As part of the Burnham Plan Centennial celebrations, the Burnham Pavilion by Zaha Hadid Architects triggers the visitors’ curiosity and encourages them to consider the future of Chicago. The design merges new formal concepts with the memory of Burnham’s bold, historic urban planning. Superimpositions of spatial structures with hidden traces of Burnham’s Plan are overlaid and inscribed within the structure to create unexpected results. The pavilion is composed of an intricate curved aluminium structure, with each element shaped and welded in order to create its unique fluid form. Fabric skins have been tightly zipped around the metal frame to create the curvilinear shape. The interior skin also serves as the screen for a video installation by Thomas Gray that explores Chicago’s past and future. “Fabric is both a traditional and a high-tech material whose form is directly related to the forces applied to it - creating beautiful geometries that are never arbitrary. I find this very exciting.” explained Hadid. Designed and built for re-use after its role in Milennium Park, the pavilion can be re-installed at other sites. The Burnham Pavilions will be open and free to the public in Millennium Park through October 31, 2009.

Images courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects © Michelle Litvin