Starchitect

[Fred Shapiro]

The account books of James Knox Polk were of no help with "starchitect."
Below is an earlier citation than Jesse's 1988 one:



                                Chicago Tribune

                     January 18, 1987 Sunday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: SUNDAY MAGAZINE; Pg. 8; ZONE: C

LENGTH: 11396 words

HEADLINE: EGO BUILDING;
NAME-BRAND ARCHITECTS MAY DRAW TENANTS, BUT WILL THEIR SIGNATURE SKYLINES STAND
THE TEST OF TIME?

BYLINE: Article by Jeff Lyon.

BODY:

   ...in the era of the big name," observes architect Burgee. "You wear a
designer's name on your shirt, and the same thing is happening to an extent with
buildings."

   Chicago's Harry Weese, himself a starchitect, disapproves of the trend.
"It's becoming a personality cult," he sneers. "People are trying to slap
'Calvin Klein' on a building's rump."

   But Robert Belcaster, a managing director of Tishman Speyer ...

   ...corporate headquarters in Evanston, the peak-roofed, octagonal Oakbrook
Terrace Tower and the luminescent, glass-block station at the terminus of the
O'Hare rapid transit line.

   But they city is alive with the work of other starchitects. Pedersen and his
colleagues, for example. Their first Chicago entry was the curvilinear,
green-tinted, river-dominating 333 W. Wacker Drive Building, which always
elicits gasps of admiration from passersby and which won an American ...

   ...Drive that looks for all the world like a hounds tooth suit. It will house
the Leo Burnett advertising agency and be an anchor of the new North Loop
project.

   The trend toward starchitects is not peculiar to Chicago, of course. The same
cachet-laden firms are being signed up by developers in cities all over the
world. Jahn currently has more projects underway in New ...

   ...an architect is less important than his reputation for working within
budgets, for being flexible and open to design changes and for being sensitive
to the needs of users.

   But here, too, according to insiders, commissioning a starchitect is good
insurance. "These guys have a track record," says one knowledgeable source.
"They're more likely to give you a great design. They're more likely to give it
to you the first time. And they're ...
                                                                           PAGE 2
                       Chicago Tribune, January 18, 1987


   ...at the foot of Manhattan near Battery Park. Jahn's entry called for an
Eiffel-styled tower that would dominate New York harbor like a lighthouse.

   Jahn's emergence as Chicago's premier starchitect has paralleled a decline in
the fortune of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the nation's largest architectural
firm with offices in nine cites and some 1,500 employees. For years, SOM had a
virtual lock ...