Fabric Images workers hole up
ELGIN – Fabric Images considers its contract to finish a new pavilion in Millennium Park as a unique stitch in time.
The privately funded pavilion, one of two temporary structures commissioned to mark the 100th anniversary of Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett’s “Plan of Chicago,” was designed by world renown architect Zaha Hadid. It consists of more than 7,000 pieces of aluminum covered in fabric.
“The city of Chicago approached us because they had contracted this piece out, and the contractor was unable to complete it,” said Gordon Hill, executive vice president of Fabric Images. “We’re now working downtown with the city for the 100-year celebration.”
Because of an accelerated timetable because of construction delays, Fabric Images pitched a tent on location and moved 11 employees, members of its sewing and metal-working teams, to the work site: A 60-foot-by-90-foot space in the park’s Chase Promenade South – north of Monroe Street, east of the Crown Fountain and west of the pedestrian bridge from the Art Institute of Chicago.
“We’ve done exterior pieces for outdoor structures for Blackberry, Legoland, Dr. Pepper and the [Dallas] Cowboys’ stadium, but this is the most unusual,” Hill said. “We’re inheriting it. And because of the structural detail required, we’re fabricating fabric on site. ... We’ve got to go in and stabilize the frame and weld up 300 crossbars and cross-members. We’ll sew and customize the framework right there.”
The pavilion, which Fabric Images pledged to complete by Aug. 1, was scheduled to open to the public June 19 for a 4½-month run. But the original contractor, TenFab Design LLC of Evanston, fell behind and was replaced.
“Bending 7,000 pieces of aluminum was more complicated than he had anticipated,” said Emily Harris, executive director of the Burnham Plan Centennial Committee. “Each rib is curved to form, and no two are alike.”
Hill said Fabric Images was forced to modify the structure to meet the specifications outlined by the city’s consulting engineer.
“There are about 26 trusses and we had to redo 19 of them,” Hill said.
“It is an enormous undertaking, but it’s also a challenge. And that is what we love to do. Also, part of it is helping the city out. ... They had 300 to 400 people come out to dinner, and I think there was some embarrassment by the fact that it wasn’t complete.”
Because the pavilion is designed as temporary structure coming down Oct. 31, time is of the essence. Toward that end, employees have been working 12-hour shifts since Fabric Images signed a contract a “six-figure” contract July 3. Although work is progressing on schedule, Hill said he would consider putting workers up at a downtown hotel if necessary to beat the deadline.
“It would have been more expensive to unweld pieces. There also would have been over 7,000 nylon connectors that we would have had to take apart,” Hill said. “It’s a very big piece and very organic in shape. It is not an easy structure to take apart and relocate.”
The beehive of activity is attracting many gawkers. Hill likened the process to Field Museum staff freeing dinosaur fossils from stone. But although both are being done in front of the public, there are no windows in the park.
“We’re in a big tent so people can see everything,” Hills said with a laugh. “We have a microwave, coffee-maker, coolers; all the comforts of home. They are working long hours to get it done.”
The pavilion and an finished companion, designed by Amsterdam-based Ben van Berkel of UNStudio, cost a combined $1.2 million. They are centerpieces of celebration marking a 1909 blueprint that established a national standard for urban and regional planning. Burnham believed that Chicago needed to be part of its broader region, punctuated by interlocking highways and railroads, open spaces, public buildings and cultural attractions.
“We needed kind of a ‘wow’ moment to mark the centennial and the spirit of those who are planning for the future,” Harris said of the pavilions.
Award-winning London architect Zah Hadid’s design calls for two fabric layers stretched across an aluminum skeleton to create a projection background for a film about the Chicago area and its future. The tent-like structure – 60 feet long, 40 feet wide and 14 feet tall – can be deconstructed and re-installed at another location following the centennial.
The fact that Chicago is in the running for the 2016 Olympics also is not lost on Hill. Hadid has designed venues at previous Olympics, as well as the aquatic center for the 2012 games in London.
“It’s a great, great art piece and it’s going to be awesome when it’s done,” Hill said. “This could lead to lot of good things. It’s good for us and good for the city.”