Burnham Pavilions open...sort of

The Burnham Plan Centennial celebration peaks today with the opening of two temporary pavilions in Millennium Park. As an ode to Daniel Burnham—a pavilion connoisseur of sorts as architecture director of the 1893 World's Fair—the structures celebrate and, as was reiterated several times in this morning's press conference, "look to the future" of Chicago's plan. If you've been following our coverage, you know that there's been a mixed reaction to a permanent memorial and the pavilions, which pay homage to classical Chicago planner Burnham with structures by modern Dutch and British architects, Ben van Berkel and Zaha Hadid. Well, throw the controversy out the window because Hadid's cocoon-shaped pavilion is not nearly finished. (You can see what it should look like on the rendering at right in the photo.) Completion date? Maybe July, uttered a spokeswoman. I couldn't glean what went wrong, but something about a contractor problem. I suppose you couldn't ask for anything more Chicago than that.

The pavilions officially open Friday 19 at 6pm to the soundtrack of Grant Park Orchestra playng Michael Torke's new Burnham-inspired works.