By Judy Carmack Bross
Eleanor Gorski, CEO and President of the Chicago Architecture Center, speaks December 11 at the Alliance Française on the iconic Pompidou in Paris.
Eleanor Gorski, CEO and President of the Chicago Architecture Center, will speak at the Alliance Française December 11 at 6:30 p.m. on “An Extraordinary Utopia: The New Centre Pompidou in Paris,” exploring how France approaches historic preservation of unprotected architectural landmarks.
Eleanor will take us behind the scenes of the upcoming monumental five-year renovation of the beloved Paris landmark. The presentation will take an in-depth look at the history of the Pompidou Center design, its use and civic engagement, and the process of evaluating and planning such a significant renovation. Attendees will learn how the building is viewed and treated, in contrast with the preservation of American historical landmarks.
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Conery Hoffman, Director of Special Programs at the Alliance Française, told us:
“Each year, we hope to deliver something a little different with the Symposium on French Architecture. So when we settled on ICONS as a topic, we couldn’t have explored influential modern architecture in France without including this landmark that is as much a legend as it is a personal favorite. This lecture is really not to be missed. The Alliance Française is very excited to welcome Eleanor Gorski to share her firsthand account of the renovation.
“What could be more iconic than Centre Pompidou? I will never forget my first visit to Paris as a young teenager and seeing this very peculiar building. Now, no trip there would be complete without a ride up the exterior escalators. Being inside the caterpillar brings me right back to my original visit.
“As a side note, years before the Centre Pompidou’s inception, L’Alliance Française de Chicago and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations hosted a dinner in honor of His Excellency the President of the French Republic and Madame Georges Pompidou at the Grand Ballroom of the Palmer House in 1970. The Alliance holds many stories…”
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Eleanor Esser Gorski, AIA is the CEO and President of the Chicago Architecture Center, the leading organization devoted to celebrating Chicago as a center of architectural innovation and education. The CAC serves over 700,000 patrons annually, and has cemented Chicago as the “City of Architecture.” Gorski, a licensed architect, brings to this role more than 25 years in architecture, historic preservation and urban planning; a passion for equity through design; and a wealth of Chicago knowledge, including key city leadership roles under three mayoral administrations.
Gail and Conery Hoffman. Photo by Sheryl Bury-Michals.
We asked Gorski to tell us more about the Pompidou:
CCM: How did you get interested in the Pompidou and how does it fit in with your interest in modern architecture?
EG: I am very interested in discussing how to treat a modern icon when updating and restoring it. This topic is especially interesting when you look at it in contrast to the recent restoration of Notre Dame with its unique challenges.
CCM: The title, “an Extraordinary Utopia”, how was that chosen?
EG: The phrase was pulled from remarks made by Centre Pompidou president Laurent Le Bon at a press conference announcing the overhaul. He said the aim of the refurbishment was to “reinvent this extraordinary utopia.”
CCM: Is there anything in Chicago like it?
EG: The Thompson Center is probably the most similar. It’s a modern icon of a building that serves as a public space with a winter garden, public plaza, it’s in a historic area (the Chicago Loop) and it faces the same challenges of adapting a structure with new efficiencies and technologies. You have to decide what to keep, what to adapt, and what to replace to meet modern needs and standards for sustainability.
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On January 22, the Alliance Française will present Reed Kroloff, Dean of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, speaking on “Les meilleurs projets d’architecture contemporaine française” as part of the ICONS series.
For further information on the Alliance Française and its programs, visit af-chicago.org
