Dateline Chicago - A very hard-working group of panelists this year, the first in my 19 years of involvement in the Facility of Merit judging to require pushing back our dinner reservation to 9 p.m. They've lent credence to this photo, which an architect friend sent me years ago:
SUMMER.jpg
Consensus is notoriously hard to achieve among architects...as one of this year's panelists, David Dymecki of Sasaki Associates, just noted to us, "The only thing two architects can usually agree on is that the work of the third [is poor]." I would imagine there will be a spirited discussion this afternoon to rival last night's marathon session. The remaining 26 entries to survive to Day 2 (there were 97 submittals to the June Architectural Showcase in 2009) skew toward the larger university projects, but there's quite a range here. We'll know the 10 winners by 5 p.m. - maybe.
