About

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Welcome to this little page of ideas. I'm a Sox fan, and happen to be an architect, thanks in part to an early muse, Old Comiskey Park. Back in the 80's our family would go to Sox games, driving up from northwest Indiana. I always got goosebumps seeing those towering lights from the Dan Ryan. Stepping inside, navigating the dim concourses, and finally emerging into a field of dreams - these experiences forged unforgettable memories. As a kid, every moment was charged with excitement especially feeling the whole place rumble after a homer.

 

I'd come home with a game program, and using the color-coded seating chart as a reference, would draw a birdseye view of the ballpark. I was about 9 years old when I made my first architectural drawing - exploding scoreboard and all.

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Growing up, my baseball hero was Carlton Fisk, loved the way he played the game. Thought it was neat that he reversed his number from 27 to 72 when he switched Sox in '81, the same year I was born. I've done a reverse-Fisk of sorts, grew up in Chicagoland but now practice architecture in Boston.

 

I know the early renderings produced for The 78 are just that, young ideas that need time to evolve. And they will change, as this big, interesting idea gets beaten up by just about everyone from the South Loop to Springfield. I've seen a lot of talk about the money, but not a lot about the character of the place. I felt, why not start that discussion?

 

I have adapted and remixed the primary field rendering created and recently released by Related Midwest.  My goal isn't to rewrite the whole thing, only to add some ideas to the conversation, think of it as a baseball fan-fiction. As Bill Veeck once said, “I try not to break the rules, but merely to test their elasticity.”

 

Thanks for stopping by. Go Sox!

 

Michael

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p.s. feel free to connect and share, would love to hear from you...