The new Old Town

A nice article by Blair Kamin about the new home for the Old Town School of Folk Music can be found here. The first paragraph alone is a testimony to good old fashioned common sense:

The architectural world has been so obsessed with iconic buildings in recent years that we've lost sight of the virtues of good, solid design that strives to fit in rather than stand out — and to serve its users rather than sacrifice their needs on the altar of a flashy, attention-getting shape.

On the other hand, Kamin goes on to point out that this building transcends what has passed for contextualism in recent years, as it does not merely imitate its surroundings, but responds to them in an original way, in Kamin's words:

 a dialogue between past and present, not mindless mimicry.

Here's a link to an article I wrote a year ago in memory of a great proponent of conextualism done the right way.

I'll be spending a lot of time in the new Old Town School building as my wife works for that venerable Chicago institution and my children take music classes there.

I'll be sure to keep you posted...