Jay Pritzker Pavilion
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enclosed by the glass doors of the proscenium, which are about 50 feet (15 m) tall, 100 feet (30 m) wide and function like aircraft hangar doors made of glass. They were the largest doors that Glass Solutions of Elmhurst, Illinois, ever produced; the thickness of the glass was a design problem for the steel supports.
Zahner of Kansas City, Missouri, was the subcontractor for the pavilion's ribbons, described as "stainless steel panels that appear to be peeling back from the central opening". The proscenium's metal ribbons are composed of 697 panels that range from 6 to 300 square feet (0.56–28 m) and 1,600 to 20,000 pounds (730–9,100 kg) with a thickness of about 14 inches (36 cm). They are made from aluminum with a stainless steel outer layer that has a uniform shade across all panels. The structural steel
for the ribbons had an abnormally low fit tolerance of 0.125 inches (3.2 mm), rather than the standard 1 to 2 inches (25 to 51 mm). The proscenium was inspired by Gehry's 2001 flagship store for Issey Miyake in New York City, which has sculptured titanium that represents pleating. During construction, about five cranes and 18 aerial lifts were on site. The apex of the center element is approximately 150 feet (46 m) high, which was near the limits of basic construction equipment at the time.
Acme Structural of Springfield, Missouri, was the subcontractor for the trellis over the Great Lawn, which resulted from the distributed sound system's requirement for speakers every 70 feet (21 m). One way to achieve this would have involved placing the speakers on pipes or columns, but the resulting forest of columns seemed discordant with the architecture. Gehry preferred the trellis although it cost about $3 million more than speakers arranged on posts would have. The trellis uses 22 criss-crossing arches in a lattice pattern, and is noted for its parabolic grid. The arches use pipes varying in diameter from 12–20 inches (30–51 cm) depending upon the load requirements. Arches longer than 300 feet (91 m) have four or five different radiuses, where radius describes the extent of pipe curvature. The arch pipes connect to the structural steel of the pavilion structure without linking to the metal ribbons. The trellis is 600 feet by 300 feet (183 m × 91 m).
The pavilion's construction was aided by the French CATIA software program and internet conferencing. Early plans to
The pavilion bandshell is designed to reflect sound for optimal acoustics.This file has an uncertain copyright status and may be deleted. You can comment on its removal.