Are the Most Famous Firms in Architecture Dueling?

The new design for the David M. Rubenstein Forum at the University of Chicago fits the campus hand in glove. The project, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, will include a tower that offers views of Lake Michigan and echoes the transept tower of nearby Rockefeller Chapel. As a quasi-convention center for the university, the Rubenstein Forum promises to be a hub of intellectual life in Chicago.

It is not the first time, though, that a design like this has been pitched for the university. However inadvertently, the DS+R design resembles another proposal for the campus—a draft project that was eventually revised. While the resemblance between two draft renderings is hardly consequential, this one comes as a surprise, given the nature of the projects and the history between the firms.