A meeting with Gensler Architecture took me downtown to the loop last week. After a great conversation about materials and surfaces and the interaction between art+design and well-being, I wandered for a couple of blocks to see the Picasso, Alexander Calder's Flamingo and the Chagall mosaic at Chase Plaza. Along the way, I could see Gehry's concert space at Millennium Park, stumbled upon a glass "flower" installation and found many architectural details. I recently reviewed the chapter on healthy cities in Esther Sternberg's 2009 book Healing Spaces: The science of place and well-being. She summarized urban design studies that have found architectural details and variation can encourage walking and therefore connect to health and well-being. NYC is seen as the model city for providing an engaging pedestrian experience with architecturally rich streetscapes. While Chicago is sprawling and chaotic compared to NYC, its skyscrapers and infrastructure and architectural detail are balanced with plantings and public art and the lake. When the weather cooperates, it's a fantastic wandering city, and I headed home to Evanston along the lake again captivated by the beauty and variety of this midwestern city.
