Results of Thompson Center Contest Show the Thompson Center is Doomed
Back toward the beginning of the Summer, we told you that the Chicago Architecture Center and the Chicago Architecture Club were holding a contest to come up with ideas for re-using, rather than razing, The Thompson Center — that beloved and behated former state office building lurking at 100 West Randolph Street like an awkward teen-ager in the shadows of a high school dance. The best and brightest architecture minds in the world...
CAC Exhibit Celebrates the Late Helmut Jahn
Seventy-six days after the shocking death of celebrity architect Helmut Jahn, the Chicago Architecture Center will open a new exhibit about his work and legacy. Helmut Jahn (Photograph by Studio Thies Ibold. Courtesy of the Chicago Architecture Center.) You’ll remember that the 81-year-old Jahn died this past May in a bicycle crash in far west suburban Campton Hills. “Helmut Jahn: Life + Architecture” opens July 23rd...
Architects Not Giving Up On The Thompson Center
There is no shortage of opinions about what to do with The Thompson Center, sulking at 100 West Randolph Street like that sad, oversized kitten that nobody wants quietly mewing in the corner of the viewing room at PAWS. The Thompson Center (File) In our off-the-record conversations with Chicago architects over the last 18 years, sentiment has shifted from balanced pessimism to outright exasperation in some quarters. In 2003,...
After a Pandemic Pause, Chicago Architecture Center Fully Reopens
The start of Chicago’s summer tourist season was a far cry from the way it was back in the Before Times. What passed for “bustling” this year would have been considered “ghost town” in years past. But with only half of Illinoisans properly jabbed, perhaps it’s good that we’re not all breathing each other’s air just yet. Those who did go out and do the tourist thing...
A Little COVID Can’t Stop Open House Chicago
This morning we were watching Chicago Department of Health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady on WGN-TV tell us that there’s a concerning upward trend in the number of COVID-19 cases in the city. It made us wonder, “Will there be an Open House Chicago this year?” Minutes later, an e-mail arrived from the Chicago Architecture Center confirming that, yes Virginia, there will be an OHC. The South Shore Cultural Center, a...
Quarantine Break Gives Chicagoans an Opportunity to Enjoy Chicago Architecture
With more and more people rediscovering their combs, re-learning how to put on pants, and creeping outside again, there is a window of opportunity afoot: The gap between Chicago awakening from its quarantine sleep, and the arrival of tourists from other somnambulant cities. Courtesy of the Chicago Architecture Center. Photo by Peter Sieger. The Chicago Architecture Center (111 East Wacker Drive) is among the city’s attractions...
Chicago Architecture Firm Happy to Not Be Needed Today
While you were sequestered in your micro apartment exchanging accusing stares with your cat (she totally ate the last Yoplait), the boffins down at bKL Architecture have been fighting the good fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. And now their part is done. The Loop designers of glassy things that scrape the sky have completed their mission of banging out protective face shields with a stable of 3D printers. Face shield production at...
New Name, New Home – The Chicago Architecture Center Opens Today
The organization that is the beating heart of Chicago’s architecture scene opens a new home today. The Chicago Architecture Center will open later this morning at 111 East Wacker Drive. It’s the new home for what used to be called the Chicago Architecture Foundation. The Foundation has been a long-time resident of 224 South Michigan Avenue, the old Railway Exchange Building. That building housed the organization’s...
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Open House Chicago 2021 Is Officially A Thing September 20, 2021 -
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