Navy Pier Design Team Picked

According to the Pier's governing board, the famed landscape architecture firm led by James Corner, who co-designed New York's celebrated High Line, was selected because the board, "were impressed by his creative yet practical approach to the proposed revamp."

"In contrast to the grandiose visions of other teams, which called for such features as a towering, glacierlike structure popping out of Lake Michigan and sprawling boardwalks attached to the pier's south end, Corner's group accepted the pier's long, thin contours, but gave it several creative tweaks. Those tweaks include undulating steps that would join the pier's Dock Street promenade to the raised park around its Ferris wheel, plus a striking display of hanging gardens inside the pier's now-bland Crystal Gardens pavilion," writes Kamin.

Corner's winning entry will likely face a serious re-design as only $15 million are believed available for the first phases of the project, and the board suggests "possibly incorporating ideas from the other four design teams who competed for the commission."