Navy Pier, the highly commercialized tourist attraction jutting into Lake Michigan, will take on a more park-like feel under the first phase of redevelopment plans to be formally announced Friday morning. The initial remake does not include some of the more dramatic elements floated by the design team selected last March, such a swimming pool with a sand beach, due to cost constraints. But it includes an array of upgrades aimed at making the state's most visited tourist attraction a place where visitors can splash in an interactive fountain that transforms to a skating rink in winter, stroll along a more heavily planted promenade that edges closer to the lake and rest on an undulating stairway that has unobstructed views of the lake and skyline. The grand stairway and accompanying Wave Wall will face south, "inviting people to sit and face the sun and look out," said landscape architect James Corner, who leads the design team selected in an international competition last year. "It will be like the Spanish Steps in Rome.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is presenting the projects under the umbrella label, "Elevate Chicago," and is promoting them as a major economic engine for Chicago.
(link below)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-navy-pier-20130517,0,3917296.story
Friday, May 17, 2013
NAVY PIER TO GET 150 MILLION WORTH OF UPGRADES
Navy Pier, the highly commercialized tourist attraction jutting into Lake Michigan, will take on a more park-like feel under the first phase of redevelopment plans to be formally announced Friday morning. The initial remake does not include some of the more dramatic elements floated by the design team selected last March, such a swimming pool with a sand beach, due to cost constraints. But it includes an array of upgrades aimed at making the state's most visited tourist attraction a place where visitors can splash in an interactive fountain that transforms to a skating rink in winter, stroll along a more heavily planted promenade that edges closer to the lake and rest on an undulating stairway that has unobstructed views of the lake and skyline. The grand stairway and accompanying Wave Wall will face south, "inviting people to sit and face the sun and look out," said landscape architect James Corner, who leads the design team selected in an international competition last year. "It will be like the Spanish Steps in Rome.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is presenting the projects under the umbrella label, "Elevate Chicago," and is promoting them as a major economic engine for Chicago.
(link below)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-navy-pier-20130517,0,3917296.story
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