Design for Prentice Hospital's Replacement Unveiled

When architecture enthusiasts lost their battle to preserve Bertrand Goldberg's iconic Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago, many turned their hopes to the design of a fittingly stunning replacement. Will the new design fill the architectural void?

1 minute read

December 16, 2013, 2:00 PM PST

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


"Northwestern University has selected Perkins+Will to design the new 600,000 square foot Biomedical Research Building for the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago," reports Karissa Rosenfield. "Planned for the site of Bertrand Goldberg’s recently demolished Prentice Woman’s Hospital, the new building will 'anchor the University’s research facilities and be the hub of a world-class research and development enterprise that attracts innovation and entrepreneurship.'”

The design from Perkins+Will beat out entries from Goettsch Partners and Ballinger and Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture and Payette.

"With the loss of Goldberg's instantly recognizable, Jetsons-esque creation, Perkins+Will's plan seems safe--some might say boring--in comparison," writes Shaunacy Ferro of the winning design. "But science, understandably, is driven more by function than form."

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