Things To Do While Self-Isolating in Chicago: Part 5 — Great Chicago Reads
With tens of millions of Americans suddenly forced to work from home, to stay at home, and to confront the general cleanliness of their homes; this seems like a good time to discuss things to do while self-isolated in Chicago. The dilemma: You’re sheltering in place and confined to your home just as spring arrives and blooming flowers and trees beckon you to experience Chicago’s myriad sights, sounds and smells. What to do? A good...
Odd Chicago Zoning Rule Says No to Skyscraper, Yes to Typewriter Repair Shop
The history of Chicago is written in its zoning rules. Leafing through the pages you get a sense of how successive generations used the letter of the law to shape the ways in which the city would grow and change. Since both history and urban planning are messy affairs, it’s not surprising to find grains of sand in these oysters of wisdom. One of them surfaced recently at 401 North State Street, where the parking garage is...
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...
Inside Baseball: Dirk Lohan Makes a Wight Decision
Big name Chicago architect Dirk Lohan is making a New Year’s relocation: He’s moving to Wight & Company, along with a number of his staffers and partner. Lohan’s current firm, Lohan Anderson, will cease to exist, and both Mr. Lohan and his partner Floyd Anderson will hang out a new shingle as “Studio Lohan” under the Wight & Company umbrella. They will also become principals in Wight &...
IIT Goes High Tech With The Latest In Sun Shading For New Innovation Center
When Illinois Institute of Technology began planning its new innovation center, John Ronan, the project’s architect, came to one early conclusion. “It’s a building for innovation, so the building itself should be innovative,” Ronan told me. He certainly made good on that promise. IIT’s new Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship will fit nicely in the Mies Campus with its sleek, modern exterior. And, if...
From High Atop Michigan Avenue, The Cliff Dwellers Club Offers A Gathering Place For Patrons Of The Arts
“We eat a lot of lunches here—it’s a gathering place for conversation.” That—and a stunning view—is the essence of the Cliff Dwellers. The club atop 200 South Michigan Avenue is a haven and hangout for patrons of the arts. It also was one of the 150 unique locations offered up by the Chicago Architecture Foundation for the 2014 Open House Chicago. Cliff Dwellers was founded in 1907 by Hamlin Garland, an author prominent in the arts...
8-Bit Farnsworth House
I’ll admit it—I’m a little into retro things. Nothing crazy like my record-collecting, Eames-chair-sitting, Dean-Martin-loving wife. But I do have an Atari 2600 hooked up to my flat screen, I keep personal notes in WordStar for CP/M, and I’m in the middle of a game of Zork I on my iPhone. For those of you into the whole 8-bit thing, check out the video above by Matteo Muci. It’s animated, simplified...
Plans Floated For Saving Farnsworth House From the Fox River
The Farnsworth House can’t catch a break from Mother Nature. The nearby Fox River repeatedly threatens the historic Mies van der Rohe-designed house. All too frequently, the rising water floods Farnsworth House (14520 River Road, Plano). Only a few years after it was built in 1951, two feet of flood water gave it a quite unintended and unwanted indoor pool. It wouldn’t be the last time. The most recent time the river entered the...
Architecture Students Trying to Preserve History
A group of students from the Illinois Institute of Technology are putting their education to work in the real world. They’ve taken up a project to build exhibit space at Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House (14520 River Road, Plano), about 60 miles west of Chicago. Farnsworth House (if you haven’t heard of it, just pick up a Chicago Tribune, it’s in there pretty much every day) is a one-room weekend...
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