http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-bridge23.html
Snakelike walkway by Gehry dedicated at Millennium Park
May 23, 2004
BY KEVIN NANCE Staff Reporter
The architect thought it looked like a river. Others thought it looked
like a snake. Still others saw it as a bridge between the world's most
famous architect and Chicago's powerful mayor.
Millennium Park's new BP Bridge, designed by Frank Gehry, was officially
dedicated Saturday.
The 935-foot-long pedestrian bridge, named for the oil company that was
its primary funding source, spans Columbus Avenue, linking the lakefront
with the northeast edge of the park, which is set to open July 16.
Clad in brushed stainless steel panels -- like the adjacent Jay Pritzker
Pavilion, the state-of-the-art music showcase also designed by Gehry --
the bridge slopes and curves in serpentine fashion, reflecting light and
offering stunning views of the Chicago skyline.
"It looks like a river to me," Gehry said earlier in the day. "Maybe I'm
the only one who sees it that way."
The dedication was an emphatic show of harmony between Gehry and Mayor
Daley, whose relationship has been rocky at times. In 2001, for example,
Daley publicly accused Gehry of being tardy with his final design for
the pavilion and contributing to cost overruns at the park, whose
initial price tag of $150 million eventually ballooned to $475 million.
"It wasn't true," Gehry told the Chicago Sun-Times on Saturday. "I don't
know why he said that; probably it was just a funny blip. They [the
mayor's staff] later apologized. We're fine now."
It certainly appeared that way as Gehry and Daley, trailed by a media
throng, strolled all but arm-in-arm down a long walkway to the ceremony
site -- the mayor smiling and admiring, the architect clearly reveling
in the praise. During the formal program, Daley delivered a ringing
endorsement of "this wonderful bridge" -- which he said had "captured
the soul of our great city."
Millennium Park officials pointed out that the bridge, apart from its
function as a walkway, is also to serve as a sound buffer between
concertgoers at the pavilion and the traffic. "I was worried about the
sound from the street," Gehry said. "I like the bridge because it'll
keep the noise out."
Looking out over the structure before dashing off to accept an honorary
degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Gehry couldn't
contain his own enthusiasm for the bridge, the only one he has ever
designed. "Look at that -- that little line through the trees," he said,
his eye following the bridge's wriggling path east toward the lake. "I'm
proud of me, just for that."