The City of Chicago just awarded $11 million to two contractors to demolish 28 of the 29 buildings at Michael Reese Hospital, including all 8 that were designed with the involvement of Walter Gropius. This brings the total city cost for the site to almost 100 million dollars, but this does not of course begin to tally the environmental costs. Ten years ago, I watched another lakefront demolition, where dust and debris socked those watching from the lakefront.
Let’s measure this one. I would like to know where all the stuff goes and where it comes from. I would like to know how much gasoline and coal and uranium are used to take these buildings from us and give us some other ones, and I need to know how long those last and how much they cost to operate. In fairness, we need to know the environmental costs of rehabbing the Reese buildings, which could be extensive. I don’t know why you can’t make these buildings work as housing and I would like to know the REAL costs of replacing them.
Please note: announcing that the new buildings will have green roofs measures nothing.
Tags: Chicago 2016; Chicago development, embodied energy; sustainability; LEED; preservation, saving buildings, Sustainable urbanism; sustainability; Michael Reese Hospital
Time Tells 
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