Architectural Review Ι May 20, 2024 ‘Now we’re replacing the state with Google,’ says the fresh‑faced Evan Jahn, son of high‑tech postmodernist Chicago architect Helmut Jahn and president of his father’s firm. Delivered in Starship Chicago II (2023), a documentary by Nathan Eddy, it is a praiseworthy statement, for its truth on both literal and… Continue reading Revisit: James R Thompson Center in Chicago, US by Helmut Jahn
Author: zachmortice
The Landscape Architecture–AI Buffer Zone
April 10, 2024 Ι Metropolis Magazine As part of his research into landscape architecture and digital technology, Aidan Ackerman, landscape architecture professor at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, has been examining landscape design magazines and periodicals going back to the 1980s to see how they conceptualized and predicted the integration of landscape… Continue reading The Landscape Architecture–AI Buffer Zone
The National Trust for Historic Preservation Helps Tell the Stories of Black Churches
Metropolis Magazine Ι Feb. 29, 2024 Throughout all of American history, the patch of city at 6th and Lombard in Philadelphia is the property that’s been continuously owned by Black people the longest. Not at all coincidentally, at that spot is a church—Mother Bethel AME—which has been there since 1794. This rare historical linage is… Continue reading The National Trust for Historic Preservation Helps Tell the Stories of Black Churches
Landmarking the Black Panther Party
Bloomberg CityLab Ι February 24, 2024 The walls of the Church of the Epiphany in Chicago are two feet thick, made of red-brown sandstone from the upper peninsula of Michigan. Designed by Francis Whitehouse and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it’s a preeminent example of the Richardson Romanesque architectural style. The ornate… Continue reading Landmarking the Black Panther Party
Star Tracks
January 2024 Ι Landscape Architecture Magazine Inside the Cozad-Bates House, a handsome, red brick Italianate building on the east side of Cleveland that’s the last pre-Civil War house in the University Circle neighborhood, is a small exhibit that tells the history of Ohio and Cleveland’s role in the Underground Railroad. A map of Ohio created… Continue reading Star Tracks
The Chicago Architecture Biennial Is Stuck in a Loop
Dec. 9, 2023 Ι Bloomberg CityLab The Chicago Architecture Biennial, the largest architecture exposition in North America, is prone to repeating itself. The fifth and latest iteration of the festival, which opened in November at the ornate Chicago Cultural Center, charts its meta-turn as clearly as it can, starting with the event’s title: “This Is… Continue reading The Chicago Architecture Biennial Is Stuck in a Loop
The Future of the Office Is Cozy
Nov. 26, 2023 Ι Bloomberg CityLab It didn’t take long for Jon Race to diagnose the problem with his new office. Race, the CEO of the London architecture firm MCM, moved his 50-some staffers to a small co-working space in 2020 — his previous office lease ended just as the Covid-19 pandemic wound up. The… Continue reading The Future of the Office Is Cozy
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
Listen and Unlearn
May 2023 Ι Landscape Architecture Magazine The trading post in Round Rock, Arizona, near the dead-center of the Navajo Nation Reservation, had been many things over many years. Over its 120-year history, the trading post offered groceries and prepared food, and served as Round Rock’s post office. It sold traditional Navajo crafts, gasoline, and meat… Continue reading Listen and Unlearn
After School Closings, a Renovation Challenge
Bloomberg CityLab Ι Oct. 9. 2023 Dwight Perkins isn’t among the most familiar names associated with Chicago architecture. But unlike Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe, his work left a particularly vivid impression on the childhoods of generations of Chicagoans from all corners of the city, because he designed their schools.