Wit architect to speak at city-sponsored lecture

Aug. 28, 2009 – Since opening near Marina City on May 27, theWit Hotel has received generally good reviews from architecture experts. The green curtain wall of the 26-floor high-rise is accented with a jagged yellow “lightning bolt.” (Left) West side of theWit Hotel from nearby L platform.

Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin called it “a work of pre-crash architectural exuberance making its debut amid a post-crash depression.”

The architect of theWit, Jackie Koo of Koo and Associates Ltd., will share her thoughts about the design of the hotel at a lecture next Thursday. The presentation is described by Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs as an “illustrated and informative overview of the dynamic new hotel in Chicago’s Loop.”

Koo has worked in Chicago since 1997. She was a senior associate at DeStefano and Partners. She designed the 185-room Fairfield Inn & Suites Marriott in the Streeterville neighborhood. She is currently designing another hotel in the South Loop.