Jay Pritzker Pavilion

, within Millennium Park The Jay Pritzker Pavilion is a home for the Grant Park Music Festival, which began in 1935 in the original Petrillo Music Shell. Lying between Lake Michigan to the east and the Loop to the west, Grant Park has been Chicago's front yard since the mid-19th century. Its northwest corner, north of Monroe Street and the Art Institute, east of Michigan Avenue, south of Randolph Street, and west of Columbus Drive, had been Illinois Central rail yards and parking lots until 1997, when it was made available for development by the city as Millennium Park. In 2007, Millennium Park trailed only Navy Pier as a Chicago tourist attraction. When the city first determined that a new pavilion should be built, the commission was supposed to go to Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Jay Pritzker, a prominent Chicago businessman, had died in January 1999; his family own several businesses, including Hyatt Hotels. Jay and Cindy Pritzker had founded the Pritzker Prize in architecture in 1979, and the Pritzker family's Hyatt Foundation continues to award it annually. Architect Frank Gehry had received the Pritzker Prize in 1989. In February 1999, the city announced it was negotiating with Gehry to design a proscenium arch and orchestra enclosure for a bandshell in the new park, as well as a pedestrian bridge over Columbus Drive (which became BP Pedestrian Bridge). The city sought donors to cover Gehry's work, and the Chicago Tribune dubbed him "the hottest architect in the universe" for his acclaimed Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. The Tribune noted Gehry's designs would not include such Mayor Richard M. Daley trademarks as wrought iron and seasonal flower boxes. night view of Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion Millennium Park project manager Edward Uhlir said "Frank [Gehry] is just the cutting edge of the next century of architecture," and noted that no other architect was being sought. Skidmore, Owings and Merrill architect Adrian Smith approached Gehry several times on behalf of the city, The city wanted Gehry, the donors supported him, and he was interested in the project. The day of this announcement, after it became clear that Cindy Pritzker would fund the project, In November, when his designs for both the pavilion and bridge were unveiled, Gehry already had the basic design for the bandshell, but said the bridge's design was very preliminary and not well-conceived because funding for it was not committed. The BP Pedestrian Bridge is designed to serve as a buffer against street noise, helping the pavilion's acoustics. ==Construction==

Jay Pritzker Pavilion cost $60 million, a quarter of which came from the Pritzker family donation. It includes 4,000 fixed seats and a Great Lawn that can accommodate an additional 7,000 people. The bandshell's brushed stainless steel headdress frames the proscenium theatre; the main stage can accommodate a full orchestra and chorus of 150 members. The bandshell is connected to a trellis of interlocking crisscrossing steel pipes that support the innovative sound system, which mimics indoor concert hall acoustics. The pavilion has restrooms on both its east and west sides. It is one of two features in the park to include accessible restrooms; the other is McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink. Millennium Park is built on top of a large underground parking garage. Construction started before the park's design was completed, and in January 2000, 17 additional caissons had to be added to the partially built garage to support the weight of Gehry's pavilion. In April the tops of all these caissons had to be rebuilt for changes in the pavilion's foundation. behind The LeJeune Steel Company of Minneapolis was the subcontractor for the structural steel. The pavilion's concrete walls frame the orchestra shell space, which is wide, tall and has no support columns. The south side of the orchestra shell space is enclosed by the glass doors of the proscenium, which are about tall, wide and function like aircraft hangar doors made of glass. They were the largest doors that Glass Solutions of Elmhurst, Illinois, ever produced; the thickness of the glass was a design problem for the steel supports. The proscenium's metal ribbons are composed of 697 panels that range from and with a thickness of about . They are made from aluminum with a stainless steel outer layer that has a uniform shade across all panels. The structural steel for the ribbons had an abnormally low fit tolerance of , rather than the standard . During construction, about five cranes and 18 aerial lifts were on site. The apex of the center element is approximately high, which was near the limits of basic construction equipment at the time. and is noted for its parabolic grid. The pavilion's construction was aided by the French CATIA software program and internet conferencing. Early plans to incorporate a surrounding waterfall and stairway were abandoned. In the end, budget limitations led to compromises with the original architectural plan that left many elements in their most straightforward form, such as exposed pipes and conduits, or rough concrete. Acoustics The Talaske Group of Oak Park, Illinois, was the subcontractor for Jay Pritzker Pavilion's LARES sound system, The Pritzker Pavilion is the first permanent outdoor installation of the LARES system in the United States. Instead of reinforcing the sound like a traditional public address system, the sound system on the trellis system seeks to replicate the acoustics of a concert hall and create a clearly defined concert space. Noise from city disturbances is masked by sound arriving directly from lateral sources. Downward facing speakers simulate sound reflection similar to indoor concert hall wall and ceiling effects. critics Kevin Nance and Wayne Delacoma of the Chicago Sun-Times said that on the opening weekend it was clear that the acousticians, Talaske Group, and Gehry had solved many of the problems presenting classical music outdoors. John von Rhein said in 2005, "the system has been fine-tuned over the past two summers and now delivers a warm, even approximation of concert-hall sound to listeners at even the farthest reaches of the lawn. James Palermo, artistic and general director of the Grant Park Music Festival, felt that musicians were able to interact more effectively with the new sound system because they could hear each other better. ==Controversies==

performing at the first pavilion event with a lawn seating fee on August 31, 2005 Protected by legislation that has been affirmed by four previous Illinois Supreme Court rulings, Grant Park has been "forever open, clear and free" since 1836, which was a year before the city of Chicago was incorporated. In 1839, United States Secretary of War Joel Roberts Poinsett declared the land between Randolph Street and Madison Street east of Michigan Avenue "Public Ground forever to remain vacant of buildings. As a result, the city has what are termed the Montgomery Ward height restrictions on buildings and structures in Grant Park. However, Crown Fountain and the Pritzker Pavilion were exempt from the height restrictions because they were classified as works of art and not buildings or structures. According to The Economist, the pavilion is described as a work of art to dodge the protections established by Ward, who "rules over Grant Park from the grave". The naming of Jay Pritzker Pavilion was a cause for protests. The new pavilion was built as a replacement for Grant Park's decades-old Petrillo Music Shell, which had a long history of hosting free music events and was named after James C. Petrillo, a labor union leader who started free concerts in Grant Park. When the original bandshell was replaced and relocated a bit further north in Grant Park in 1978, the new structure retained the Petrillo name. In the early 2000s decade, the Petrillo family said naming the new music shell in Millennium Park after Jay Pritzker ignored Petrillo's legacy, and threatened legal action. As of 2009, the Petrillo Music Shell was still in use, though Chicago Tribune arts critic Howard Reich described it as "dilapidated" and "dismal". Controversies during construction involved escalating costs and delays; both the pavilion and park opened four years later than originally planned and cost millions of dollars more than expected. However, when parking revenue fell short of estimates during the first year, the city charged $10 for lawn seating at the August 31, 2005, concert by Tori Amos. In addition to charging for lawn seating, the event promoters prohibited concertgoers from bringing beverages, including bottled water, to the lawn; drinks instead had to be purchased onsite. An estimated 300 attendees set up blankets beyond the trellis system, where they could enjoy their own beverages while listening to the concert. The official Chicago policy is that alcohol is permitted throughout Jay Pritzker Pavilion during public performances, but cans and glass bottles are not permitted on the Great Lawn. During the concert, the Gehry-designed BP Pedestrian Bridge that connects Millennium Park with Daley Bicentennial Plaza was closed until 7:00 a.m. the next day. ==Events==

performed at the pavilion in September 2008. Jay Pritzker Pavilion competes with Ravinia Park as a Chicago area outdoor music venue. The pavilion hosts free music events such as Chicago Gospel Music Festival from spring to fall. In June, July and August, the Grammy-nominated Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus performs free classical concerts at the Grant Park Music Festival. The festival, a Chicago tradition since 1931, remains the nation's only free, outdoor classical music series. Although the Music Festival shares pavilion space with several other program series and annual performances, its concerts most Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings throughout the heart of the summer are the core of the pavilion's offerings. In summer the pavilion also hosts a series of jazz concerts, and the Great Lawn hosts yoga and pilates workouts on Saturday mornings. The Pritzker Prize presentation ceremony, which moves to an architecturally significant location each year, was held in the Pritzker Pavilion in April 2005. Among the annual performers at the pavilion are Steppenwolf Theatre, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO). At the end of the Grant Park Music Festival season in August, the Festival's Grant Park Orchestra and Carlos Kalmar presented Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams' On the Transmigration of Souls, which was written at the request of the New York Philharmonic to honor the victims of the September 11 attacks. On Sunday September 11, 2005, United States Senator Barack Obama (who was later elected President of the United States) served as guest narrator for a 9/11 tribute concert by the CSO. The focal work of the concert was Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" and the concert was led by former CSO resident conductor William Eddins. Although it was built as a replacement for Grant Park's outdoor concert facilities, larger annual events such as the Chicago Blues and Chicago Jazz Festivals and Taste of Chicago are too large for Jay Pritzker Pavilion and continue to be held in and around Petrillo Music Shell. Public opinion has been in favor of moving some of the smaller Blues and Jazz festival events to the pavilion, with its better, more modern acoustics. By 2009, as the city grappled with a budget deficit, it considered realigning parts of the larger festivals and made definite plans to move some of the smaller ones to the more modern venue. On July 18, 2007, the Grant Park Music Festival partnered with the Metro Chicago to produce a free Wednesday-night show celebrating Metro's 25th anniversary and featuring indie band The Decemberists with the Grant Park Orchestra. The show featured new orchestral arrangements of The Decemberists' songs by Sean O'Loughlin, who also conducted in lieu of Kalmar. Other events include a concert by Wilco on September 12, 2007, the "Poland for Chicago" show with Polish President Lech Kaczyński on September 25, 2007, and a global warming awareness festival which culminated in a performance entitled Arctic at the pavilion in November 2007. Most events at the pavilion remain free; the only public event at the pavilion in the summer of 2008 that charged admission was a concert by Rogue Wave and Death Cab for Cutie on June 3. The pavilion has hosted several one-day events that were noted in international publications, including the United States debut of A Throw of Dice, a 1929 Indian silent movie about two kings with a common love interest, on July 30, 2008. At the debut, Nitin Sawhney and the Grant Park Orchestra accompanied the movie with a live performance. Oprah Winfrey filmed the September 8, 2008, season-opening Oprah Winfrey Show on September 3, 2008, at the pavilion with more than 150 Olympic medalists, including Michael Phelps, Nastia Liukin, Dara Torres, Kobe Bryant, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, in an effort to rally support for the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid. Concerts performed by the Grant Park Orchestra and directed by Kalmar were part of a June 19, 2009, citywide Burnham Plan centennial celebration that included the unveiling of the Burnham Pavilions elsewhere in the park. The concert featured the world premiere of Michael Torke's work for symphony and chorus entitled Plans, paired with Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3. Also, the pavilion serves as host to the annual Chicago Winter Dance Festival. During the festival there is a month of free dance instructions behind the glass doors of the pavilion stage and free skating instruction at the McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink. Among the highlights of the 2010 calendar is the screening of the BBC's nature documentary Planet Earth Live on July 21, with live Grant Park Symphony Orchestra accompaniment featuring the score by five-time Academy Award-nominated composer George Fenton, who serves as conductor. Among the artists who performed with the festival at the pavilion in the 2000s decade are sopranos Karina Gauvin and Erin Wall, tenor Vittorio Grigolo, pianist Stephen Hough, violinists Rachel Barton Pine, James Ehnes, Roby Lakatos, Christian Tetzlaff, and Pinchas Zukerman, and vocalists Otis Clay, Mariza, and Maria del Mar Bonet. All rehearsals at the pavilion are open to the public and well-attended. The festival is represented by a staff of trained guides, called docents, that field questions and provide educational talks during the rehearsals. Besides these public functions, the pavilion is available, as is the entire park, as a venue for private events year-round. The stage's glass and steel doors enable it to provide indoor space protected from the elements when necessary. In addition, the pavilion has a Choral Rehearsal Room that can be rented. ==Reception==

Critics have said that Jay Pritzker Pavilion is the highlight of Millennium Park. ''Fodor's'' travel guide described it as the park's "showstopper" and "stunning", praising its stainless steel and sound system, as well as the variety of events it hosts. Time called the pavilion "dynamic" and recommended it as one of two must-see attractions in the park, while one New York Times writer found herself standing "agog" at what appeared to her to be a "celestial gateway to another universe" and a frame for the sky. Lonely Planet travel guide called the pavilion the anchor of the park, and the 2004 Year in Review issue of Time described it as the park's crown jewel. USA Today described the bandshell as a landmark and the centerpiece of Millennium Park. Another critic described the pavilion as the "most spectacular structure to go up in early-twenty-first-century Chicago". Critics say that musicians have lauded the onstage acoustics. This sentiment was echoed by others. During the opening concert von Rhein noted that the sound is not of uniform quality throughout the venue and opined that the optimal sonics are toward the back of the seated area and front of the lawn. Critic Fred Bernstein of The New York Times felt that the smooth rounded trellis and sharp-edged bandshell were geometrically discordant. A review in the Chicago Tribune criticized the "ugly concrete structure" surrounding the mixing console in the midst of the fixed seats as the pavilion's "biggest design miscalculation", and called for it be moved. Gehry said at a symposium after the park's opening that he wanted "to scrap the big box of a sound booth that sprang up like a weed in the center of the pavilion's seating". The director of Millennium Park was honored for his contribution to creating "one of the most accessible parks – not just in the United States but possibly the world" in a 2005 accessibility award ceremony held at the pavilion. The pavilion's stage is reached by gently sloped ramps instead of stairs, as part of the park's overall accessibility design. However, Gehry said that the actual slope of the lawn was more accommodating to people with disabilities and better able to accommodate activities than the original plan. ==Position in Chicago's skyline==