Jay Pritzker Pavilion

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Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Pritzker Pavilion and Millennium Park with Historic Michigan Boulevard District background
Address
Millennium Park
City
Chicago, Illinois
Country Flag of the United States United States
Architect Frank Gehry
Owned by City of Chicago
Capacity 11,000 (4,000 fixed, 7,000 lawn)[1]
Opened 2004-07-16
Years active 2004-present
Current use Performing arts

Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Pritzker Pavilion, or Pritzker Music Pavilion is a band shell in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The pavilion was designed by Frank Gehry, named for Pritzker family member Jay Pritzker, and was constructed between June 1999 and July 2004 in Millennium Park.[1] It is located on the south side of Randolph Street directly across from some of the tallest buildings in the world and east of the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District.

It is the park's outdoor performing arts venue and the new home of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. As home of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Chorus it is also the home of the Grant Park Music Festival, the nation's only remaining free outdoor classical music series. The structure is built partially atop the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the park's indoor performing arts venue.[2] It serves as the centerpiece for the park that was opened on July 16, 2004.[3]. At first the lawn seats were free for all concerts, but when Tori Amos performed the venue's first mainstream concert at the pavilion on August 31, 2005 this changed.[4][5][6]

The performance venue is designed with a large fixed seating area, a great lawn, a trellis network to support the sound system and a signature Gehry stainless steel headdress. It features a sound system with an innovative acoustic design that replicates an indoor concert hall sound experience. The pavilion and the park in general are well-known and respected for their accessibility.[7]

Contents

[edit] Design and development

stage view (background: Millennium Park,Historic Michigan Boulevard District) stage view (background: Millennium Park,Historic Michigan Boulevard District)
stage view (background: Millennium Park,
Historic Michigan Boulevard District)
rear lawn view (background: One and Two Prudential Plaza, Aon Center)

The pavilion includes 4,000 fixed seats and a 95,000-square-foot (8,800 m²) Great Lawn that can accommodate an additional 7,000 people.[1] It features a 120-foot (37 m) proscenium theatre with a brushed stainless steel headdress. The main stage, which can accommodate a full orchestra and chorus of 150 members,[8] is connected by this frame to a trellis of interlocking crisscrossing steel pipes that support the sound system. The innovative sound system distributes sound to mimic indoor concert hall acoustics.[9] The trellis is 600 feet by 300 feet (183 m × 91 m).[10] It is located above and behind the Harris Theater and this has the benefit that the park's indoor and outdoor performance venues are able to share a loading dock, rehearsal rooms and other backstage facilities.[11] The project cost 60 million dollars,[12] and is named after Jay Pritzker, a prominent Chicago businessman from the Pritzker family, who own the Hyatt Hotels.[13] The family contributed $15 million to the construction.[8]

This pavilion follows a series of open-air projects by Guggenheim Museum Bilbao designer, Frank Gehry, such as the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, the Concord Performing Arts Center in Concord, California, and numerous renovations to the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, California. It is also a part of a larger inner city redevelopment that includes a theater, extensive gardens and a Gehry-designed serpentine pedestrian footbridge that buffers against street noise.[14] The redevelopment was part of an effort to overcome unsightly railroad tracks and parking lots.[15] Much like his Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington, it suggests musical qualities. The trellis design was an effort to avoid the traditional obstructing forest of speaker towers.[14]

Pavilion from the north
Pavilion from the north

The original design was much more modest. It had a smaller shell structure and speakers affixed to poles interspersed throughout the seating area. However, two things happened to change the original plans. John H. Bryan, former CEO of the Sara Lee Corporation, raised revenues to change the scope of the project. Also, Jay Pritzker's widow, Cindy, was unimpressed with the design and demanded that Gehry be involved.[3] Despite the redesign, the pavilion has its blemishes: the supporting backside along Randolph Street is controversial, and the fact that the supporting proscenium braces are left exposed is offensive to some observers.[16] Other people contest that the smooth rounded trellis and sharp-edged band shell are geometrically discordant.[17]

The Millennium Park director has been honored for his contribution to making America more accessible. The stage is accessible by gently-sloped ramps instead of stairs as part of the overall parks accessibility aware design.[7]

[edit] Acoustics

The pavilion band shell is designed to reflect sound for optimal acoustics.
The pavilion band shell is designed to reflect sound for optimal acoustics.

The Pritzker Pavilion uses an innovative LARES sound system, which generates reflected and reverberant energy that surrounds the audience. The system causes the sound quality to be fairly uniform throughout the entire venue, and has received critical acclaim for adaptations of its technologies such as signal processing in a variety of indoor and outdoor venues.[3][18] The Pritzker Pavilion is the first permanent outdoor installation of the LARES system in the United States. The trellis serves acoustic and architectural purposes because it allows for the precise placement for sound optimization without visual obstructions, as well as simultaneously providing a unifying visual canopy.[3]

Speakers close up
Speakers close up

The overall acoustic system is described as a distributed sound reinforcement system. It uses many innovative features as well as standard sound reinforcement techniques. With this system musicians on stage are able to hear each other clearly in a way that facilitates ensemble play. In addition, direct natural sound from the stage is reflected from architectural surfaces as well as being reinforced by two sound systems. The forward facing reinforcement speakers time the relaying of sound so as to make it seem to have arrived directly from the stage with clarity and proper volume levels. Distributed speakers allow for lower sound volumes than would be necessary with centralized speakers that would disturb the neighboring residences and business.[19][3]

The trellis system has several unique features. Instead of merely reinforcing the sound like a traditional public address system, it seeks to replicate the acoustics of a concert hall, and it creates a clearly defined concert space. Sound arriving directly from lateral sources masks city disturbances. Downward facing acoustic enhancement speakers simulate sound reflection similar to indoor concert hall wall and ceiling effects.[19][3]

[edit] Events

The Jay Pritzker Pavilion competes with Ravinia Festival as a Chicagoland outdoor music venue.[20][21] It hosts free music events from spring to fall, such as the Grant Park Music Festival and Gospel Fest.[13] The Grant Park Symphony Orchestra performs in June, July and August.[22] Other recent events include a concert by Wilco on September 12, 2007 and the "Poland for Chicago", which featured Lech Kaczynski on September 25, 2007.[23][24] The pavilion also hosts a series of Jazz concerts in July and August.[25] On Saturday mornings in the summer, the great lawn under the trellis system hosts various workouts such as yoga and pilates,[26] however events are not just limited to the summer months.[27] The Pritzker Prize presentation ceremony, which moves to various architecturally significant international locations each year, was held in the Pritzker Pavilion in 2005.[28]

The initial plan was that the lawn seating would be free for all events. In fact, an early brochure for the Grant Park Music Festival said "You never need a ticket to attend a concert! The lawn and the general seating section are always admission free."[4] When parking revenue fell short of estimates during the first year however, the city charged $10 for lawn seating at the August 31, 2005 concert by Tori Amos. The city justified this by contending that since the Pavilion is an open air venue, there were many places in Millennium Park, such as The Cloud Gate, Crown Fountain and Lurie Gardens, where one could have enjoyed the sounds or the atmosphere of the park without having to pay.[4][5] In a related controversy of this concert, the Gehry-designed BP Pedestrian Bridge that connects Millenium Park with Daley Bicentennial Plaza was closed until 7:00 A.M. the next day.[29] Amos, a classically trained musician who chose only piano and organ accompaniment, earned positive reviews as the inaugural Rock and roll performer in this venue that has become a regular host to classical music.[30][31] In addition to charging for lawn seating, the event promoters prohibited customers from bringing any beverage, including bottled water, to the lawn; drinks instead had to be purchased onsite.[5] The city stated later that confiscation of unopened beverage bottles was a mistake and that "Bottled water is always allowed at the free concerts we host at the park, and will be allowed at any future events as well."[32] An estimated 300 attendees set up their blankets beyond the bounds of the trellis system where they could enjoy their own beverage while listening to the concert.[31] The official Chicago policy is that alcohol his permitted on throughout the Jay Pritzker Pavilion during public performance, but glass bottles and cans are not permitted on the Great Lawn.[33]

This was not the first controversy about the Pavilion. In addition to the cost and time overruns, the general idea of the Pavilion to replace the long-time downtown Petrillo Music shell in Grant Park, was contrary to the wishes of the Petrillo family. The Petrillo music shell has a long history of hosting free music events.[34]

[edit] Grant Park Music Festival

The Grant Park Music Festival, a Chicago tradition since 1931,[35] remains the nation's only free, outdoor classical music series and features the Grammy-Nominated Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus.[36] The 2007 performances were on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from mid-June to mid-August.[37]

[edit] Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

The pavilion amid Grant Park, the South Side and the Historic Michigan Boulevard District

view of skyline from rear of lawn

A Chicago Police Officer blocks pedestrian access to Millennium Park during Looptopia 2007 with Pritzker Pavilion visible in the background

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Facts and Dimensions of Jay Pritzker Pavilion. City of Chicago. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  2. ^ The Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Pbase.com and Kenneth Tanaka. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Delacoma, Wayne. The Jay Pritzker Music Pavilion Sounds as Good as it Looks. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  4. ^ a b c Herrmann, Andrew (2005-09-01). Howls over charge for Millennium Park concert // Watchdog contends lawn seats supposed to be free. Chicago Sun-Times. Newsbank. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  5. ^ a b c City Charges To Publicly View Its Private Parts. Chicagoist. Gothamist LLC (2005-09-01). Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  6. ^ Downing, Andy (2005-08-26). Can Tori Amos pass the Millennium Park test?. Chicago Tribune. Newsbank. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  7. ^ a b Deyer, Joshua (July 2005). Chicago's New Class Act. PN. Paralyzed Veterans of America. Retrieved on 2007-12-21.
  8. ^ a b Pritzker Pavilion, The. chicagoarchitecture.info. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  9. ^ Jay Pritzker Pavilion. City of Chicago. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  10. ^ Kamin, Blair. Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Architectural Record. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  11. ^ Kamin, Blair (2004-07-18). Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance - ** - 205 E. Randolph Drive - Hammond Beeby Rupert Ainge, Chicago. Chicago Tribune. newsbank. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.
  12. ^ The List. Chicago Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  13. ^ a b Carlson, Prescott. Jay Pritzker Pavilion. About, Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  14. ^ a b Millennium Park Music Pavilion and Great Lawn. guggenheim.org. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  15. ^ Pesci, Renato. A people's park of international importance in downtown Chicago. citymayors.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  16. ^ Becker, Lynn. Frank Gehry, Millennium Park and the development of the Techno-Baroque. Repeat. Lynn Becker. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
  17. ^ Bernstein, Fred A. (2004-07-18). ART/ARCHITECTURE; Big Shoulders, Big Donors, Big Art. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
  18. ^ 1993 TEC Awards. mixfoundation.org.
  19. ^ a b Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park. london.gov.uk. Talaske. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
  20. ^ von Rhein, John (2005-03-31). Grant Park takes bold steps - 2005 season to put Pritzker to the test. Chicago Tribune. Newsbank. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  21. ^ von Rhein, John (2005-08-21). Can Ravinia compete with Millennium Park?. Chicago Tribune. Newsbank. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  22. ^ Frommer's Irreverent Guide to Chicago (sixth edition), 2007, p. 123, Wiley Publishing, Hoboken, NJ, ISBN 0-470-04079-3.
  23. ^ Cox, Ted. Wilco just perfect at Millennium Park concert. Daily Herald Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
  24. ^ Poland for Chicago. City of Chicago. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
  25. ^ Calendar of Millennium Park Free Programs: Jazz. City of Chicago. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
  26. ^ Calendar of Millennium Park Free Programs: Fitness. City of Chicago. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
  27. ^ Arctic Symphony. City of Chicago. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
  28. ^ Queiroga, Rodrigo M. Brazilian architect wins the 2006 Pritzker Prize. citymayors.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
  29. ^ Wasielewski, Carl (2005-09-09). A bad deal all around. Chicago Sun-Times. Newsbank. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  30. ^ Orloff, Brian (2005-09-02). Amos creates musical magic as Pritzker's first rock act. Chicago Sun-Times. Newsbank. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  31. ^ a b Elder, Robert K. (2005-09-02). Church of Tori holds a revival in heart of city. Chicago Tribune. Newsbank. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  32. ^ Roeper, Richard (2005-09-21). Bottled water hardly worth all the fuss we make of it. Chicago Sun-Times. Newsbank. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  33. ^ Frequently Asked Questions. City of Chicago. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
  34. ^ Herrmann, Andrew and Fran Spielman (2003-10-30). 'Pritzker' shell angers Petrillo kin - Granddaughter may fight naming, OKd after $15 mil. gift. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.
  35. ^ Tiebert, Laura, Frommer's Chicago with Kids (3rd edition), 2007, Wiley Publishing, Inc., ISBN 978-0470-12481-9, p.263.
  36. ^ Grant Park Music Festival. City of Chicago. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  37. ^ Grant Park Music Festival 2007. grantparkmusicfestival.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.

Coordinates: 41°52′58.83″N, 87°37′18.67″W

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City of Chicago
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Chicago Theatre District
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Millennium Park
Features and attractions
BP Pedestrian Bridge • Boeing Gallery/Chase Promenade • Cloud Gate/AT&T Plaza • Crown Fountain • Exelon Pavilions • Harris Theater • Jay Pritzker Pavilion • Lurie Garden • McCormick Tribune Ice Rink • McDonald's Cycle Center • Wrigley Square
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Cloud Gate North BP Pedestrian Bridge
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