Exelon Pavilions, Chicago

The Exelon Pavilions, which cost $7 million and were constructed in 2004, can be found within Millennium Park and utilize state-of-the art photovoltaic technology to generate enough electricity each year to power 16 energy-efficient homes. The North Pavilions, which are sleek black cubes, were designed to complement the adjacent Harris Theater for Music and Dance, designed by Driehaus Prize winner Thomas Beeby. One of these pavilions serves as a Welcome Center, while the other provides pedestrian access to the underground parking garages. Both are notable for having the first electricity-generating curtain walls in the Midwest.

On the park's southern end, there are two smaller Exelon Pavilions, designed by architect Renzo Piano, featuring limestone and clear glass to harmonize with The Art Institute's forthcoming expansion. Blair Kamin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune, commended the decision to enlist architects for the design of the pavilions, deeming it a brilliant choice. He speculated that if contractors had been responsible for the designs, Millennium Park might have featured uninspiring, purely utilitarian structures instead. Kamin expressed his satisfaction with Renzo Piano's South Pavilions, characterizing them as small yet exquisite examples of modernist architecture, "almost resembling houses", and awarded them a 3-star rating out of a possible 4, indicating a "very good" evaluation.