Autodesk’s Redshift Ι April 7, 2020 Fazlur Khan’s achievements as a structural engineer will forever be tied to Chicago’s Sears Tower (now called the Willis Tower), the tallest building in the world for a quarter century. But that long reign wasn’t stunt-architecture: The building, completed in 1973, represented a synthesis among structural possibilities, aesthetic exploration,… Continue reading Fazlur Khan Converged Engineering and Architecture at the Top of the World
Category: Articles
Chicago’s Bid to Reinvent the Corner Store
Bloomberg’s CityLab Ι July 31, 2020 When it’s completed, the corner grocery store at 63rd and Racine will look a lot different than the other carryouts and bodegas dotting this section of Englewood, on Chicago’s South Side. Designed by Wheeler Kearns Architects and developed by local nonprofit Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), the Go Green Fresh Market will essentially be… Continue reading Chicago’s Bid to Reinvent the Corner Store
A Second Look at Edith Farnsworth and Her Mies van der Rohe–designed Retreat
Architectural Record Ι July 15, 2020 During a visit to the latest exhibition at Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois, visitors are more likely to encounter a deer (as this writer did) than a single Mies-designed Brno Chair. That’s because the year-long, multi-part exhibition called Edith Farnsworth Reconsidered unfolds across nearly 60 acres of forest… Continue reading A Second Look at Edith Farnsworth and Her Mies van der Rohe–designed Retreat
A Seat at the Table
Architect Magazine Ι Feb. 3, 2020 Early in the development of the Ruth Ellis Clairmount Center in Detroit, an LGBTQ+ affordable housing and outreach center that focuses on young people of color, Jack Schroeder, AIA, of Landon Bone Baker (LBB) knew there would be an arts component to the mostly residential project, but he wasn’t… Continue reading A Seat at the Table
Mulligans
Landscape Architecture Magazine Ι February 11, 2020 Just a few years ago, Keri VanVlymen, a landscape designer with Ratio in Indianapolis, had never driven a golf cart, but now she’s an expert. Over five months in 2018, she surveyed each of Indianapolis’s 13 public golf courses, trekking “every mile of every trail of every course,”… Continue reading Mulligans
4 Ways Architects Can Extend Their Client Services Post-Construction
Autodesk’s Redshift Ι Dec. 12, 2019 Plamena Milusheva, a designer at Seattle architecture firm LMN, is working on a way to get architects back into their buildings long after construction ends and they’ve turned over the keys. The trick isn’t a lockpick kit or any sort of clandestine sneaking technology; it’s a networked device she’s… Continue reading 4 Ways Architects Can Extend Their Client Services Post-Construction
Curves and CO2 Reduction Coexist in Chicago’s Colossal Concrete Installation
Autodesk’s Redshift Ι Jan. 28, 2020 Musing on the spiritual and formal predilections of the building materials he used so masterfully, architect Louis Kahn once famously said: “You say to brick, ‘What do you want, brick?’ And brick says to you, ‘I like an arch.’ And you say to brick, ‘Look, I want one, too,… Continue reading Curves and CO2 Reduction Coexist in Chicago’s Colossal Concrete Installation
The National Public Housing Museum Eyes a 2021 Opening
The Atlantic’s CityLab Ι Dec. 3, 2019 When you’re working to establish a museum with such contested subject matter as the National Public Housing Museum (NPHM), it pays to have a few shorthand expressions within easy reach, lest anyone get confused about creating a curatorial platform for an institution many associate with failure. Crystal Palmer,… Continue reading The National Public Housing Museum Eyes a 2021 Opening
Lunch Break Brutalism
Landscape Architecture Magazine Ι November 2019 Shane Coen, FASLA, drops by the newly restored Peavey Plaza in downtown Minneapolis every weekend. One of the first things he notices is how many more people can use it. The sunken concrete plaza is now far more accessible for wheelchair users and those with limited mobility, and its… Continue reading Lunch Break Brutalism
At Washington University, A Cluster of New Buildings Enlivens a Neglected Part of Campus
Metropolis Magazine Ι Oct. 18, 2019 A middle-American Oxbridge, the campus of Washington University in St. Louis is staunchly Collegiate Gothic, all nested quads and pink granite buildings. It’s often hard to tell where one building ends and another begins. But traverse the campus to its far eastern edge and this monotony starts to let up:… Continue reading At Washington University, A Cluster of New Buildings Enlivens a Neglected Part of Campus