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The George Lucas museum is currently in the works, looking to house his large collection of art and memorabilia.

"Star Wars" creator George Lucas on Monday will announce an architectural team for his controversial planned museum on Chicago's lakefront: an avant-garde Chinese designer whose credits include Toronto-area skyscrapers dubbed the "Marilyn Monroe Towers" and Chicago's Jeanne Gang, shaper of the undulating Aqua Tower here.

Ma Yansong, founder of the Beijing firm MAD Architects, will design the building for Lucas' Museum of Narrative Art. Gang, who heads Studio Gang Architects, will conceive the landscape around the building and design a pedestrian bridge linking the museum to Northerly Island, a peninsula east of the museum site.

The announcement of the star-studded team, a surprise given Lucas' penchant for traditional designs, has political implications for a project championed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. It would rise on 17 acres now occupied by parking lots between Soldier Field and McCormick Place.

If the architects produce a design gem that upgrades the landscape of the Museum Campus, the cluster of shoreline museums to which the Lucas Museum would belong, it could soften, or at least blunt, opposition. Critics include open-space advocates threatening a lawsuit to block construction and Chicago Bears fans fuming that the museum will boot them from tailgating spots. Citing the opposition, a newspaper in San Francisco, where Lucas first intended to build the museum, last week labeled Chicago "the City of Cold Shoulders."

Conceptual designs are expected to be released later this year.

Lucas is promising to pay for the pedestrian bridge, which would have to be high enough to allow sailboats using Burnham Harbor to pass beneath. It won't come cheap. The price for a soon-to-be-built lakefront pedestrian bridge at 35th Street is pegged at more than $18 million.

Further sweetening the pot for Chicago, Lucas has selected another Chicago firm, VOA Architects, to be the museum's executive architect. While Ma and Gang focus on the broad creative strokes, VOA will be responsible for details like construction drawings. VOA has designed offices for Ariel Investments, whose president, Mellody Hobson, is Lucas' wife.

Lucas declined an interview request. In a prepared statement, he said: "We are bringing together some of the top architects in the world to ensure that our museum experience begins long before a visitor ever enters the building."

After an aggressive lobbying campaign by Emanuel, Lucas last month selected Chicago over Los Angeles and San Francisco as the site of his museum, which will showcase highlights from his collection of more than 500,000 objects. They include "Star Wars" memorabilia and paintings by Norman Rockwell.

Read the original:
George Lucas picks architects for lakefront museum

The George Lucas museum is currently in the works, looking to house his large collection of art and memorabilia.

"Star Wars" creator George Lucas on Monday will announce an architectural team for his controversial planned museum on Chicago's lakefront: an avant-garde Chinese designer whose credits include Toronto-area skyscrapers dubbed the "Marilyn Monroe Towers" and Chicago's Jeanne Gang, shaper of the undulating Aqua Tower here.

Ma Yansong, founder of the Beijing firm MAD Architects, will design the building for Lucas' Museum of Narrative Art. Gang, who heads Studio Gang Architects, will conceive the landscape around the building and design a pedestrian bridge linking the museum to Northerly Island, a peninsula east of the museum site.

The announcement of the star-studded team, a surprise given Lucas' penchant for traditional designs, has political implications for a project championed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. It would rise on 17 acres now occupied by parking lots between Soldier Field and McCormick Place.

If the architects produce a design gem that upgrades the landscape of the Museum Campus, the cluster of shoreline museums to which the Lucas Museum would belong, it could soften, or at least blunt, opposition. Critics include open-space advocates threatening a lawsuit to block construction and Chicago Bears fans fuming that the museum will boot them from tailgating spots. Citing the opposition, a newspaper in San Francisco, where Lucas first intended to build the museum, last week labeled Chicago "the City of Cold Shoulders."

Conceptual designs are expected to be released later this year.

Lucas is promising to pay for the pedestrian bridge, which would have to be high enough to allow sailboats using Burnham Harbor to pass beneath. It won't come cheap. The price for a soon-to-be-built lakefront pedestrian bridge at 35th Street is pegged at more than $18 million.

Further sweetening the pot for Chicago, Lucas has selected another Chicago firm, VOA Architects, to be the museum's executive architect. While Ma and Gang focus on the broad creative strokes, VOA will be responsible for details like construction drawings. VOA has designed offices for Ariel Investments, whose president, Mellody Hobson, is Lucas' wife.

Lucas declined an interview request. In a prepared statement, he said: "We are bringing together some of the top architects in the world to ensure that our museum experience begins long before a visitor ever enters the building."

After an aggressive lobbying campaign by Emanuel, Lucas last month selected Chicago over Los Angeles and San Francisco as the site of his museum, which will showcase highlights from his collection of more than 500,000 objects. They include "Star Wars" memorabilia and paintings by Norman Rockwell.

Originally posted here:
George Lucas to announce architects for lakefront museum

Architects are demanding strict design standards be enforced on new apartments and say a generation of residents in high-rise towers are at risk of being forced to live in substandard homes.

Confidential draft design rules, leaked last week, show the Victorian government architect is preparing to recommend that all new apartment towers adhere to strict new guidelines.

The draft proposals include that apartments have minimum ceiling heights of 2.7 metres, and a minimum floor size of 37 square metres for a studio apartment or 50 square metres for a one-bedroom unit.

The guidelines also recommend all apartments above ground level have a two-metre deep balcony.

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Australian Institute of Architects national president David Karotkin said developers had claimed the new guidelines would hurt housing affordability. They say that design standards should be dictated by market forces, he said.

But developers were motivated by profit, not affordability, he said.

They seek to build as cheaply as possible and to sell for as much as possible fair enough. That is why regulation of minimum standards is essential to protect the interests of occupants ... long after the developers have taken their profits and moved on.

The institute argues that the current high demand for high-rise apartments skews market forces in favour of developers seeking quick profits, not residents seeking a place to call home.

So controls are required now more than ever to ensure we do not end up with a poor housing legacy, Mr Karotkin said.

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Strict design standards needed now for Melbourne high-rises: architects

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CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) -

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) reports that the severe weather that tore across northeast Ohio made its mark in Cleveland by bringing down a wall near the Buckeye Woodhill rapid station on the shared area of the Blue/Green Line trains.

Although crews have been working to clean up the mess, service has not been restored.

All customers who normally use the blue and green line rapid lines are cautioned to allow for more time to travel as shuttle buses have replaced the trains at different points on each line.

The Blue Line has shuttle buses run from Shaker Square to Tower City

The entire Green Line has been replaced with shuttles.

The Waterfront Line is running but is delayed.

RTA wants to remind customers that replacement buses are much smaller than train cars so there may be standing room only rides and delays.

The Red Line was not affected.

RTA media representative Mary Shaffer says, "We do apologize for the inconvenience and we encourage our customers who traveled by Blue/Green train to understand service will not be restored today for evening service. We request patience or alternate routes. Crews are doing their best to get it up and running so we can have service Tuesday morning."

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Severe weather brings down wall, interrupting portions of RTA rapid service

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Edit: Better quality version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RduaFyZEhIg In this video, I #39;ll face challengers of the first Naxxramas wing, Anarchnid Quarter, only using basic set cards. ...

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