Amid the controversy over Evanston’s proposed Fountain Square tower, Northwestern is bringing the architect behind the 38-story skyscraper to lead the engineering school’s new architecture program.
NU has named Laurence Booth the inaugural Richard Halpern/RISE International Distinguished Architect in Residence for McCormick’s new undergraduate concentration in architectural engineering and design . The design principal of Chicago-based Booth Hansen Associates has a multi-year contract with NU and will teach in addition to directing the program, which begins in the fall.
Joseph Schofer, associate dean of McCormick and professor of civil and environmental engineering, helped create the curriculum for the program. For many years, McCormick faculty talked about combining the strength of NU’s engineering program and the history of Chicago architecture, Schofer said.
But before the program could get off the ground, the school needed an experienced architect to guide it.
“We searched around the region and beyond, and Larry Booth was our choice,” Schofer said.
Booth, a Chicago native, received his bachelor’s degree from Stanford, studied architecture at Harvard and received his bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
During the 1970s, he was part of the “Chicago Seven,” a group of experimental architects in the city. In 1980, he started his own firm. He has also been a visiting professor and lecturer at numerous universities, including Harvard.
Art history Prof.. David Van Zanten, who will teach a course on the history of architecture in the new program, has known Booth professionally for years. Booth’s creativity sets him apart from other architects, he said.
“He was a thinker,” Van Zanten said. “He’s the kind of person who’s asked to run programs that are about conceptual thinking.”
The new program is a concentration within civil and environmental engineering. Students who complete the program will be prepared for graduate studies in architecture, Schofer said. The concentration was created with the help of a donation from Richard and Madeline Halpern and RISE International.
“Larry Booth is a renowned architect,” Brian Moran, chairman of civil and environmental engineering, wrote in an e-mail. ” Larry brings a wealth of knowledge and substantial teaching experience to the position.”
University President Henry Bienen told The Daily about two weeks ago he was not concerned that appointing Booth would cause more controversy between the city or the university.
“We appoint who we please,” Bienen said. “We don’t ask anyone about our appointment outside the university.”
Even Vito Brugliera, McCormick ’55, a member of the anti-tower group Evanston Coalition for Responsible Development , said he thinks Booth’s appointment is a smart move by NU.
“It broadens the spectrum of fields that Northwestern has, and I’m sure it competes now with Illinois universities that also have schools of architecture,” Brugliera said.
Booth is known for restoring and adapting older buildings, which runs counter to the tower proposal, Brugliera said. But Booth’s involvement in the tower carried no weight in the decision to appoint him as director, Schofer said.
“In retrospect, it makes him an interesting person because I suspect every great architect is involved in controversial projects,” Schofer said.
