His many interventions into architecture in the 1980s and 90s may have been paved with good intentions, but for me, and many disgruntled others, his desire for a return to traditional forms and construction, promoting the idea of village life over the city, translated into turning Britain back into some sort of feudal fealty. With cutesy chocolate box Disney facades.
Ralph Johnson, the architect behind designs at Rush University Medical Center, O'Hare and the Skybridge condo tower, is a homegrown talent who started out in the Union Stockyards.
The 1983 Central Area Plan didn’t want to remake the central area, but instead sought sensible improvements. There is some merit in that approach today, as the city figures out a new chapter for downtown.