Chicago Bears’ Lair Doubles In Size
The den that the Monsters of the Midway call home is now twice the size it was just two years ago. The Chicago Bears have officially opened a 162,000-square-foot expansion of Halas Hall. Halas Hall locker room (Courtesy of Chicago Bears) The complex up in far north suburban Lake Forest was built in 1997, replacing the original Halas Hall that is now part of Lake Forest College. In addition to the addition, 30,000...
Team Retreat Available for Architects, Designers, Artists
Sometimes we all need a break from the workplace while still working. For Olympic skiers, it’s a new mountain. For cops, it can be a different beat. For day traders it’s the Starbucks on Rush Street. The Ragdale gate (Courtesy of the Ragdale Foundation) If you have a team at your firm that needs to get out of the architecture studio and into a different studio to recharge, Ragdale may be just the working retreat you need....
A Ragdale Ring for a New Century
One hundred and one years ago, Ragdale, the Lake Forest nonprofit artist residency program ,and Arts and Crafts architect Howard Van Doren Shaw designed the original Ragdale Ring, an outdoor performance space. Earlier this year, a mere century later, Ragdale launched a design competition inviting architects and designers to create contemporary works, essentially updating Shaw’s original space. The winning design team was...
Slice of Life: Vegetable Alley
This is one of my favorite signs of Spring: Amidei Mercatino getting set up for the season. Amidei Mercatino is an outdoor fruit and vegetable stand tucked into an alley in downtown Lake Forest. This is a fantastic use for an alley. It’s remarkable that this business is able to survive in this location that is relatively low-traffic compared with much of the rest of Chicagoland. If it can work in Lake Forest, imagine vegetable...
