Chicago: The Latest Architecture and News

The Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB 5) has announced the participation of the James R Thompson Center as both a cultural partner and city site for the 5th edition of the exhibition. CAB 5: This is A Rehearsal is curated by the Chicago-based artist collective Floating Museum. The Thompson Center has long been referred to as one of Chicago’s postmodern architectural marvels, designed by Helmut Jahn. At this year’s biennial, which starts on the 21st of September, 2023, the center will host five exhibitions and site-specific installations.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has seen inequalities laid bare, especially when it pertains to the unequal allotment of architectural resources to people. The start of the pandemic saw Europeans who could afford it, for example, leaving the urban metropolises they lived in and going away to their second homes in the countryside. We’ve also seen how poorer people in places like New York, for example, do not have adequate access to green spaces – a critical part of human well-being. Within this conversation is also the issue of social housing - known by multiple names around the world - and how the social housing that gets designed in the present and in the future should respond to ever-changing global needs.

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The Chicago Architecture Biennial has unveiled a phased opening plan for its fifth edition, CAB 5: This is a Rehearsal. The inauguration of CAB 5 will be on September 21, 2023, with installations and programs held all over city sites. This will build up to a citywide opening celebration on November 1st when all exhibitions will be unveiled at the Chicago Cultural Center and the Graham Foundation. CAB 5 is curated by the collective Floating Museum, a group of artists, designers, poets, and educators focused on building connections between art, community, architecture, infrastructure, and public institutions.

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Rebuild Foundation, run by Artist Theaster Gates, is converting the St. Laurence Elementary School into a new 40,000 sq foot arts hub on Chicago’s South Side. The formerly vacant elementary school in Chicago’s local St. Laurence neighborhood has been reimagined to redeem indoor and outdoor spaces, making it a cultural hub. Set to open in 2024, the building's adaptive reuse expanded the program and the landmark into a place of exploration, entrepreneurship, and creative education.

The fifth edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial just announced its list of participants. Under the artistic direction of Floating Museum, a collective of artists, designers, poets, and educators focused on building connections between art, community, architecture, infrastructure, and public institutions, CAB 5 will be presented at multiple sites throughout the city. "This is a Rehearsal" will focus on the community and process-related aspects of architecture, emphasizing how it helps to improve urban life and foster communal responsibility. The participants, chosen by Floating Museum, will look at global environmental, political, and economic challenges while addressing local circumstances. The goal of CAB 5's more than 100 activations, including installations and performances, is to get people to think about how society is impacted by physical infrastructure, societal history, aesthetic, and spatial design.

The Chicago Architecture Biennial is a nonprofit organization that aims to bring together people from around the world to explore innovative ideas and collectively imagine and shape the future of design. The exhibition will open on September 21, 2023, and will be on view until January 2, 2024, spanning various locations across the Chicago metropolitan area. Over 70 creative practitioners, including artists, architects, designers, and performers, will be featured in this citywide exhibition.

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The Architectural League of New York has announced the winners of its 42^nd cycle of the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers. The theme for this edition of the competition was “Uncomfortable,” asking young designers to contemplate their position while wrestling with many uncomfortable responsibilities, like challenging traditional paradigms, dismantling architectural legacies, grappling with the costs of comfort, or responding to rising ecological concerns.

Established in 1981, the competition is open to young architects and designers in an effort to recognize the visionary work of young practitioners. This year’s theme was developed by the 2023 Young Architects + Designers Committee, which included recent League Prize winners Jose Amozurrutia, Germane Barnes, and Jennifer Bonner. The jury included the committee in addition to Barbara Bestor, Wonne Ickx, Kyle Miller, and Tya Winn.

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The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has named Carol Ross Barney, FAIA, as the recipient of the 2023 AIA Gold Medal, the institution’s highest annual honor. The award recognizes and applauds Carol Ross Barney’s focus on design excellence, social responsibility, and generosity. Through her transformative projects, she has endeavored to make the world a better place and, according to the jury, made “an indelible mark on the profession.”

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This article was originally published on Common Edge.

Blair Kamin stepped down as architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune in January 2021, after a nearly 30-year run in the post. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for a body of work highlighted by a series on Chicago’s lakefront, including a story that documented the race- and class-based disparity between the city’s north and south lakefronts. He has previously published two collections of his work: Why Architecture Matters (2001) and Terror and Wonder (2010), both from the University of Chicago Press. His third collection, Who is the City For? Architecture, Equity, and the Public Realm in Chicago, was released last week. Recently I talked to Kamin about the new book, the state of post-pandemic Chicago, and the need for more mainstream architecture criticism. I will post the second of our conversations tomorrow, in which the critic pushes the need for a redefinition of the phrase “design equity.”

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Chicago, The Windy City, Chi-Town, or The Second City. It’s a place that is known by many names, but to architects and urban planners alike, it’s famous for its history which has given us some of the best-known buildings and important advancements that have helped to shape other cities across the United States. From its inception, Chicago has long served as an architectural hub for innovation.

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Architecture offices OMA, led by Partner Shohei Shigematsu, and Jacobs have unveiled the design for the new headquarters for the Discovery Partners Institute, part of the University of Illinois System. The building is planned to anchor an innovation district at “The 78”, along the Chicago River. The eight-story building, located on a one-acre site southwest of the Loop, will provide more than 200,000 square feet of office, classroom, lab, and event space for DPI and its university and industry partners.

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