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Griffin MSI’s new design must go back to the drawing board: ‘Carbuncle in the park’

wbez.org · 7h · first reportShare

The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry is one of those buildings that just looks good from all sides and angles — graced with perfect siting, courtesy of Daniel Burnham, and a great Greek Revival design by the hand of architect Charles Atwood. The south side of the building is the winning view, of course, with that portico and the Columbia basin shimmering in front of it. But the museum's primary elevation along 57th Street is the one everyone sees. It's an impressive neo-classical expanse behind a park-like front yard and punctuated by a colonnaded entry porch fit for the nobles of antiquity — or today's gaggle of school kids. The main entrance of the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. Pat Nabong/Sun-Times It's a near-perfect view that shouldn't be spoiled. But that's exactly what the Museum of Science and Industry officials have now put themselves at risk of doing. The museum this month released plans to construct a limestone and glass "Welcome Hall" on the building's front