Does this building strike anyone else as one of those buildings that is going to look like crap in a few years? The blue trim becomes dirty blue trim. The metallic siding becomes gritty in the seams and it becomes tired-looking before its time.

Considering they panels are usually 20 yr warranties…I would say, yes, in 20 yrs it'll start to look doody.

I think it looks like crap right now. I give it 3 years before people start complaining loudly, and 5 before cosmetic touches are added to make it slightly less of an eyesore.

At $20K+ per school year, per student, how could they afford to build a school!

There is a big world out there JeffJaneStokesMike! Climb out from under your slow-poke midwestern rocks….. Use your brain, your imagination and perhaps (gosh) your intellect.

Should the school have insist it be all brick with some fake keystones!! Maybe some faux stone base and a green standing seam metal roof? No, I know — Frank Lloyd Wright inspired prairie style vomit.

Perhaps the school would like to inspire creative thinking and an imaginative approach to life. Clearly, it is too late for all of you old hags.

JeffJaneStokesMike,

The Dutch have been ahead of us for years.. At the link below, a boring old bank headquarters…

http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/ing/index.htm

Nothing about this dreary thing says "place of learning" or inspires me in any way.

It looks like they're paying homage to Tom Wolfe: "Every child goes to school in a building that looks like a duplicating-machine replacement-parts wholesale distribution warehouse."

The Dutch example looks fantastic. This doesn't. I can't quite pinpoint why this isn't a successful modern building, but I think it has something to do with it looking a little more like a barge/storage unit and a little less like that beautiful Dutch building.

Oh yeah, and pretty much all the materials used on this building look cheap, cold and dreary, not helping a design that lacks depth and texture from the get-go.

Oh, really Bryan?

What are those materials in the Dutch building that aren't used in the British School building? Name them, one by one

forget the materials, the Dutch example looks interesting, this building looks like a box that will eventually hold a Staples or some other unimaginative chain store.

Is that a "One-Price Cleaners" in the ground floor?

Those of you that don't get it probably woudn't send your kids to a school like this anyway.

See, it's working already…

And to think that the British School is moving into this monstrosity when they have a beautiful current campus in an old Catholic school on the North Side, built when schools were made to look like, well, you know, schools.

Again, Local Realtor, if you don't get it, you won't be sending your kids there.

Kind of like walking by Bulgari on Michigan Avenue, if you are too intimidated by the entry, they would rather you did not come in. If you have to ask….

Does it really take a European group to bring good design to the insular and backward looking midwest?

Oh golley gee, another East Coast Eurotrash is here to teach all of us midwestern yokes a thing or two about our insular existence and poor taste in architecture; Save us O' Lord of the all knowing, for we know not what we are missing. What a tool!

Jeff, what the heck is eurotrash? By trash, do mean universal health care, trains traveling at +300mph, equal rights for gays, high quality food, a strong currency, no housing bubble, no subprime loans, no real estate crisis….

Who has a better quality of life?!

Paulj,

you apparently have never been to Europe. Their ghettos make our ghettos look like Disneyland.

Their cost of living is much higher than in the USA. Now they do have some things which are superior. Estonian woman for example. Rowr.

If you like it so much better then move.

If I liked a place better than Chicago then I would move.

What in the heck do you write of joesixpack? I just moved back here after 6 years in western europe. There are no ghettos. Housing projects yes, but they are not nearly as bad as our worst neighborhoods here. I spent time in Romania as well, the worst areas are far nicer than most parts of the west and south of Chicago.

Their cost of living is more? Are you sure? I pay $10,000/year here in property taxes for a failing school system… What kind of tax is that? Europe affords health care, a funded transport system, 10 weeks paid vacation. A doctor came to MY HOUSE when I was sick (I had to pay $25) and I never had to pay for a prescription.

What is the cost of a high quality life? Americans always talk of cost and never quality.

If you like it better move? Why not make the US better than it is today. I thought this site was a little smarter on the whole, guess not. I have lived in both places, I speak from authority.

I love the US, but we are far behind with much work to do.

Well then, sounds like they have at least one thing for your check list of desirable places to to live! Enjoy! You can follow the mass exodous of movie stars who vowed to leave if Bush won a second term.

There are no ghettos in Europe? Housing projects?

I suggest you visit some neighborhoods in the Paris area. Oh and be careful. The police don't enter those neighborhoods. Would you like to discuss Germany. Similar things. Although not quite as bad. Of course you get your image of Europe from PBS where I get mine from R E A L I T Y.

You speak from authority?

Methinks you speak from something else that begins with the letter "A".

Now get your pretentious speak whole in gear and move back.

Europe does in fact have its own housing bubble. Complete with toxic mortgages and specuvestors. Most of the world does. When these bubbles pop, it will be really ugly.

Irish… I lived Paris from 2000-2006. The riots you are referring to were media BS. Yes there were some troubled youths starting cars on fire. Big deal. There were no riots. Since France has GUN CONTROL there was no real violence. I would walk through those areas at any time and did.

Irish, I am guessing the last time you were in Europe was after WWII. It has changed quite a bit!

And BubbleJane, I own a home there. It is very difficult to get a mortgage if you do not qualify. I had to put 30% down and have a 20 year mortgage, which is considered long for most people. The idea of "going stated" cannot even be translated!

The riots were BS and you walked through the areas. Quick do a google search before you tell me the names of the areas and the lovely tract housing there.

You are full of something. Actually two things. One is yourself and the other rhymes with "pung".

Although you are right about Jane.

Paris is perfect. Please ask whatever company transferred you here, to send you back. Your genius is not appreciated in our little provincial city.

Europe needs you. Vive La France! Please make sure to be rude and seldom bathe. I also suggest a pretentious beret to go along with the attitude.

If you miss Paris I suggest a quick trip to Montreal. I've never been there, but I'm sure you can tell me all about it and its perfection and beauty.

What's with the anger?

Why do Americans get so worked up when somebody points out the merits of another part of the developed world?

Health care–covered.
Transportation–covered.
Lower murder rates–covered
Beautiful architecture–covered.

There's nothing wrong with coveting some of these things

You two should really figure out a way to mix your genes and create a better human race.

One of you lives in Chicago and looks down his nose sneeringly at it.

The other doesn't live here and knows what is best for Chicago.

There are good aspects of Europe. There are negatives also. I am sure each of you has good aspects. I will not strain myself trying to figure them out.

IrishPirate, people can learn from other people. Societies can learn from other societies. What's the big deal here?

Let's all sing Kumbaya and hold hands.

Ahhh, it does look like a Disney cruise ship. I think the real shame is the location. Kind of a drab, dusty strip of Halsted. Not great for the kids… I'd rather send the boy to a more leafy residential street for school. He gets enough grit in his day to day living in Chicago.

Well, if you guys don't like it, then I've got news for ya:

ANOTHER one is going up right next to it! And it's going to be perpendicular to it.

So you better learn to like it or just cover your eyes when you pass it by, because it's only gonna grow