By Judy Carmack Bross
Following its celebration of the remarkable renovation of Notre Dame, the Alliance Française presents ten of France’s most exceptional contemporary buildings as selected by Reed Kroloff, Dean of the Illinois Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture, on January 22 as part of its Icon series.
“The group I have selected represent the diversity of contemporary thinking by people who are already established and those on their way to doing that. There will be a house or two but mostly buildings in the public realm. For hundreds of years French architects have of course been influential worldwide,” Kroloff told us.
Kroloff also has managed top design programs, edited the architectural profession’s leading publication, spoken at gatherings such as TED and the Aspen Design Conference, and advised architects and clients on some of the most significant projects of the last 20 years, leading the New York Times to describe him as “the man with the list at architecture’s party.”
“I particularly like documenting the practices of rising young architects as well as the state of the profession today,” he said.
“My work is one-third journalism, one-third higher education, and one third in helping clients find the architects.”
“For any architect who enjoys building in cities, there aren’t that many spaces left in Paris, it is a very old city, thoroughly built out. It is not like a Denver. You do find some new residential and commercial districts that have been carved out of old repair yards or areas of old infrastructure.
Kroloff, whose brother lives in Normandy, has been delighted to visit France frequently in recent years.
“I am particularly a fan of French modernism. The French are less fearful of taking a chance and of taking on the grand projects. The Centre Pompidou once terrified people and now it is one of the city’s most beloved buildings. The Bibliothèque Nationale hasn’t received the same acceptance but it could very well do so in time. It is not really as urban as the Pompidou and, built as a research library, it is more inward looking.
La Bourse de Commerce
“To work in Paris is a great opportunity for any architect, and we are seeing some brand new buildings as well as important renovations. La Bourse de Commerce, which was once a trading hall is now a museum housing the Pinault collection.”
Kroloff advocates for wise thinking about preserving resources.
“Europe is ahead of us in developing architectural approaches. We keep building cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix that don’t demonstrate environmental responsibility. We need to do things to sustain the environment and if possible, cure or minimize the damage.
“It ranges from the very fundamental. What materials should we be using and how to we gather them? Can we not cut down ancient forests but find other materials? Can we find them closer to us so that we don’t have to ship them far distances? How can we build without gobbling up tremendous energy?”
Kroloff celebrated the restoration of Notre Dame:
“With the restoration of Notre Dame France produced a once-in-a-lifetime thing, a magic trick not seen anywhere and in the greatest urban cathedral in the world. We really could have lost Notre Dame, and restoration was done with breathtaking speed and skill.”
Alliance Executive Director Mary Ellen Connellan told us:
“The ICONS series has been an excellent addition to this year’s
cultural season. As last year the Chicago Architecture Biennial CAB took place, we hope our ICONS series has been a nice bridge to the upcoming fall season 2025 when CAB is celebrated again.”
Conery Hoffman, the Alliance’s Director of Special Programs, told us about the goals of the Icon series and what comes next.
This series has been such a terrific project to work on. We began with Corbusier and we will end with Corbusier, with so much in between. Judith DiMaio, Principal of Close Reads Consultancy was in from Rome to discuss the Villa Stein de-Monzie by Corbusier. Then, Eleanor Gorski, CEO and President of the Chicago Architecture Center spoke about Centre Pompidou and the upcoming five-year restoration of this iconic architecture of the Parisian landscape. Reed Kroloff, Dean of the College of Architecture, IIT, will be speaking about the top French Contemporary Architecture Projects this coming Wednesday, January 26, and as mentioned, we will wrap up ICONS with Rene Tan, Director & Co-founder of RT+Q Architects, Singapore. Models from the private collection of RT+Q Architects, Singapore is currently on a world tour as a traveling exhibition and will be visiting the Alliance Française de Chicago in March. We hope to see you at the Alliance.
For more information about Reed Kroloff’s program for January 22, visit: af-chicago.org
