Ove Arup & Partners says it is "incredulous" over a lawsuit by the Art Institute of Chicago accusing the company of errors on the museum’s 264,000-sq-ft Modern Wing. Filed in federal district court in Chicago, the lawsuit claims the multidisciplinary engineer failed to discharge its obligations during design and construction of the wing, which opened in May 2009.
The lawsuit, filed Sept. 21, claims Arup's services were "woefully inadequate." The museum asked the court to order the London-based firm to pay $10 million in damages to cover the cost of repairs to air-handling systems, concrete subfloors and other parts of the wing’s mechanical and structural systems.