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Photo by Bill Hogan
Mark Sexton (left) and Ronald Krueck have a true partnership, relying on their complementary talents: Krueck conceptualizes; Sexton questions.
Spertus in the News
Ronald Krueck and Mark Sexton: Partnership takes modernism in new directions, makes it look easy
By Blair Kamin
Tribune architecture critic
Published December 25, 2005
Chicago Tribune
Ronald Krueck and Mark Sexton are not circus high-wire artists, but they might as well be. Twice in the last two years, they have performed architectural acrobatics, taking on projects that held out the possibility of a very public flop. In each case, they made it across the wire with barely a wobble.
At the Crown Fountain in Millennium Park, the pair turned Spanish artist Jaume Plensa's hazy concept of facing glass block towers into forms that are at once hard-edged and elegant. At the Illinois Institute of Technology's Crown Hall, they made Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's legendary but forlorn temple of black-painted steel and huge sheets of glass look as crisp as it did when it opened nearly 50 years ago.
Both jobs look effortless. In reality, they required endless refinements, like an egg crate-shaped web of stainless steel that helps hold the fountain's gleaming glass blocks in place. "By the time we do one building," Krueck says, "we've gone through 10 to 15.
Krueck, 59, and Sexton, 49, lead one of several small- and medium-size firms in Chicago that have come to rival large corporate shops such as Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as centers of architectural creativity. Both underwent the rigorous regimen at IIT, which is evident in their respectful treatment of materials and embrace of new technology.
Unlike today's solo-oriented "starchitects," Krueck and Sexton form a true partnership, relying heavily on their complementary talents. Krueck conceptualizes. Sexton questions. Krueck refines. "We always say our projects are like kids and we're the parents," Sexton says.
Despite the success of the Crown Fountain and Crown Hall, the architects point out that they do much more than simply realize or restore other people's visions. For this story, they insisted that they be photographed at a less well-known project that is completely their own, the Shure Technology Center in north suburban Niles, a jewel-like addition to a Helmut Jahn-designed headquarters building.
Offering further evidence of their creativity, as well as their ability to take modernism in bold new directions: The future Spertus Institute. It will be the first insertion of a facade of folding, faceted glass into the clifflike wall of buildings across from Grant Park. Look for the debut of that high-wire act in 2007.
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