Millennium Park - Chicago, Illinois

Millennium Park is a landmark civic achievement and culmination of a 15-year quest by Mayor Richard Daley to “green” the Chicago waterfront. The 24.5-acre green roof public park is one of the most ambitious urban parks ever built by an American City—and is one of the largest green-roof projects in the world.

This extremely complex green roof project required the expertise and collaboration of many disciplines—in which Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company led as a specialist in water, green roof and turf technologies.

JBC provided irrigation engineering for the entire park. Irrigation was a critical support element in the park’s durability and success as a green oasis. JBC designed the park’s irrigation to withstand the threat of vandalism and the impact of 1.5 million annual visitors— while also conserving water.

JBC also served as lead designer for The Great Lawn; a 95,000 sq. ft. high-performance, reinforced natural turf field, spanned by a grand steel trellis designed by Frank Gehry. Overcoming the technical challenge of maintaining turf quality with over 5,000 spectators using the lawn each night, JBC provided a highly-acclaimed, sustainable solution.

Over time, the success of Millennium Park has stimulated significant new real estate development, with seven condominium developments attributing their success to the construction of the park. This has generated millions of additional tourism visits to the City, which translated into a major financial boost to the community.

Collaborators 

• The Chicago Park District | Chicago, IL

• Millennium Park, Inc. | Chicago, IL

• URS Corporation | Chicigo, IL

• McDonough Associates | Chicago, IL

• Terry Guen Design Associates | Chicago, IL

• Carol JH Yetken | Oak Park, IL

• Gustafson Guthrie Nichol | Seattle, WA

• The Morton Arboretum | Lisle, IL 

• Skidmore Owings Merrill | Chicago, IL

• Renzo Piano Building Workshop | Genova, Italy

• Frank Gehry Partners | Los Angeles, CA

• Piet Oudolf

Site Features 

• High-profile public realm green roof

• High-performance lawn space that compliments Frank Gehry’s - Jay Pritzker Pavilion

• 24.5 acre urban park

• Lurie Garden - 2.5 acre perennial/bulb garden

• Urban sculpture - Cloud Gate

• Frank Gehry’s BP Pedestrian Bridge as a connection to Maggie Daley Park