Saturday, October 15, 2005

Glenlivet Scotches Chicago Architect


The October 17th New Yorker Magazine, dubbed "The Art & Architecture Issue", includes an ad, created by the Berlin Cameron/Red Cell agency, for their client The Glenlivet Scotch that features Chicago architect Douglas Garofalo. The ad copy labels Garofalo one of "The Originators" for bringing the "avant-garde" to the suburbs, and features three photos, unidentified, of Garofalo's dazzling Nothstine Residence in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (To New Yorkers, Green Bay is apparently a suburb - let's hope they don't try to make that argument to a Packer fan.)

It's easy to make fun of this sort of thing. (Submit your own ideas for product endorsements by specific Chicago architects to the comments section of this posting - I'm not going to touch it.) However, the bottom line is marketing has taken over our culture, and as much as it may give Stanley Tigerman fits, Garofalo's Glenlivet ad could be another sign that the creativity of today's Chicago architects is entering the mainstream of America's cultural awareness.

The current New Yorker is worth picking up. There's articles on the troubled history of the Sydney Opera House, on the building boom in Dubai, and Paul Goldberger on pre-fab designer housing.

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