CTA’s largest-ever expansion reaches out to fulfill a transit gap

Architect’s Newspaper Ι Nov. 20, 2023 With a focus on economic development in a part of the city that’s been starved for transit access and investment for much of its history, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) announced in September nearly $2 billion of federal funding for its Red Line Extension. The plan will add four… Continue reading CTA’s largest-ever expansion reaches out to fulfill a transit gap

High in the Sky, Where the Money Stacks Up

Aerial view of First National Bank building in Chicago, Illinois, circa 1969.

August 31, 2023 Ι Architects’ Newspaper In the 1960s, the same Chicago city agency conjured some of the worst and the best in American residential high-rises, and in rapid succession. The Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA) Robert Taylor Homes were the nation’s largest public housing project when they opened in 1963: the buildings locked in a… Continue reading High in the Sky, Where the Money Stacks Up

In downtown Chicago, office conversions are being used to create affordable housing

Architect’s Newspaper Ι June 21, 2023 Last fall, Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development (DPD) introduced the LaSalle Reimagined plan to revive the sleepy and pervasively vacant downtown LaSalle Street corridor. Its focus will be the conversion of office towers with an emphasis on affordability. A minimum of 30 percent of the units will be… Continue reading In downtown Chicago, office conversions are being used to create affordable housing

SOM’s Baxter International suburban office park is part of a vital but unheralded design legacy

Architect’s Newspaper Ι June 15, 2023 As a young architect with SOM in 1972, Richard Tomlinson saw something special in the Baxter International suburban office campus, which was already underway when he joined the firm. “It was conceived as a dynamic campus that made flexibility a fundamental principle,” he told AN. “What fascinated me about… Continue reading SOM’s Baxter International suburban office park is part of a vital but unheralded design legacy

Public access to Edgar Miller’s Kogen-Miller Studios is on pause as dueling lawsuits play out

April 7, 2023 Ι Architect’s Newspaper  Edgar Miller’s Kogen-Miller Studios is one of Chicago’s most idiosyncratic and astonishing architectural sites. Lately, though, it has been ensnared in a disagreement that has shut down public access and programming, as one set of owners of the condo complex in the Near North Side Old Town neighborhood are… Continue reading Public access to Edgar Miller’s Kogen-Miller Studios is on pause as dueling lawsuits play out

Preservation Chicago names The Warehouse, the birthplace of house music, as one of the most endangered buildings in Chicago

Architects’ Newspaper Ι March 21, 2023 Drawn in by the propulsive four-on-the-floor bass that could be heard blocks away through the then-derelict streets of Chicago’s West Loop, in the late 1970s and early ’80s young club-goers gathered at a modest but stylish three-story former industrial warehouse where the party raged from midnight until 8:00 a.m.… Continue reading Preservation Chicago names The Warehouse, the birthplace of house music, as one of the most endangered buildings in Chicago

The Focal Point Community Campus promises to expand healthcare in a Chicago neighborhood where it’s badly needed. So why isn’t everyone on board?

Architects’ Newspaper Ι May 16, 2022 On paper, the Focal Point Community Campus project in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood seems like a boon for the predominantly poor and multigenerational Latinx residents who live there. Spearheaded by Guy Medaglia, the project would build a new facility for Saint Anthony Hospital, which Medaglia heads as president and CEO.… Continue reading The Focal Point Community Campus promises to expand healthcare in a Chicago neighborhood where it’s badly needed. So why isn’t everyone on board?

The Opposite of Ticky-Tacky?

Aug. 13, 2021 Ι Architect’s Newspaper  Audrey Ellermann has lived in St. Louis’s Covenant Blu Grand Center neighborhood for two decades and seen the area’s fortunes wax and wane. With a history of abandonment and decay, Grand Center is now part of a growing arts district backed by the city’s wealthiest. As president of the… Continue reading The Opposite of Ticky-Tacky?

Whose History?

March 1, 2021 Ι Architect’s Newspaper  Built in 1939, Willert Park Courts in Buffalo, New York, was among the first public housing projects in the country. These ten two- and three-story rectilinear buildings are arranged north to south on parallel tracks around a central courtyard. They were an American echo of German Zeilenbau modernist planning,… Continue reading Whose History?