Millennium Park
Cost: $475 million

Chicago is synonymous with risk-taking architecture.

City leaders hope that Millennium Park, the attraction in a former rail hole east of the Loop, has burnished Chicago's reputation as an architectural and cultural giant.

Whether that has happened is a question that will be debated for years, but one thing is for certain: The park just east of Michigan Avenue has brought together the work of some of the top designers and artists of the age in a public setting.

The project includes more than a dozen elements, including the following highlights:

The Jay Pritzker Pavilion is the design of Frank Gehry. The facility is the new home of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and will also serve as a venue for other concerts and events downtown.

The pavilion can seat 11,000 people, with 4,000 fixed seats near the stage and the rest in the lawn area furthest from the proscenium.

Immediately north of the pavilion is the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance, which was designed by Chicago-based Hammond Beeby Rupert Ainge. The 1,500-seat theater features a minimalist look and is constructed of a vibration-dampening structural precast concrete.

Twelve artistic groups that wanted a downtown presence are part of the music and dance consortium.

The structure is supported below grade by caissons drilled to the hardpan clay, the tops of which stand 10 to 20 ft. below Lower Randolph Street.

Park's Monuments

The Crown Fountain, a creation of Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, has proved a magnet for children.

The fountain features two 50-ft.-tall glass towers rising from a reflecting pool that is 42 ft. wide and 222 ft. long.

Water rises through the middle of each tower, spills over all four sides and cascades down the glass bricks sheathing a light-emitting-diode screen that projects the faces of typical Chicagoans. Piping also carries water up the tower and spouts it from a gargoyle-like nozzle in the middle of each tower.

Nearby is the "Cloud Gate" sculpture, a creation of British artist Anish Kapoor. It is a 66-ft.-long, 33-ft.-high bean-shaped work of art.
Other major elements include the BP Bridge, Lurie Garden and peristyle.

An addition is coming to the park, as the city announced in mid-March that the Boeing Galleries will allow for temporary art exhibits. Chicago's Boeing Co. made a $5 million gift for the new element, in addition to an endowment to support it.

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