The principal signature of Millennium Plaza is the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, a band shell designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry with 4,000 fixed seats plus additional lawn seating for 7,000. A Pritzker Architecture Prize honoree and National Medal of Arts winner, Gehry designed such landmarks as the Guggenheim Museum at Bilbao, Der Neue Zollhof in Düsseldorf and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Characteristic of Gehry, the Pritzker Pavilion consists of massive panels of stainless steel resembling the graceful blooming of a flower or the unfurling sails of a massive ship.
The Pritzker Pavilion is the home of the Grant Park Music Festival, the nation's only remaining free, municipally-supported, outdoor, classical music series. The Festival is presented by the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. (Source: www.grantparkmusicfestival.com) Winding eastward from Pritzker Pavilion is the only bridge in the world designed by Frank Gehry. The 925 foot pedestrian bridge, made of the same steel as the bandshell with a hardwood deck, winds like a fluttering ribbon across nearby Columbus Drive, from the bandshell to a section of Grant Park along the lakefront.
Theatres - Amphitheatre, Artwork - Sculpture
Links: en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org
By: kjfitz