Lucien Lagrange

Lucien Lagrange (born 1940 in France) is an architect and a former partner at Skidmore Owings & Merrill, who founded his own firm, named Lucien Lagrange Architects in 1985. [cite web|url=http://www.emporis.com/en/cd/cm/?id=lucienlagrangearchitects-chicago-il-usa|title=Lucien Lagrange Architects|publisher=Emporis.com|accessdate=2008-01-18] He is currently involved in the construction or renovation of seven notable buildings in city-state|Chicago|Illinois:"The Man With A Plan", "Chicago Social", November 2007, Modern Luxury Media, LLC., Chicago, IL, pp. 102-104.] 10 East Delaware, Blackstone Hotel, The Elysian, Lincoln Park 2520, Ritz-Carlton Chicago, 208 South LaSalle and X/O. Lagrange designed the renovation of the Chicago Landmark Carbide & Carbon Building into the Hard Rock Hotel and designed the Park Tower. He has also renovated the Union Station (Chicago) and designed the 29 South LaSalle, The Pinnacle, InterContinental Chicago.

Lagrange is a French-born architect who came to city-state|Chicago|Illinois after studying at McGill University. He currently lives in a Louis Sullivan designed Lincoln Park community area house. As an architect, he is inspired by Louis Sullivan and August Perret.

Education

Lagrange grew up in the Provence region of France as the son of a mason. He lived in France until he was eighteen years old when he moved to city-state|Montreal|Quebec in 1959 as a high school dropout. He chose Montreal because they speak French. When he arrived in Montreal he worked various odd jobs and eventually felt a desire to become an architect. He returned to school at age twenty-five. He had to take night classes to complete his high school education. Then, he enrolled at Sherbrooke University in engineering. After his first year, he got accepted to McGill University, which was his first choice for architecture study. He obtained his B.Arch. degree in 1972 from McGill.cite web|url=http://www.mcgill.ca/architecture/aluminterviews/lagrange/|title=Lucien Lagrange|accessdate=2008-01-21|publisher=McGill University|author=Donaldson, Jim|date=1997-11-05]

During his course of study, he was encouraged to find a job with a major architectural firm in 1968. He came to visit Chicago that year and saw the construction of the John Hancock Center well underway. He had been a draftsman, but now decided to shift from getting odd jobs to getting hired by a major firm. At school, Peter Collins, a professor of his, gave him a book with only the initials S.O.M. on the cover. At the same time he made some business contacts with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who was working on Westmount Square at a time when Lagrange was doing some shop drawings. He eventually called Mies' office and requested a job, but was told that they only had enough work to take on a few students and were committed to some from AIT. They said they could refer him to either [http://www.emporis.com/en/cd/cm/?id=cfmurphyassociates-chicago-il-usa C.F. Murphy] or Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (S.O.M.). Because of the book his professor had given him he chose S.O.M for summer 1968 employment.

His skill as a draftsman quickly got him assigned as a designer for Bruce Graham. He credits his summers with Bruce Graham learning how to combine his technical side with learning the design spectrum to successfully put buildings together. He became a top student at McGill and graduated in 1972.

Post graduate experience

After graduating Lagrange had to return to France to fight charges of draft dodging the French Army. He was a pacifist and had avoided involvement in French military confrontations such as Algeria for twelve years. He won his fight, which enables him to freely return to France. He then returned to Montreal to work for Norbert Schoenauer for a year on a multi-family residential housing project in northern Quebec. Then he worked with S.O.M. who were the urban planners for a Canadian Pacific/Bank of Montreal assignment. he then worked on various assignments in Chicago and Montreal until 1978 when he moved to Chicago permanently.

He worked with S.O.M. on broad range of projects: 40-story skyscraper towers, a convert|5000000|sqft|acre sqm property in city-state|Los Angeles|California, a building with six hundred apartments in Europe, a transportation centre, hotels, and a very diversified hotel property that included a motel, hotel, apartment building, parking structure, office building, retail. Then in 1985 he left to start Lucien Lagrange Architects.

Architecture career

Lagrange has a reputation as Chicago's archictect for the wealthy. In fact, he is considered the go-to guy for classically inspired high-end residential buildings. As such he is known for understanding luxurious lifestyle and incorporating it into designs so that art collections, vast wardrobes, jewelry safes, chefs, florists, and refrigerated fur storage are accommodated. As an employer he has a reputation as an oligarchic ruler. [cite web|url=http://www.insidearch.org/cgi-bin/firmreports/fr-luc1311.php|title=Lucien Lagrange & Associates|accessdate=2008-01-21|publisher=InsideArch LLC|work=insidearch.org]

When he was interviewed in 1997 about his first thirty years in architecture he marvelled at two major transformations. First he noted that the advent of the personal computer has changed the zipatone process. Then he noted that the real estate/architecture has also changed because "Projects are financed in a very different way, . . . We don’t custom design everything. We use components, which are pre-designed, curtain walls, ceiling tiles. All the systems exist and we just integrate them in the architecture, which also means we can do a set of working drawings a lot faster today."

With the Lincoln Park 2520 project, Lagrange is currently endeavoring to design the property's three acres so that every unit to have a view of a French garden inspired by an 18th-century chateau that once housed Madame de Pompadour.

Lagrange designed the Catalyst, a contemporary-style $100 million high-rise condominium planned at the northeast corner of Washington and Des Plaines in Chicago’s Near West Side community area. Real estate developer Gary Rosenberg said, “Lucien Lagrange, the highly acclaimed award-winning architect for Catalyst, has created a striking geometric 22-story skyscraper, which immediately captures the eye when approaching the Chicago Loop from the [Kennedy Expressway| [Kennedy] expressway] . The building’s design is unique with jutting blocks of glass space creating geometric squares and rectangles which seem to float on the building’s façade, along with a strong vertical element which highlights the contemporary sleek style.” [cite news|title=Catalyst debuts in West Loop|publisher=Daily Herald|date=2007-05-12|accessdate=2008-01-18]

Lagrange designed the Ritz-Carlton Residences on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, a 40-story condominium tower planned for 664 North Michigan Avenue. [cite news|title=Ritz Carlton promises timeless elegance|publisher=Daily Herald|date=2006-07-29] In 1996, Lucien Lagrange & Associates designed the building to rise at Rush Street and Chicago Avenue on the site then occupied by the 16-story Park Hyatt. [cite news|author=Allen, Jim|title=Chicago may soon boast another new skyscraper|publisher=Daily Herald|date=1996-11-23]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.emporis.com/en/cd/cm/?id=lucienlagrangearchitects-chicago-il-usa Lucien Lagrange Architects emporis page] :* [http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=erieonstreetpark-chicago-il-usa Erie on the Park] :* [http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=840northlakeshoredrive-chicago-il-usa 840 North Lake Shore Drive] ( [http://www.harperdesigninternational.com/spreads/us5/Lucien%20Lagrange.pdf see also] )