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The South Loop area where the
school sits is undergoing a transformation as condominium
developments and their effects expand south towards Cermak
Avenue and McCormick
Place, now in the throws of a massive expansion
set to open in 2008. Edge condition could easily describe
the area's past, with barriers to the south (Stevenson Expressway),
east (Lake Shore Drive and McCormick Place), and west (Red
Line and Chinatown) for many years containing the housing
projects and their concomitant environs. But the presence
of McCormick Place - and its importance in the city's international
image - meant change was inevitable. How does Perspectives
Charter School fit into the area's evolution? Physically it
does it very well, resisting the mundane brick-and-stone neo-traditionalism
of nearby condos in favor of a gritty neo-industrial aesthetic
that in some ways mirrors the area's tough times. |
