Linking Historic Landmarks: Prairie Avenue Park
Design
1997
At the invitation
of the City of Chicago, Prairie Avenue House Museums developed a plan
to facilitate Prairie Avenue and its associated historic resources to
become the center of life and activity for a newly invigorated Near South
Side. This plan called for development of a new park for a 5-acre, undeveloped
site linking several historic landmarks: the Glessner House, the Clarke
House, and the National Viet Nam Veterans Art Museum. Prairie Avenue House
Museums asked the UIC College of Architecture and the Arts and the City
Design Center to create a conceptual landscape design which would meet
the goals of the City, the community, and Prairie Avenue House Museums.
Faculty and students from the School of Architecture encouraged the active
participation of members of the Museum staff and board in the development
of the pro-gram and design, which provided for active and passive uses,
and included facilities for small scale performances.
Marili Santos-Munne
ex-plained that, in addition to the benefit to the client, the project
provided a valuable learning experience for the students: “The great
value of our work on Prairie Avenue came from the practical experience
that students received. They had a unique opportunity to engage in a real
project with an array of interested parties. Our students spent hours
listening to the views of stakeholders, then worked to synthesize their
diverse needs into a coherent plan for the park. It was a superb experience
in designing to meet the needs of a real client, in this case the city
and the people of Chicago.”
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Map of Chicago with project location
Site plan of the
Prairie Avenue Park Design
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City
Design Center Affiliated Faculty
Bruno
Ast, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, and Associate Dean,
College of Architecture and the Arts.
Marili
Santos-Munne, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture
Collaborating
Organization
Prairie
Avenue House Museums
Funding
The
Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
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