hyatt Regency...the Chicago version of AECOM (where I work with) is just opposite it.

So I strolled along Michigan avenue with my family and eventually stopped at Shake shack first before heading to the park. Mini-me was insistent on having burgers at Shake Shack since there wasn't any In and Out at Chicago.

lovely Shake Shack

sinned so bad!

I must admit that I was enthralled and surprised by Millennium. Enthralled because of its sheer beauty especially at night and surprised because I was expecting a really mammoth scale of everything. Judging from the images before, it looks like that everything is of grand scale but it wasn't the case out there in reality. The scale was just right, in fact, human enough and thereby creating a sense of comfort rather than feeling out of place like what I usually feel in public plazas and parks here. There is a sense of intimacy in some corners brought by the lush planting and right ambient lighting.

the 3d mapped sculptural fountains

the Pritzker Pavilion which I used as a reference case study for one pavilion I designed here in China

under the bean

the silent sculptures

I was also intrigued by how it blended well with the old fashioned buildings around it. The famous bean or cloud gate is just in front of a classical style building. The merging of the contemporary and the old is just mesmerising; a visual feast to the naked eye and to my camera lens too.