Deerfield Public Library Eyes Gehry for Building Project

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/alnews2004/august2004abc/gehry.cfm

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Posted August 20, 2004.

Deerfield Public Library Eyes Gehry for Building Project

Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry—known for such distinctive projects as the Guggenheim Museum in Spain, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the recently completed Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park—is “actively exploring” the possibility of a designing a library building in Deerfield, Illinois, a spokesman for the architect said August 16.

The August 20 Chicago Tribune reported that Deerfield Public Library Director Jack Hicks first contacted Gehry seven months ago and met with the architect in early August to discuss the project. He then brought the proposal to the library board, which voted unanimously August 18 to put a referendum on the November ballot to pay for the design. Because officials do not yet have a cost estimate, Hicks must seek legal advice to see whether the library can ask for a referendum to sell bonds without providing a dollar figure.

DPL Deputy Administrator Sally Brickman told the Tribune that Hicks was entirely responsible for convincing Gehry, who admitted he didn’t enjoy working with librarians, to sign on after “Jack gave [him] his I-have-a-dream speech.”

Posted August 20, 2004.