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Local Wilmette Landmarks: Frank J. Baker House

Have you ever stumbled upon a remarkable architectural gem that leaves you captivated by its design and history? The Frank J. Baker House, located at 711 Lake Avenue in Wilmette, is one such marvel that deserves a spotlight for its unique charm and intriguing background, along with its significance as a National Registered Landmark. It’s such a pleasure to be able to showcase this modernist architectural wonder that’s just a stone’s throw from Optima Verdana®.

Historical Background

Constructed in 1909, the Frank J. Baker House is a prime example of the Prairie School architectural style, which flourished between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This style was characterized by horizontal lines, overhanging eaves, and an emphasis on integrating the building with its natural surroundings. 

The house was designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and commissioned by Frank J. Baker, a successful businessman with a passion for art and architecture. Throughout its history, the Baker House has undergone several renovations and restorations, all aimed at preserving its architectural integrity and adapting it to the needs of modern living. Today, the house remains a private residence, treasured by its owners, Amy and Eric Bauer. 

Connection to Wilmette Landmarks

The Frank J. Baker House is also an integral part of the rich architectural tapestry of Wilmette’s collection of landmark structures, including the Robert and Suzanne Drucker House, and Oak Circle Historic District. Together they exemplify timeless modernist architecture at its best and offer an engaging and educational experience for all design enthusiasts.

Interior of Frank J. Baker House. Photo: @Properties

Architectural Features

One of the most striking features of the Baker House is its harmonious integration with the landscape. The house boasts a low-pitched roof, wide eaves, and extensive use of natural materials, allowing it to blend seamlessly with its surroundings. This unity of architecture and nature is a cornerstone of the Prairie School design philosophy.

Inside the Baker House, you’ll find a spacious, open floor plan that allows for an easy flow between rooms. The generous use of windows and natural light creates an airy, inviting atmosphere, while the built-in furniture and custom woodwork showcase the craftsmanship and attention to detail that went into designing and constructing the home.

Impact on Modern Architecture

It’s a rare pleasure to see such a pristine example of Wright’s genius and the influence of the Prairie School on modern architecture — with its clean lines, simplicity, and connection to nature — up close. At Optima®, as we continue to design living spaces that blend form and function, we draw inspiration from architectural masterpieces like this every day.

Villa Weil: A French Modern Masterpiece

We’re always moved by stories of lost-and-found in the world of great modernist architecture, and that’s just what we discovered in a recent article by Joseph Giovannini in The New York Times about a French Modern Masterpiece brought back to life by Dominique Perrault and Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost, the architects leading the charge for master planning the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Giovannini observes that for many architects, time is measured in the projects they undertake, and that every new project is an opportunity to create something meaningful and lasting. And when Dominique Perrault and Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost — partners in life and in the firm of Dominique Perrault Architecture went in search of a weekend country house outside of Paris, they were looking to feed their desire to enjoy both the city and nature. As it turns out, they were also looking for a project that would leave a lasting mark on the world.

For years, Perrault Architecture honed their appetite for monumental projects, including the design of the National Library of France in Paris in 1989 when Perrault was only 36. In looking for a country home, on the other hand, Perrault and Lauriot-Prévost were motivated by the desire for something personal, something that would reflect their own tastes and sensibilities rather than building for others. 

They considered a host of options in their search for the right property, including repurposing a former factory. Nothing seemed quite right until a real-estate agent specializing in architect-built homes introduced the couple to a Modern masterpiece that had been largely forgotten — the Villa Weil, designed and built by Jean Dubuisson, a third-generation Parisian architect who came out of the École des Beaux-Arts to design Modernist housing blocks that helped build the infrastructure of France as it emerged from the wreckage of World War II. Villa Weil, situated in a protected forest near the medieval town of Senlis, north of Paris, was commissioned by the real estate developer André Weil and completed in 1968.

National Library of France
National Library of France. Credit: caribb on Flickr Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Deed

Perrault and Lauriot-Prévost saw something special in the house, described by Giovanni as “a straight line of a building streaking across the landscape.” He writes, “Inside and out, the clean white planes, crisp machined corners and squared geometries are derived from International Style Modernism and recast into a new synthesis….The abstract lines and planes, like picture frames, bracket outdoor terraces that are landscaped like the Zen gardens Dubuisson had seen in Japan. Huge sliding glass doors recall the indoor-outdoor relationship of mid century Modernist California houses, by then well known in Europe.” 

But the home wasn’t without its issues, since it had languished for years without proper attention. They restored the house with exquisite attention to its original design and materials. Today, Perrault and Lauriot-Prévost enjoy the long-forgotten estate with their two dogs, furnished with original mid-century Modernist furniture sourced online. As Giovanni relates, the couple remains dedicated to “expanding the property to its fullest potential — the basement and barn are being turned into exhibition spaces for a variety of shows and a home for their collection of models and drawings.” At the same time, the vision of the owners is to design and build flats that will host resident artists, architects, and researchers as part of a study center that will expand the life of the semi-private villa into a campus for a larger architecture and design community.

Wilmette Landmarks: Robert and Suzanne Drucker House

As part of our Wilmette Landmark series, today we’ll cover a home steeped in an architect’s very own familial bonds. A home that has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2013 — The Robert and Suzanne Drucker House. Designed by one of Chicago’s iconic Modernist architects, Harry Weese.

An Overlooked Modernist

His practice was inexhaustibly creative. Rooted in the Modernist and Brutalist architectural styles which laid the groundwork for efficient and functional living spaces. His most famous work, the Washington Metro system, not only showcases Weese’s unique design approach but also illustrates how he prioritized the user experience with his coffered concrete vaults and meticulous attention to detail. Weese never shied away from innovation, all the while quietly detaching himself from the architectural dominance of Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Drucker House

Quietly closed off from view, the front of the Drucker home is a wonderful expression of Weese’s personal brand of Modernism — a synthesis of International Style, Scandinavian, and Midwestern influences. The home’s geometry is obscured by slatted screens and maturing cedar trees. The house is L-shaped. Consisting of two wings running parallel to the street and the other angled in a way that allows for sunlight. This L-shaped arrangement also allows for an expansive view of the front yard.

The back of the home, on the other hand, embraces its deep rectangular lot and thoughtfully placed windows. Along with a screened porch resembling film reel that takes advantage of natural light to cast the home’s image. The indoor and outdoor living space almost seem to be brought together through this effect, all while maintaining complete privacy.

Side view of Robert and Suzanne Drucker House
Side view of Robert and Suzanne Drucker House. Photo: Susan Benjamin

Weese built the Drucker house for his sister Suzanne and her family. It largely reflects Weese’s experimental approach to Modern design, and is informed by geometry rather than ornamentation. Furthermore, the house exhibits a remarkable focus on flexibility instead of adhering to a traditional layout that — when combined with how the Drucker family lived — created a universally functional residence that could accommodate the family’s lifestyle.

In its interior, the home is compartmentalized into zones delineated by screens and bookspaces. Each room flows effortlessly from one to another, the kitchen in particular being planned with convenience and ample storage in mind. In 1963, as the Drucker family began to grow, a second floor was added to provide more space.

As Optima® continues to embrace all that Wilmette has to offer, taking the time to highlight unconventional pioneers who blurred the boundaries of style and functionality is always a pleasure. We encourage you to take a slow drive to see this magnificent home and all that it has to offer on 2801 Iroquois Rd in Wilmette, IL.

 

 

How Space Affects Mood

Today, virtually every aspect of daily life seems to bring a measure of stress. And when thinking about how to cope, it’s reassuring to turn to science, where research studies continue to point to the fact that human health and the spaces in which we live, work, and play directly correlate with stress levels and mood. Since our earliest years and projects, Optima® has championed the primacy of interior space, and we continue to celebrate its importance for each and every one of our residents — including giving a few tips on how to make the most out of one’s own space!

The Importance of Natural Light

Previously, we’ve spoken about the positive effects of an abundance of natural light and expansive windows and the critical role they play in adhering to our principles of Modernist design. Sunlight alone holds many benefits that go beyond the physical. It helps increase serotonin and endorphin levels, two hormones that significantly boost our mood.

What simple steps can you take to maximize natural light in your space? Start by arranging mirrors to reflect light, making sure you’re not blocking light with furniture, and rethink the use of dark drapes or shades.

Natural light at Optima Lakeview®, Chicago, IL
Natural light at Optima Lakeview®, Chicago, IL

Perception

The impression a space makes affects your mood, as well, and happens on an immediate and intuitive level as your mind and body engage with the physical environment. Picture an expansive living/dining area with floor-to-ceiling windows where you are drawn to gather with family and friends (or curl up with your pooch). Juxtapose that impression with what you would feel when entering a cluttered, dim room with little space to move around.

Take advantage of the layout of your space to maintain a sense of effortless flow in and around furniture and built-in elements, and keep piles and stacks to a minimum!

Introducing Color 

Color isn’t merely visual eye candy, it provides a psychological experience, as well. Beyond the sense of tranquility that the Modernist palette of monochromatic tones of gray, white, and black offer, expanding your space’s palette can make a world of difference in boosting your mood. 

Extending a hand to vibrant colors like red, yellow, or orange can give you feelings of passion and comfort. Cooler colors on the other side of the spectrum, like blue, green, and purple, can be peaceful, calming, or comforting. Sprinkling bits of color throughout your space is a surefire way to add a new emotional dimension to the environment and enhance your mood. 

Terrace gardening at Optima Sonoran Village®
Vertical landscaping at Optima Sonoran Village®

Budding Companions Can Increase Mood

We’ve written in the past about the mental health value of introducing budding companions such as house plants or flowers into your space, based on the results of comprehensive studies that show how the presence of plants improves concentration and memory retention while also reducing stress.

Make a regular habit of keeping plants and flowers around your home, and enjoy their affect of reducing the likelihood of depression and increasing positive feelings — in addition to the aesthetic beauty they provide.

From the feedback we continue to receive from Optima® residents, living in one of our communities sets the stage for high spirits and upbeat moods. With “great bones” in the design of our residences, optimized for openness, materiality and light, the opportunity to transform living space into home becomes a joy.

The Softline Opera Chair: A Symphony of Possibilities

As we continue to tour the public spaces at Optima® communities to highlight the curated collection of Modernist furnishings, such as the Eames chair, or tulip table, etc. We find it just as important to highlight recent advances of Modernist furniture design, propelled forward by the likes of Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, Florence Knoll, and so many other masters of design. Today we introduce you to the OPERA chair at Optima Lakeview®, by SOFTLINE.

Brief History 

SOFTLINE has been creating and producing innovatively designed furniture for a global market since 1979. The enterprise was founded as a division of K. Balling-Engelsen A/S, a Danish producer of technical polyurethane foam. For decades, this high-quality, flexible foam has been the material of choice for furniture production due to its unique properties.

In 2003, they became an independent, privately-owned enterprise with a factory in Denmark, where the upholstery is performed by hand, based on Scandinavian traditions and utilizing eco-friendly materials.

OPERA chair by Busk+Hertzog
OPERA chair by Busk+Hertzog at Optima Lakeview®

OPERA

The OPERA chair designed by Busk+Herzog serves a symphony of possibilities at Optima Lakeview® in its ability to elegantly blend modern and contemporary styles. From its high armrests, to provide privacy for all matters of which you may want to hide, to its backrest and cushion that completely envelopes your body.

The OPERA can also be used as a versatile lounge chair in larger configurations, much like PLANET, or in smaller configurations like PIERCE. Both of these elegant iterations can be found together just steps away at Optima Kierland® in Scottsdale. The OPERA chair provides a human-scale sense of privacy, as well as a space for contemplation or conversation in our business center. This striking piece is the perfect place for our residents to relax in solitude without being completely separated from friends, and we’re delighted to include this iconic design to Optima’s® Modernist collection!

Arizona Mid-Century Modern Architecture

For those who are always on the hunt for vestiges of mid-century modernism, you’ll have some happy surprises right in Optima®’s own backyard — in Scottsdale. Here you’ll discover a history that is rich in architectural heft, including wholly-intact examples from the city’s 1950s community, where some of the finest mid-century modern structures remain.  

Striking examples of mid-century modernity can be seen in Scottsdale’s commercial buildings scattered across the city, alongside several repurposed pubs and restaurants. Architectural gems can also be found in older neighborhoods. Especially those that were built by Ralph Haver. A local architect who utilized walls of glass, low-pitched roofs, and angled porch posts all packaged within a modestly-sized home.

And don’t miss another example of impeccably-renovated mid-century vernacular in the sleek Hotel Valley Ho. The hotel boasts façades of glass and concrete panels that express arrowhead motifs. Opened in 1956, it was largely a getaway for a number of Hollywood stars. Zsa Zsa Gabor rode horses there. Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner had their wedding reception in the hotel ballroom. And Jimmy Durante used to play piano late at night in the lobby.

The Arizona Biltmore, a 39-acre resort not far down the road, is another example of the city’s architectural history. The Biltmore is often identified as a Frank Lloyd Wright building, but it was actually designed in collaboration with Albert Chase McArthur, a protege of the great master.

Arizona Biltmore Hotel
Arizona Biltmore Hotel. Credit: Daniel Langer, Flickr Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Deed

The Biltmore has the dramatic presence of a large-scale Wright building, and is one of only 13 structures that Wright designed and in the area. His students, on the other hand, were involved with many others. For Wright acolytes, any visit to the Phoenix area begins with his winter residence and headquarters, Taliesin West. Now home to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, and located on the edge of the McDowell Mountains outside of Scottsdale. Which also happens to be where our most recent architectural development will be situated — Optima McDowell Mountain Village — Wright passed on his genius to an entire generation of eager architects such as Blaine Drake, Vern Swaback, and Heloise Crista.

No survey of mid-century modernist architecture is complete without the David and Gladys Wright House. David was one of Wright’s eight children, and the house the elder Wright designed for him was based on a rising spiral (also the design for New York’s Guggenheim Museum) while remaining imaginative and human in scale. The spiral lifts the living quarters above the treetops so that anyone in the house has access to carefully framed panoramic views of the mountains in the distance, and spaces that flow organically and wonderfully into one another.

It’s always a pleasure to connect our “Forever Modern” mantra at Optima® with the broad, deep mid-century modern legacy that lives on in the communities where we work and build!

The Cranbrook Connection: Right Place, Right Time

Connections often happen in the places where we least expect to find them. At Optima®, a connection sprang from a love of modernization, to an idea, backed by an ever-lasting willingness to adapt through experimentation in the right place, at the right time. Imagine our surprise when a number of world renown architects and designers such as Florence Knoll, Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, and Harry Bertoia met at Cranbrook Academy of Art at the right place, at the right time, becoming colleagues, collaborators, and lifelong friends. 

The Cranbrook Campus was designed by Eliel Saarinen in the years 1925-1942. He also had help from his wife and artist, Loja, and his kids, Eero and Pipsan at the request of founders — George and Ellen Booth. Everything on campus was highly considered — from the masonry, to the walls, the chairs, textiles, and colors through the use of what they called — total design.  When Eero Saarinen, Florence Knoll, Charles and Ray Eames, and Harry Bertoia were on campus, Cranbrook was essentially a crucible for the beginnings of modernism in which many of these luminary architects and designers practiced and perfected their craft. 

Cranbrook Academy Grounds. Credit: David Brossard, Wikipedia Commons. Uploaded by GrapedApe, CC BY-SA 2.0

In late 2022, the design studio at Herman Miller released a short film entitled, The Cranbrook Connection. The film traces the history of Cranbrook as one of America’s greatest examples of modernist architecture and design, weaving in a thoughtful examination of furniture designed and produced by mid-century visionaries for Herman Miller and Knoll. This sweeping survey brings into sharp focus the staying power of total design, while inspiring us with the power of bringing structure and interior space into harmonic alignment.

During these seminal years, Cranbrook encouraged its students to practice experimentation in design, alongside the use of new materials. Eero and Charles had an interesting obsession with plywood. How it bent, how it felt, and sat in space. They later entered into a number of competitions with and sometimes against one another using this material. At one point, they entered the Organic Design for Home Furnishings competition with a suite of modular furniture using molded plywood chairs, and tables that would come to be the seeds of some of the most successful lines of furniture such as the Eames chair, and Womb chair.

Cranbrook Academy of Art (1940) Eliel Saarienen, Michigan State Historic Preservation Office, Flickr

Today, the Cranbrook Academy of Art remains one of the country’s top-ranked, graduate-only programs in architecture, design, and fine art. Just 75 students are invited to study and live on the Saarinen-designed campus, which features a suite of private studios, state-of-the-art workshops, a renowned Art Museum, and 300 acres of forests, lakes, and streams, all a short drive from Detroit. The focus at Cranbrook is on studio practice in one of 11 disciplines: Architecture, 2D, 3D, and 4D Design, Ceramics, Fiber, Metalsmithing, Painting, Photography, Print Media, and Sculpture.

Landscape + Light: David Wallace Haskins at the Edith Farnsworth House

For the architectural icon Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, his impact continues to resonate throughout the worlds of design, architecture, and art. For our spotlight series, we’re happy to introduce the most recent exhibition of Chicago conceptual artist David Wallace Haskins, Landscape + Light, at the Edith Farnsworth House, which engages in a fantastic dialogue with one of van der Rohe’s most legendary homes.

The Edith Farnsworth House, formerly the Farnsworth House, is an historical house designed and constructed by van der Rohe between 1945 and 1951. The house was constructed as a one-room weekend retreat in Plano, Illinois. A rural community 60 miles southwest of downtown Chicago, and was opened to the public in 2004 as a National Historic Landmark.

Over the past decade, Haskins has had the opportunity to create experiential sculptures and architectural interventions in response to various works by van der Rohe. Haskins is one of the few midwestern artists working in the tradition of the Light & Space movement and considers Mies to be one of its earliest pioneers as he was creating minimalist works of light and space thirty years before the movement took hold in southern California in the 1960s. 

As part of the solo exhibition for his 2022 artist-in-residence — Landscape + Light  is composed of three installations across the Farnsworth wooded property including The Memory of Glass, Image Continuous, and Stone Landing. 

Edith Farnsworth House
Memory of Glass, Photo: courtesy of David Wallace Haskins

Memory of Glass examines the recent scientific discovery that certain types of glass retain memories in a form resembling neurons. It envisions Farnsworth House as hearing and remembering an ambient soundscape that has washed over it for the last 70 years. Haskins engineered a way for these sonic memories to emanate from the house. The structure’s 12 large glass panels to reverberate as floor-to-ceiling glass speakers. Sound is both sent inward and outward, further blurring the lines between the indoors and outdoors. “Dissolving the boundary between the interior and exterior world” Haskins notes.

Landscape + Light is also the world premiere of the site-specific sculpture, Image Continuous from Haskins’ Skycube series — fabricated from a ton of skyscraper glass, which is actually half of the glass van der Rohe used to glaze Edith’s home. This visually perplexing sculpture turns the sky inside-out. Thus engaging the spectator as a participant as their position in space shifts. 

Concerning its sculptural presence, Haskins explains: “We tend to ignore the sky as it enwraps and illuminates the landscape, but with Image Continuous, the dynamic is reversed — the landscape enwraps the sky, giving it presence and form. We forget the sky, or troposphere, starts at the ground and rises 10 miles high. Here, we see ourselves in the landscape in relationship with the sky. Whilst allowing us to behold its presence in a truly personal and embodied way.”

Stone Koan
Stone Koan. Photo: courtesy of David Wallace Haskins

The final installation of Landscape + Light consists of a large meditative monolith from Haskins’ Stone Koan series, made from the original Italian travertine that van der Rohe used to cover the stairs and terrace of Farnsworth House from 1951-2021. Due to severe weathering, these stones were replaced in 2021, allowing Haskins to utilize them to create a number of Stone Koans and a smaller Skycube. 

With our heads and hearts firmly rooted in the Modernist tradition. It’s a joy for the Optima team to see how the legacy of Mies van der Rohe continues to inspire contemporary artists. And if you’re a lover of all things Modernist, you won’t want to miss this extraordinary experience.

Landscape + Light continues through May 2023. Visit the Edith Farnsworth House website to learn more about visits and tours.

An Eero, A Deere, and Clouds: How John Deere and Eero Saarinen Inspired Georgia O’Keeffe’s Largest Painting

Sometime in 1965, on a hot summer day at her Ghost Ranch house in New Mexico, Georgia O’Keeffe would find the motivation to complete her most grandiose painting yet, Sky Above the Clouds IV. Little did we at Optima® know, however, that the luminary architect and industrial designer, Eero Saarinen, alongside legendary agricultural corporation, John Deere, would play a pivotal role in the creation of this monumental painting.

Tracing back to June 4th, 1964 is when the story behind Clouds IV gets interesting. O’Keeffe attended the opening of the new headquarters of Deere in Moline, Illinois. Designed by the office of Eero Saarinen, the structure’s pre-rusted Cor-Ten steel exterior tested the limits of 1960s corporate architecture, veering towards an industrial aesthetic quite unique from Saarinen’s usual swooping curves, as seen with the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

Picture the opening ceremony — a lavish and extravagant affair, showcasing top-of-the-line farm machinery, along with an evening river cruise — with politicians, corporate czars and design stars in attendance. So why was Georgia O’Keeffe, “The Mother of American Modernism” there to begin with? Well, archival photos show that she was mingling with this elite crowd against a backdrop of John Deere tractors. In just about every photo she is seen with her close friend and fellow New Mexican, designer Girard Alexander. Girard had invited O’Keeffe for two reasons. He wanted to showcase his 180-foot-long collage installation documenting the culture and development of John Deere. More importantly, however, was his belief that an O’Keeffe painting would further transform the interior of their cutting edge new headquarters.

Upon her return to New Mexico. O’Keeffe executed a detailed sketch depicting the uniform cumulus clouds that she thought of whenever flying from one destination to another — hence, Sky Above the Clouds I-IV. Where would an O’Keeffe painting go in a building whose every element had been designed and polished to near perfection? 

From its pre-rusted steel exterior, down to the last coat rack and door handle. Girard knew of such a place: the executive dining room. This room was equipped with tantalizing Siamese silk ceiling panels that hung perpendicular to its sublime Portuguese white marble walls. The architectural effect was, by all intents and purposes, cloud-like. Sky Above the Clouds IV would have only elevated this effect, Girard thought, but the Deere team didn’t see it that way, unfortunately, and the commission was axed. 

Georgia O’Keeffe in Garage
Georgia O’Keeffe in Ghost Ranch Garage with “Sky above Clouds IV” (1966), Photo: Ralph Looney

She was in the midst of a busy year. Full of other work, international travel, and even a harrowing knee injury that she was recovering from. Fortunately for us, O’Keeffe persisted in her desire to see Clouds IV to the end. She completed the work, at the age of 77, in the summer of 1965. 

In 1970, Sky above Clouds IV was scheduled to be included in a retrospective of O’Keeffe’s work at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago and the San Francisco Museum of Art. After being shown in New York and Chicago, the painting remained on loan to the Art Institute because it was too large to pass through the doors at the museum in San Francisco. Ten years later, due to the diligence of O’Keeffe and local patrons, the painting joined the museum’s permanent collection. Today, this 8-foot by 24-foot masterpiece hangs above one of the Art Institute’s grand staircases for all to see.

Super Bowl LVII Live in Phoenix

Picture this, it’s the end of the week, the Sunday before you go back to business-as-usual. “We Will Rock You” by Queen plays as the stadium fills with a triumphant Boom-boom-clap! Boom-boom-clap! And the person next to you sports a Philadelphia Eagles hat almost resembling the mascot. Down on the field, massed bands perform the anthem alongside country music star, Chris Stapleton, and you know (especially the person next to you) that it’s Game-time.

State Farm Stadium Interior
State Farm Stadium Interior. Photo: John Martinez Pavliga, Flickr Creative Commons CC BY 2.0 Deed

Super Bowl XLVII is fast approaching, and the excitement is rapidly growing across the nation among teams and fans. This will be the fourth time the Super Bowl has been hosted in Phoenix (1996, 2007 and 2015 were the previous years), and the city is abuzz with anticipation. The Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs will face off at the award-winning State Farm Stadium in Glendale. The Cincinnati Bengals had the chance to make their second consecutive Super Bowl, but in an unfortunate tragic twist of events they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 23-20.

State Farm Stadium

State Farm Stadium is home to the Arizona Cardinals Football Club (NFL), the annual Fiesta Bowl, international soccer matches, motorsports, as well numerous other sporting, trade and consumer events and activities. The stadium was designed by renowned New York architect Peter Eisenman at an estimated cost of about $455 million. Completed in August 2006, it has both a retractable playing field and a retractable roof, the first of its kind in North America, to accommodate capacities of 63,000 people, with the flexibility to be expanded for “mega-events” to fit as many as 73,000.

State Farm Stadium
State Farm Stadium, Phoenix, AZ. Photo: State Farm

At Optima we strive to enhance the quality of community and experiences through exceptional design, and the State Farm Stadium serves as a breathtaking reminder of the sophisticated engineering, technology, and design we implement into our own process.

When and Where to Watch Super LVII

Super Bowl 57 will take place in Glendale, AZ, Feb. 12, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Even if you’re not in-person to cheer on your favorite team. You can enjoy the game from home with your family. A few streaming services to check out include; Fox Sports website, the Fox Sports app, and the NFL app. You can also stream Super Bowl LVII live on Hulu, fuboTV, Roku TV and Sling TV.

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