2015 Finalist

Millennium Park
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Project owner: City of Chicago
Designer: Edward Uhlir et al.
Size: 24.5 acres (10 ha)
Project website: www.millenniumparkfoundation.org

In 1998, Mayor Richard Daley established a partnership with Chicago’s philanthropic community called
the Millennium Park Foundation (MPF), a 501c3 not-for-profit corporation, and together they produced
Millennium Park. Mayor Daley sliced through a red ribbon and officially opened the park on July 16, 2004.
More than ten years later, the inventive park is a boon for art, commerce, and the cityscape. A first-time visit
to Chicago is not complete without a stop at Millennium Park.

Partial aerial view of

opening day, July 15,
2004, with the first
300,000 visitors.

TERRY EVANS

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 2015 Finalist

Site plan of Millennium

Park showing all the
separate elements.
MILLENNIUM PARK FOUNDATION

One might never guess that Millennium Park was once an industrial wasteland. Formerly a blighted lakefront
Free concert at Frank
area, the urban green space is now one of the most popular tourist destinations in the city. The project,
Gehry’s Pritzker
Pavilion with its state-of- located at the northwest corner of Grant Park, transformed 16.5 acres (6.7 ha) of rail lines, a surface parking
the-art sound system. lot, and another eight acres (3.2 ha) of shabby parkland built on top of a deteriorated underground garage
into a unique outdoor cultural venue. It was built on top of two new underground
parking garages, a commuter rail station, and a bus roadway, making it one of
the largest public roof landscapes in the United States. Before the developers
broke ground on this project, tourists rarely ventured south of the Michigan
Avenue Bridge. Now, the area is teeming with visitors. Billions of dollars in real
estate investment have revitalized the cityscape and bolstered the tax base,
transforming the area into a must-see destination. Condominiums with views of
the park cost an extra 29 percent, illustrating the Millennium Park ripple effect.

Millennium Park is a hub of activity nearly all year long. Visitors can stroll
along the 925-foot-long (282 m) winding BP Bridge, commonly referred to
as the Snake Bridge, to access the park from the Daley Bicentennial Plaza.
Millennium Park is a place for Chicagoans and tourists alike to enjoy more
than 80 free outdoor events every year, including weekly performances by
the Grant Park Orchestra, popular concerts, exercise sessions, outdoor
movies, performances by big-name artists like the Blue Man Group, artisan
ED UHLIR

art fairs, blues festivals, jazz festivals, ballet and chamber music concerts at

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 2015 Finalist

the 1,500-seat Harris Theater for Music and Dance, and winter ice skating
The Crown Fountain reflecting pool has become
at the McCormick Tribune Ice Rink. During the summer months, events fill Chicago’s free water theme park.
the Pritzker Pavilion nearly every night, with crowds of up to 11,000 people
relaxing underneath dramatic ribbons of stainless steel suspended 40 feet
(12 m) in the sky. The quiet 2.5-acre (1 ha) Lurie Garden, filled with mostly
native plants, is lined by a 15-foot-high (4.5 m) “shoulder” hedge that
represents Carl Sandburg’s famous description of Chicago as the “city of
the big shoulders.” In addition, the Millennium Monument with stately Doric
columns, a bike rental pavilion, the Park Grill restaurant, interactive public
art, the Boeing Sculpture Galleries, and a world-class art museum next door
are all packed into this walkable urban park area. No matter the season,

MARK SEXTON
Millennium Park offers activities for visitors of all ages.

Two art pieces within Millennium Park have received extraordinary public ac-
ceptance because they provide a community experience that is very interac- Cloud Gate at night reflecting Michigan Avenue’s
historic street wall.
tive. On any given day, visitors can be seen photographing their reflections
and the reflections of Chicago’s storied skyline in Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate,
colloquially referred to as “the Bean.” Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain at the
southwest corner of the park is a favorite spot for kids to play in the shallow
water and for tourists to soak their tired feet. The two 50-foot (15 m) glass-block
towers on either end of the shallow reflecting pool display the faces of 1,000
different Chicago residents. Periodically, the faces will open their mouths, which
are perfectly aligned with spouts, and water spits out onto the plaza, delighting
children and onlookers alike. Plensa claims the spouts are a reference to the
LUCAS COWAN

traditional use of gargoyles, where faces of mythological beings were sculpted

with open mouths to allow water to flow out. Both art pieces quickly established
themselves as Chicago sculpture icons.

Millennium Park’s many enhancements were funded by an extraordinary public/

private partnership. The city’s $270 million commitment was used to provide
the park’s infrastructure. The private sector raised $220 million from individuals,
foundations, and corporations in order to provide park enhancements and
establish an endowment of $25 million. Chicago’s urban park is a sterling
example of how bold investments in the public realm can pay dividends for
decades to come. Millennium Park continues to spur private investment in
condominium, office, and hotel construction near the park. The 11-year-old
park’s annual visitation has grown each year and now exceeds 5 million.

Many architects, landscape architects, and artists have contributed to the

ED UHLIR

production of this new Chicago icon including McDonough Associates,

Gehry Partners, Hammond Beeby Rupert Ainge, Renzo Piano Building
The re-creation of the 1918 Historic Peristyle provides
Workshop, GGN, OWP/P, SOM, Terry Guen Design, Harley Ellis Devereaux, a surface to acknowledge the 115 founders of
and Muller and Muller. Millennium Park.

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