Chicago critic Blair Kamin’s Who is the City For? takes aim at aesthetic bungles while thornier issues go largely unaddressed

Architect’s Newspaper Ι Nov. 4, 2022 In a 2011 column, “Signs Uglify Our Beautiful Bridges,” anthologized in Blair Kamin’s book Who Is the City For? Architecture, Equity, and the Public Realm in Chicago, the recently retired Chicago Tribune architecture critic takes aim at garish vinyl Bank of America (BoA) ads affixed to the Wabash Avenue… Continue reading Chicago critic Blair Kamin’s Who is the City For? takes aim at aesthetic bungles while thornier issues go largely unaddressed

IIT and CTBUH launch new tall-buildings degree programs

Architect’s Newspaper Ι Sept. 20, 2022 Antony Wood, president of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), begins just about every speech he delivers with “Ninety-five percent of tall buildings are crap; they should have never been built.” That is why he started a new degree program at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s… Continue reading IIT and CTBUH launch new tall-buildings degree programs

Edward Lyons Pryce, the Black Landscape Architect that Preserved the Tuskegee Institute

February 2, 2022 Ι Metropolis Magazine  Not long before he died in 2007, Edward Lyons Pryce asked his daughter Marilyn Pryce Hoytt for an important favor. “Patty,” he said, using her nickname, “don’t let the world forget about me.” It’s a common sentiment for the end of anyone’s life, but an it’s especially daunting task… Continue reading Edward Lyons Pryce, the Black Landscape Architect that Preserved the Tuskegee Institute

What Will Architecture Design Look Like After COVID-19? Flexible and Resilient

Autodesk’s Redshift Ι Aug. 20, 2020 Five months into the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s clear that building for virus resilience and flexibility will be a fundamental element of architecture design going forward. A series of American Institute of Architects (AIA) reports (detailing schools, offices, retail, senior living, and health-care environments) offer a short-term, thorough examination of… Continue reading What Will Architecture Design Look Like After COVID-19? Flexible and Resilient

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

Does Apple’s New Chicago Store Have Something to Say About the Future of Cities?

Nov. 17, 2017 Ι Metropolis  The steel and carbon fiber roof of Chicago’s new Apple store is a few feet thick at its center, tapering down to inches at its edge. Starship metallic gray and rectangular, it resembles a closed MacBook laptop, which you can buy inside. The glass corners of the building, splendidly curved, call… Continue reading Does Apple’s New Chicago Store Have Something to Say About the Future of Cities?

Decoding Oppression in Architecture: Design as a Tool for Social Justice

Oct. 24, 2017 Ι Redshift In the years since the Great Recession cratered the steel and glass fantasies of a generation of architects, architecture centered around social justice has gained salience and ever-loftier pedestals. But while architects speak of aspirational ways that design can inspire people to be better, more empathetic citizens, design often does the… Continue reading Decoding Oppression in Architecture: Design as a Tool for Social Justice