Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 321

Page 14 Section 13 Chicago Tribune, Sunday, November 17, 1985 Jewish centers of Chicago presents Sears Tower's need for changes shows the dangers of thinking too big A Film By Claud Lanzmann An Epic Film About the Greatest Evil of Modern Times SHOAH is the greatest use of film in motion picture history, taking movies to their highest moral value. Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune We still have much to learn about the poison in our hearts. Richard Corliss, Time Magazine This is a film that must be seen. Is not about death but about something as stubborn as death: memory. Elie Wiesel, New York Times 1 ft AM iniiini n-iP A New Yorker Films Release Copywrite 1985 SHOAH contain none of ttw horrifying ImagM ipad from film about tolocMHtHOjUMvrmo JANUARY 11-19, 1986 Centre East for the Performing Arts 7701 -A Lincoln Avenue, Skokie RESERVED SEATING ONLY ADMISSION: $20.00 Dim to the unusual length oi SHOAH (over 9 hour), the Dim will be shown In two parts.

Price Includes Part I and Part II. By Paul Gapp Architecture critic rr3he recent $25 million 1 1 overhauling of Sears Tower is in most re-spects an esthetic as well as a practical success, but it is hardly possible to contemplate the results of the work without considering broader issues of architectural giantism. Skidmore, Owings Merrill SOM designed the 110-story skyscraper, the world's tallest The structure opened in 1973 and quickly became an enormous hive for 12,000 office workers. Engineers marveled at the design of its extraordinary steel frame, devised by the late Fazlur Khan of SOM. Sightseers were delighted by the view from an observatory on the 103d floor.

Sears Tower's unusual shape immediately gave it a place alongside Marina City and John Hancock Center as the Chicago skyscrapers most often reproduced on souvenirs a bizarre index for archeolo-gists of the distant Yet even the shape became a bit of a bore after the novelty wore off, and the building's setbacks which do not begin until the 50th story never yielded the dramatic tapering quality of older skyscrapers. Indeed, Sears Tower may be the only high-rise in the nation that looked a little better after television antennas were added to its top. The slender masts mitigate the stubbiness of the summit But while the design was. visually unsatisfying from the start, it fell short in other respects, too. Users of the main entrance facing Wacker Drive were frequently buffeted by winds swirling down the west side of the building.

Confused tourists seeking the observatory elevators collided with people who were in the lobbies on business. There were relatively few restaurants and retailing spaces on the lower floors, and they were mostly tucked out of sight. Two years ago, SOM was finally commissioned by Sears to perform the sort of remedial architecture that should have shaped the building in the first place although Sears itself must share responsibility for some of the original misjudgments. In any case, the public spaces in Sears Tower are today in some ways radically different from what they were when the massive remodeling job began. The results are also worthy of scrutiny simply because it is unlikely that anyone ever spent so much money in the altering of so young a skyscraper.

The most striking change, of course, has come with the creation of a large new entrance on the Tower has come with the creation on the Wacker side. "1 3 ZIP. ol TICKETS PHONE AMOUNT at $20 EACH I IFWKH SHOAH is proudly presented by the Marvin N. Stone I ZlJrV Centre for Jewish Arts Letters of the Jewish Com- iTjrcpuTrDc munity Centers ol Chicago, afliliated with the Jewish CENTERS Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and supported by I OF CHICAGO the Jewish United Fund. J' 0 I I The most striking or a large new Wacker side a vaulted, transparent structure that is 135 feet wide, 60 feet deep and 58 feet tall.

It replaces a skimpy little marquee and an exposed outdoor staircase of 21 steps which was a ridiculous entrance to a tower 1,454 feet tall. SOM scaled the new entrance skillfully, in keeping with the main building's height One now walks in with the sure feeling that this is a goliath of a tower, for better or worse. The freestanding entrance structure is linked to the skyscraper quite deftly. It can be argued that this curvy greenhouse, done in the SOM-favored New Mainstream style, is incompatible with the slick, Miesian, 90-degree angle architecture of the tower. Still, what shape would have been better a box? Hardly.

Some incongruity was probably inevitable. Inside the protective entran-ceway, almost everything is symmetrical and in balance, including two little groves of three fig trees each. Twin curved staircases rise one story, but sad to say, SOM gave them little grace. Paired ramps for wheelchairs and baby strollers lead one level down, and alongside them are decorative twin rivulets that 1 1 unaccountably terminate in 4 at Sears entrance SERIES PARTI PART II A Sat, Jan. 11 7pm Jan.

13 7pm Jan. 12 1pm Jan. 12 7pm Jan. 14 7pm Jan. 15 7pm Jan.

16 7pm Sat, Jan. 187pm E- Jan. 19 1pm Jan. 197pm Jan. 13 Jan.

15 Jan. 14 Jan. 'To reserve a box dinner at Centre East from Kosher Gourmet between Parts I and II call 679-0432. Available on Sundays, Jan. 12 and 19 only.

TICKET ORDER FORM NAME i ADDRESS SERIES (Select from schedule above) 1st Choice 2nd Choice exposed drainage basins where the water whirls around precisely as it would in two giant toilet bowls. Somebody really ought to do something about that. The other most obvious, costly and complicated change was made on the Franklin Street side of Sears Tower, where floors were pierced to create a large atrium. Walking into this area, a newcomer can now look up or down and instantly perceive that shops, restaurants and other facilities are handily located inside the building. The five-floor atrium not only makes good marketing sense, but relieves the formerly cramped feeling just inside the Franklin entrance.

From outside, however, the entrance still looks like a back door of little consequence, even though it faces the Loop and is daily used by thousands of pedestrians. A rather less conspicuous but important addition was made on the Jackson Boulevard side, where a skylighted passage now runs beneath Sears Tower's plaza from the street to the building. There was formerly no entrance tying into Jackson, and there is still none that connects with Adams Street to the north. HANDLING FEE TOTAL ENCLOSED- PAYMENT MUST BE ENCLOSED WITH RESERVATIONS Enclosed Is my check payable to Centre East I sm paying with VISA Mastercard Acct Exp. Date RETURN FORM WITH PAYMENT TO: Centre East Box Office 7 701 -A Lincoln Ave.

Skokie, IL 60077 2.00 9100. Tickets may be purchased using VISA and MASTERCARD by calling TICKETMASTER 902-1500. Tickets are available at Centre East Box Office and at all TICKETMASTER outlets. For group sales information call 761 rj,.