No Kidding

Tribune architecture critic Edward Keegan used his column today to rip the various stadium proposals the Bears have generated here, there and in Indiana. If only words mattered. As for the three Gary sites, Keegan found “there’s no there there,” with officials “proposing a series of soulless and placeless places.” No kidding. Keegan went on to ask “whether architecture or urban design is even part of the equation that the Bears are considering. The schemes we’ve seen so far for the stadium itself—and this includes Arlington Heights and the area adjacent to Soldier Field—are placeless and unlikely to change much regardless of the site eventually chosen.” That could be why so many of the site illustrations show buildings as geometric shapes devoid of detail. A very long time ago, Chicago architect Louis Sullivan argued that a building’s design must adhere to the idea that “form ever follows function. This is the law.” In which case, the new Bears stadium complex should be in the form of a giant cash register.