Park District Seeking Public Input On Future Of Museum Campus
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago Park District has asked one of the designers of the proposed Lucas Museum of Narrative Art to help with discussions about a long-term vision for the entire lakefront Museum Campus where it is planned to be built.
WBBM Newsradio's Nancy Harty reports Chicago architect Daniel Burnham – author of the 1909 Plan of Chicago, which laid the groundwork for the city's layout – famously said "make no little plans," but said nothing about how many plans to make.
The Park District's latest pitch for public input comes six years after the agency announced a framework for Northerly Island, which has been undergoing a major renovation to transform it into a lakefront nature preserve.
The district said this review will connect the Northerly Island plan with the nearby Museum Campus, and bring the vision of the two lakefront icons together.
Chicago architect Jeanne Gang already was enlisted by filmmaker George Lucas to design the landscaping for his lakefront museum, and a pedestrian bridge linking the Museum Campus to Northerly Island.
Lucas has accepted the Emanuel administration's proposal to build his museum on a 17-acre site between Soldier Field and McCormick Place, replacing two surface parking lots.
The first public meeting on plans for the future of the Museum Campus has been scheduled mid-October, as the Park District seeks to engage residents about creating a vision for the lakefront just south of Grant Park.
