design with company: monument to bruce for chicago

‘monument to bruce’ by design with company, chicago, illinoisall images courtesy of design with company

in response to the snubbed efforts to save bertrand goldberg’s prentice women’s hospital from the looming wrecking ball, stewart hicks and alison newmeyer of chicago-based design with company have conceptualized the ‘monument to bruce’. the current owners, activists and residents have been in a several month long debacle to agree upon maintaining the high strength concrete shell of the iconic tower and expanding instead of wiping the slate clean. due to strict programmatic requirements of northwestern university, the implementation of the M.U.F.F.I.N. T.O.P. scheme, an abbreviation for ‘moving up from figural icons now, to overcome the prentice’, has been unsuccessful and could lead to a fate of demolition.

an alloy steel ball can only overcome the high strength concrete. the heavy vehicle would embark upon a processional parade through the chicago grid.its route would only be possible by making left-hand turns, navigating the one way streets and loop around blocks to travel between the steel mill and construction site. the proposed shell structure would contain and memorialize the steel alloy ball which will take out the city’s cherished brutalist landmark. bertrand goldberg’s defining four leaf clover exterior becomes integrated as the footprint of the open-air pavilion. suspended from a long chain within the conal form, the steel ball hangs from the centerpoint of the ceiling. the angle of the section allows the pendulum to swing.

wrecking ball within proposed bruce monument

section

conceptual diagram of monument 

expansion scheme M.U.F.F.I.N. T.O.P.  proved unsuccessful with limited space

an alloy wrecking ball was needed to break through the high strength concrete

inscription upon the ball reads ‘proceed through concrete obstacles for health and prosperity in chicago’

a case holds the ball during a procession between the steel mill and prentice women’s hospital

a specific route was drawn since the vehicle could only make left hand turns

the city celebrated the destruction caused by the swinging pendulum