Zombie Alert

How cool can a city be?

Prague held it's first-ever zombie walk last month. Zombies are everywhere. Max Brooks, showing off some humor DNA that passed unchanged from his movie-making father Mel, has prepared the populace with his "Ultimate Zombie Survival Guide." Max also wrote "World War Z" which is an oral history of the zombie war. Then there is that British movie with that endearing top-notch police officer "Shaun of the Dead." Link to the whole story about Prague's zombie walk via the title.

America's Favorite Architecture

What is your favorite American building of all time? What architecture lifts your spirit and takes you to a new place? Is there some perfect expression of a church? Or a ball park? Or an airport terminal? What inspires awe in you?




Now there is the fun way to share your rabid opinions on the subject and help others find what you consider beloved. Vote for your “favorite five” of American architecture here. The American Institute of Architects polled their members and developed a list of all-time professional’s favorites. The projects that received six votes by members went on for further refinement to create an even more select list of America’s 150 favorite buildings.

It’s our turn to vote. It is a very hard choice. It’s like asking who among the many personalities that you know would you invite to a cocktail party. Why not everyone? Must I have a favorite? The beauty is in the mix.

Lists like this help us know what to go see. I thought I would have visited more of them than I have. I have been inside 64 of them. Here’s my top five:

1) Milwaukee Museum of Art designed by Santiago Calatrava – I have felt myself in the presence of genius expressed at this current moment twice in my life. Once was at the debut of Wynton Marsalis’ "Blood on the Fields" jazz opera, the other was when I entered this building. It is a masterpiece. Milwaukee residents should be proud to have commissioned the first example of Calatrava’s architecture in North America. If you go see it, don’t forget to watch the movie about the construction of the building. Like the construction movie for the Gateway Arch, it’s awe-inspiring!



2) Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel – this building looks exactly like what it is. A church for pilots. The seventeen spires are said to resemble a squadron of fighter jets shooting into the air. I took my children to hear the cadets sing Handel’s Messiah one Christmas in this exquisite building.




3) Lincoln Memorial – looking up at that big guy in the Lincoln Memorial…well… I can’t put it all into words. Probably because it gives me a lump in my throat. I guess it just makes me proud to be American. And great architecture inspires and becomes a backdrop for even more greatness… Marian Anderson singing there because she had been blackballed for being black and Martin Luther King declaring “I Have a Dream."





4) Jefferson Memorial – I don't know if someone from another country would be as moved by this one. Are they? The ideas are universal. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This memorial causes me to go silent. It brings out awe and wonder.




5) Golden Gate Bridge – Drop-dead, twelve-car-pile-up gorgeous. It’s so gorgeous, I think we know the bridge better than we know the bay. What was the visual shorthand for California before Hollywood and the Golden Gate?

It was hard to leave out the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial for creating a unifying monument out of a polarizing event, the United Terminal at O’Hare International Airport for communicating the romance of air travel, the Denver International Airport for the playful public art plus sheer speed and functionality (I can go from the park-and-go to the gate in 21 minutes), and Wrigley Field, which is just as mystical a place as everyone says it is.

I noticed so many of these projects were developed by architects who have been chosen as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects by their peers. Out of 80,000 practicing architects, only about 80 are selected to use the designation ‘FAIA’ after their name each year.

I went to see a friend be inducted as a Fellow. The ceremony was held in the Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago. While waiting for his name to be called I started to calculate the percentage of ‘fellows’ who had beards. 12%! Surely, that’s a higher percentage of beards than in the regular population. I think it helps an architect’s project list to be older and bearded. Pity the ladies then. Architects have it pretty good. How many professions are there where you get to do your best work after sixty?

One suggestion I have to improve the site is to make the list sortable by state so it’s easy to know what there is to see where you are. After voting, you can see how many votes your favorites received vs. everyone else favorites. What did you pick?

Rock the Nest

The second realized pleasure of being an empty nester is turning my music up full blast. All week I've had the radio (yes, I know, how old fashioned) up while I clean and sort, getting my house ready for sale.

It makes me feel like I'm 20 again to hear it this loud. Then I realized 20-year-olds today probably don't even blast their music. They all have IPods.

When I move to Prague, I will probably be living in a glorious 4th floor walk-up from another century which will cause me to remember why people move out of apartments and buy houses to begin with. So they can turn their music up!

So it's another reminder to enjoy each moment before it passes. The DJ just put on Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice Baby," with it's fabulous baseline. Full blast. Love it.

A Clean House

The first realized pleasure of being an empty nester is that the house stays picked up. Someday I'll take that for granted and ache to have my children back in the house but that's not today.

"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood..."

Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will themselves not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die."

~Daniel Burnham, American architect and urban planner

Contemplating moving to a new place makes me want to enjoy the present moment in my current place even more. I've just discovered a cool website that helps culture mavens find wonderful places to visit in Illinois. There are interesting things to see EVERYWHERE in the world.

The website is called illinoisgreatplaces. It was created by the Illinois Chapter of the American Association of Architects to celebrate the 150th anniversary of their existence. I was pleased to see that I had visited every great place in my community but there is tons of stuff I haven't visited within a very short driving distance.

For example, there is an Egyptian Theatre in Dekalb, Illinois. Who could resist Egyptian Deco? Apparently, it was a big trend in architecture during the 1920s after King Tut's tomb was discovered.

I wonder if the desire to build great buildings can be caught. What makes a boom of architecturally-interesting facilities get started and continue in a city? I understand that the wealth of a period is instrumental, but wealth can be spent many different ways. Is the desire to create architectural significance viral, like obesity has been found to be?

What makes a committee of people working on a public building move forward together with boldness in one location and not in another? Do friends egg each other on? Are current builders having a conversation with past builders much the way Alan Ginsberg and Langston Hughes were conversing with Walt Whitman through poetry? If I was in the AIA, that's what I would want researched because the first thing greatness needs is THE WILL.


Chicago is an AMAZING architecture town. Everyone there is a fan and a critic. It's impossible not to be because greatness is everywhere. The AIA Foundation has outstanding tours everyday showing off Chicago's treasures. This picture is of Marina Towers, familiar to everyone who has seen the Blues Brothers movie. Chicago is blessed with a visionary mayor right now, Richard Daley, who is ALL WILL.

So much of architecture expresses a very masculine personality. Not that there is anything wrong with that. This is the Sears Tower, Chicago's tallest building. As more and more women become architects, will we some day be able to look at a building and instantly know "a woman designed that!" I hope so. It would be cool for my daughters and granddaughters to say "wow, that building is so feminine."

The illinoisgreatplaces website isn't perfect. It shows that there are only two significant theatres on the front page but actually six were chosen. The list of 150 places must be a fantastic upselling tool for architects. Imagine sharing this list with a customer and saying, "why build good when you can build great? Only six of your kind of building has made this list. Shall we try for greatness? Would spending 25-50% more result in 100% greater return to your community because of the traffic generated?"

There should be some sort of "amazing architecture" tax credit because the return to the community continues long past a developer's ability to recoup the cost. After all, what defines the thousands of communities across the world but their buildings?


Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theatre in Rockford

Whoever heard of Bilbao, Spain until Frank Gehry designed the Guggenheim Museum there? What picture instantly comes into everyone's mind at the mention of Sydney, Australia? The opera house. There are something like 14 or 15 cities in China with populations over 1 million yet no one has heard of them because they haven't yet expressed their collective personality through building. Hey Chinese cities, the world is looking forward to your self-introduction.

I was asking a friend active in the architecture association if there was a '150 web site' for every state. He said the Illinois chapter led the nation in doing this, but it was such a great idea that the national association has created a list of the most architecturally-interesting places in America. Fantastic!

No photos to show: both the photographers moved out!

Daughter #2 had a beautiful high school graduation. Our family was all here and we had fun cooking together and seeing the local sites. The morning my daughter left to live with Dad in Kansas City for the summer her manager asked her to come in for a last-minute send-off party. I was truly touched to see how much my child was appreciated! There were balloons, donuts, and yummie treats all put together for a high school kid by a bunch of people in their twenties and thirties. It was so moving!

The first day was hard, really hard. I won't lie. Mostly, I'm just grateful to God for the joy I had raising them. I look forward to hearing all of their adventures and I appreciate their good wishes as I pursue mine. Life is good.

Little Lenka Loving Life

What a pleasure it is to see Little Lenka thriving! These are pictures of her and her husband Steve and their two children. She has grown into a wonderful Mom and wife (I knew that would happen) and an accomplished third grade teacher. Lenka is pursuing her MA in education.

The greatest joy is to just experience her happiness. Lenka says "we are blessed, truly blessed." She's right. Look at these cute kids!

Since I've seen her she has visited over 39 states and been on eight safaris in Africa (her husband Steve grew up in Zambia). Lenka says she thought life was rough under communism in Czecho but after seeing the poverty in Africa she has changed her version of "rough".

The first thing we did when I got there was call up Lenka's mom in Czecho to say hi and tell her I'm moving to the Czech Republic. That was fun! Her mom could hardly believe it was me and could hardly believe the news. It will be immense fun to reconnect with Hana in person! Ahoj Hana!

In the "it's a small world" department, the lady in the house behind us in this picture has a sister who leads bike tours out of Prague for Trek.