Chicago: The Latest Architecture and News

During 28 years as architecture critic at the Chicago Tribune, Blair Kamin deepened civic awareness of design. Join Kamin as he revisits three decades of skyline-shaping towers, imaginative local projects and transformations of the public realm.

Refine your eye for design in this special series of programs hosted by notable Chicago architects. Held the first Tuesdays in March, April and May, See Like an Architect examines timeless fundamentals in conceiving and communicating architecture.

The COVID-19 pandemic puts health and safety in homes and workplaces to the test. Improved ventilation and sanitation have taken on special urgency among the many performance aspects of building design. ESD Global executive chairman Raj Gupta and International WELL Building Institute president and CEO Rachel Hodgdon will present examples of office towers being adapted for safe re-occupancy, such as Chicago’s 150 North Riverside, and explain the growing use and relevance of the WELL Building Standard (a certification akin to LEED for energy efficiency) in the healthy buildings movement. Chicago Architecture Center President and CEO Lynn Osmond moderates a discussion to follow, during which speakers will delve into the challenges and opportunities of implementation and competitive advantages for healthy buildings. What will it take to transform our work environments?

The Chicago Architecture Center’s ongoing series of Architect Talks continues with a conversation and guest lecture with 2020 Pritzker Prize laureates Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects, co-presented with the Irish Consulate General in Chicago. Founded in 1978, Grafton lays claim to noteworthy projects from Lima to London and is known for embedding each building within its own unique context. The studio’s forward-looking, influential designs have helped elevate modern architecture, cementing Ireland’s reputation as a design capital. Farrell and McNamara will spotlight several civic and institutional works including Milan’s Bocconi University, awarded the inaugural World Building of the Year Award at the World Architecture Festival; UTEC University in Lima, Peru, which received the RIBA International Prize in 2016; and ongoing projects for the City of Dublin, London School of Economics and the University of Arkansas, in addition to recounting their experiences as curators of the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. A discussion afterward will further illuminate the architects’ process, work and lifelong commitment to mentorship.

What buildings in Chicago are most endangered this year? Find out at the unveiling of the 19th annual “Chicago 7,” a list from Preservation Chicago that identifies significant structures preservationists hope to protect from the wrecking ball.

Don’t miss this special year-in-review program with Chicago Architecture Center President and CEO Lynn Osmond. Hear how local architects, planners and developers pushed ahead with key projects and initiatives during a most challenging 2020.

Videos

This year, the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Chicago) is honoring the city’s outstanding architectural projects virtually at Designight 2020. For the first time in the event’s sixty-five year run, the organization’s Design Excellence Awards ceremony and celebration will be a free online experience for members and non-members alike.

The Chicago Architecture Center looks forward to welcoming architecture lovers from across and beyond Chicago to enjoy an expanded Open House Chicago festival this October. The second-most widely attended event of its kind in the world, returning for a tenth consecutive year, Open House Chicago 2020 highlights architecturally, culturally and historically significant sites across “the city of neighborhoods,” with an intentional focus for 2020 on the city’s South and West Sides.

OHC 2020 community partner Hyde Park Art Center co-convenes this roundtable discussion about artist-driven community activations, creative projects and placemaking across Chicago, ahead of its forthcoming 2021 exhibition, “Planting and Maintaining a Perennial Garden.”

October 14, 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of Chicago’s first two landmarks: Glessner House and Clarke House. In celebration of this milestone event, we will explore how landmarking came into being and how its use and impact have gone far beyond preservation. Chicago’s diverse Third Ward, in which the two houses are located, will be used as a case study.

Join Open House Chicago 2020 community partner the North Lawndale Historical and Cultural Society for this panel discussion moderated by Dio Aldridge, special assistant to the dean and provost on diversity, equity and inclusion at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and virtual tour with CAC docent Mike McMains, pastor Robert Marshall and North Lawndale Historical and Cultural Society chairwoman Blanche Suggs Killingsworth. Converted to a church in 1971, the Central Park Theater was reportedly the first to offer mechanical air conditioning and also marked the start of a fruitful partnership between architects Rapp and Rapp and the Balaban and Katz cinema empire, which would give rise to numerous landmarks including the Chicago, Oriental (now Nederlander), Riviera and Uptown theaters. Go virtually behind the scenes and learn more about the currently closed 1917 building which, despite its listing on the National Register of Historic Places, faces an uncertain future.

Open House Chicago 2020 community partner Preservation Chicago co-convenes this roundtable discussion about the Roseland neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. After decades of disinvestment, what does Roseland need to rebuild its community health and vibrance, and how might historic preservation be leveraged as a means toward such progress? Presenters include Greater Roseland Chamber of Commerce founding executive director Andrea D. Reed, Preservation Chicago director of community engagement Mary Lu Seidel, City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development coordinating planner Erika Sellke, Roseland Heights Community Association president and Red Line Extension Coalition member Clevan Tucker, Jr. and historian, musician, photographer and lifelong Chicago resident Paul Petraitis.

Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize and IIT College of Architecture would like to invite you to join us in a book launch of Being the Mountain, published by the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture & Actar Publishers