Two Will Enter But Only One Will Leave

Well that’s not true, in the end both of the new Millennium Park pavilions will be deconstructed and recycled. The Burnham Plan in Chicago has announced two new pavilions that are going to be installed June 19 through October 31, 2009 in Millennium Park.

The First is by Zaha Hadid and described as:

“A tent-like structure made of light weight aluminum and dressed in a tensile fabric. The exterior skin rises and falls along its aluminum ribs—the lines for which were derived from the diagonal lines and avenues in Burnham and Bennett’s 1909 Plan. Louvers in the pavilion’s ceiling will bring an interplay of light and shadow into the space as the sun changes position during the day. Exterior lighting will highlight the pavilion at night.

The interior of the Hadid Pavilion will serve as a screen for an immersive video installation created by UIC-trained and London-based artist Thomas Gray for The Gray Circle. This film will tell the story of Chicago’s transformation, including visions for Chicago’s future by local architects.”

It then goes on to mention the sinuous discourse and usual puffery.

The Second pavilion is by UNStudio and is listed as:

“Highly accessible and functions as an urban activator. Framed by Lake Michigan on one side and Michigan Avenue on the other, it relates to diverse city-contexts and scales. The edges of the roof are parallel, but toward the center there is more complexity in the form.

At night, UNStudio’s pavilion becomes a responsive architecture with LED lights that change color and pattern. These lights will be in constant flux as the number of visitors to the pavilion changes. Programmatically the pavilion invites people to gather, walk around and through the space—to explore and observe. It’s sculptural form and reactive lights will spark curiosity and wonder in its visitors.

The UNStudio pavilion is made of steel, clad in plywood, and is covered in high-gloss white paint to reflect the city and pavilion visitors.”

Now we ask you in both comment form and poll, who will survive? The winner will go one on one in a death match with a pavilion built to look like Tony Fitzpatrick.