In the September issue of New Homes, Phil Berger dishes on the latest architectural designs that are catching his eye. His favorites may surprise you. (Yes, he has good things to say about Pappageorge / Haymes.) You can read Phil's article now, or you can wait until this weekend, when you'll be able to find the issue at these locations.

On a related note, Joe Zekas started studying the latest Appraisal Research Counselors report as soon as he returned from vacation this week, and he came across a mention of buyers avoiding "generic" towers. What is a generic tower? Is that just a euphemism for "ugly," or does it suggest a lack of creativity and originality?

Mark and I immediately thought of Marquee (right), a building that, according to commenter Gordy, "might not be a beauty queen, but it certainly isn't the ugliest condo building in the boom." It's just… there.

Of course, Sedgwick Properties would argue that sales haven't been any worse at Marquee than anywhere else. After all, just 27 of its 208 homes are still for sale, which is better than some projects can say. So maybe it's worth looking at last week's "Construction-Free Zones" list. Most of those projects seem to be at a stand-still — could a ho-hum design have anything do with that, or are they suffering solely from bad timing?

Throw in your suggestions for downtown's most generic buildings, and we might just put a new list together: Chicago's Generic High-Rises.

If you had to rank high-rise amenities from most to least important, where would a lush, leafy lobby land on your list? Hopefully not too high, because according to The New York Times, a lot of developers and building managers are doing away with indoor pots and planters.

And what would a story about construction and landscaping be without a mention of green building?

That owners and tenants are installing fewer plants while generally supporting trends for more environmentally friendly buildings seems like a contradiction to M. J. Gilhooley, the program coordinator for the eight-year-old Green Plants for Green Buildings, an advocacy group based in Loveland, Ohio.

Ms. Gilhooley, whose group was initially financed by the landscaping industry, acknowledged that the most salable aspect of indoor plants was their ability to beautify spaces. But, she said, referencing a range of scientific studies, they can also make workers more attentive, absent less and more productive. Spiky-leafed bamboo palms, for one, are known to absorb potentially harmful formaldehyde emitted by certain woods and insulations, she said.

Yet, the United States Green Building Council, which promotes eco-friendly construction through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design benchmarks, or LEED, which developers must meet to be certified, does not award points for indoor plants.

“The meat and potatoes of green buildings are usually what you can’t see,” said Russell Unger, the executive director of the council’s New York chapter.

Just another thing to keep in mind when you're considering a high-rise home or breaking down a building's assessments.

As far as architectural style is concerned, Burling Place at 1727 N Burling St in Lincoln Park is one that people seem to love or, well, really not love. As Joel mentioned in a Yo post last year, this Sullivan Goulette-designed building took the place of what Mario Greco described as "a pink stucco church."

What do you even call this architectural style? Isabelline Gothic revival?

Not only does the building invoke the architecture of a cathedral, some of the ornament reflects the older building that's located next door on Burling Street. Down at street level, I got a closer look at a couple of the more regal-looking doors, which are flanked by these iron lanterns.

According to Clare Armbruster from the Mario Greco Group, there are still three available units in the building: two two-bedroom / two-bath condos that are each priced in the $790s, and one four-bedroom / three-bath unit priced at $2.19 million. I'll try to post some floor plans soon.

Forget about granite countertops, stainless-steel appliances, steam showers and fitness rooms. If you want to make the neighbors jealous, you’ve really got to step it up a notch, writes Phil Berger in the July issue of New Homes.

This month, Phil looks at the types of extreme luxury finishes popular on the North Shore, such as vintage Art Deco home theaters, replicas of Scottish pubs, and indoor / outdoor swimming pools.

Swimming pools are not exactly stunning news, but in a climate like Chicago’s, they are so impractical as to border on the idiotic. Although technology has improved the maintenance equation – most pools don’t need regular service visits from the pool man – owners still only get three to four months of usage per year, and the cost of keeping the water warm is rising with the same velocity as gasoline prices. Even more extravagant – and rare – are indoor pools, which require not only ample square footage, but even higher heating bills.

That’s why a combined indoor/outdoor pool on a large compound in Barrington Hills is in a category of extravagance by itself. It almost doesn’t qualify as an amenity in a single-family residence: The property is populated by various branches of an extended family, and the pool area is really more like a private swim club.

The indoor pool is housed in a barrel-roofed structure attached to the main residence. The wall connecting the indoor and outdoor areas is mostly glass, interrupted by a fantastical fiberglass pink clamshell announcing the tunnel that connects the two parts, which are separated underwater by an etched Plexiglas divider. (Each pool actually has three separate water areas: a general swim area, a child’s pool and a cold-water therapy pool.)

It’s not enough that the pools are splendidly tiled; the barrel-vaulted ceiling of the indoor pool house is painted with a fresco that suggests the canopy of trees towering above the landscaped outdoor pool.

Read the entire article here.

"It was one of the greener campuses anywhere. But it was radical, and to some it was wrong."

– Oral history of Walter Netsch, p. 211 (pdf), The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Architects Oral History Project

Walter Netsch, who died just recently, came to hate the UIC campus as much as anyone. Read his idiosyncratic take on it at the link above.

On Tuesday, Anne Rashford, the Museum of Science and Industry's director of temporary exhibits took a few minutes out of her busy schedule to speak with me about the museum's new Smart Home: Green + Wired exhibit.

After speaking with Rashford, I toured the home, which is chronicled here and here.

For more on the exhibit, visit the MSI's Web site and Michelle Kaufmann's blog.

One of the more notable features in the Museum of Science and Industry's Green + Wired exhibit is an integrated technology system with which you can control everything from climate to lighting and security cameras in the entire house.

According to my tour guide, you could monitor your energy consumption from your bedside, which sounds like a type of neurosis that I never hope to have. (Just knowing that the house is as efficient as it can be is enough for me, thank you.)

A radiant heating system pumps warm water through pipes in the floor, making a barefoot stroll through the house more enjoyable, no doubt. Most of the windows have three panes of glass for better insulation, and many have blinds between those panes. Most of the tiles in the home were made from recycled glass; the green bathroom tiles in the photo above are made from old chardonnay bottles.

mkSolaire is designed as an urban row house, but it's pretty difficult to picture it in that context. Part of its appeal is the openness of the surrounding land, which also brings more light into the house. In most Chicago neighborhoods it would probably be in close quarters with at least two other buildings.

Michelle Kaufmann's blog has some more information about mkSolaire.

During my visit to Hyde Park earlier this week, I dropped by the Museum of Science and Industry's Smart Home: Green + Wired exhibit.

After speaking with Anne Rashford, the museum's director of temporary exhibits, I joined a tour and had a closer look at some of the finishes and design features in the 2,500 square-foot mkSolaire model home.

The house is a modular home designed by California-based Michelle Kaufmann Designs. It was constructed in Decatur, Ind., and shipped to the Hyde Park museum campus in March. Rashford says the house would only cost about $400,000 to build, not including property costs.

Kaufmann seems an odd choice for the exhibit, considering that her firm doesn't build homes anywhere in the Midwest, according to her own Web site, and prefabricated homes don't seem nearly as popular in Chicago as they are on the West Coast. I suppose the lack of modular homes in the area itself might be reason enough to feature one at the museum.

Below is a look at the kitchen, and the garage is in the back. Check back later for more pictures and video from my visit.

Here are a couple more photos from 600 North Fairbanks, with special attention paid to the building's famous angle that's had YoChicago talking since 2006. The picture below offers a better look at the mural lurking in the high-rise's shadow.

We've heard a lot over the past year about 600 North Fairbanks' place in the Streeterville skyline; Blair Kamin called it "quietly elegant," and Yo's own Barry Pearce dubbed the finished product "lean and serene" as construction was wrapping up last year.

Here's a look at one aspect of the building that's gotten somewhat less attention: the street-level facade and entryway. The curved glass wall fits the intersection of Fairbanks Court and Ohio Street well, but it's hard to ignore the low-rise brick buildings on the same block.

What do you think: too jarring, appropriately modern - or somewhere in between?