Archinect - News

JGMA-led Team Pioneros selected to redevelop historic Pioneer Bank Building in Chicago's Humboldt Park

2022-01-12T12:22:00-05:00

The City of Chicago has selected Team Pioneros, a one hundred percent Latino project team, led by Chicago-based practice JGMA, Park Row Development with All Construction Group, to redevelop the historic Pioneer Bank Building in Humboldt Park. The $53.9 million project will restore the vacant landmark structure and parking lot, establishing affordable housing, an entrepreneurial incubator space, a Latino cultural center, and office space. It will also host JGMA’s new office headquarters.

The announcement of the redevelopment was made by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot during the celebration of the two-year anniversary of INVEST South/West, the mayor’s revitalization strategy for ten historically disadvantaged South and West Side communities in Chicago.

JGMA envisions the new building as a continuation of the existing bank building while serving as a symbol for the future of the neighborhood. This is initially apparent through its multi-colored façade, which can be experienced from all...

National Museum of the American Latino heading to National Mall in Washington, D.C.

2020-07-27T17:10:00-04:00

The United States House of Representatives has passed the National Museum of the American Latino Act, a bill that paves the way for the creation of a new Smithsonian Institute-affiliated museum celebrating the histories and achievements of Latinos in the United States.

The bill's text explains the "legacy of Latinos is deeply rooted in the very fabric of the history, democracy, freedom, and economic opportunity of the United States," and that despite this fact, "there exists no national museum within the Smithsonian Institution that is devoted to the documentation and explication of Latino life, art, history, and culture."

Previously on Archinect: "National museum dedicated to women's history takes a step forward." The Smithsonian Building in Washington D.C. Image courtesy of Wikimedia user Noclip.

The bill lays the groundwork for the creation of a new museum that "will be the keystone for people in the United States and other Smithsonian Institution visitors to learn about Latino ...

'How do you survive here?': James Rojas on Latino Urbanism

2019-06-10T13:48:00-04:00

These are all elements of what planner James Rojas calls “Latino Urbanism,” an informal reordering of public and private space that reflects traditions from Spanish colonialism or even going back to indigenous Central and South American culture. Rojas, who coined the term “Latino Urbanism,” has been researching and writing about it for 30 years. His Los Angeles-based planning firm is called Place It!

Streetsblog interviews MIT-trained, LA-based urban planner James Rojas. When asked if and how principles of Latino Urbanism are being applied to traditional, tactical urbanism, Rojas says: "A lot of it is based on values. As a Latino planner, our whole value towards place is, 'How do you survive here?' I think more planners grew up more in places of perfection. If you grow up in communities of color, there is no wrong or right, there’s just how to get by."

To hear more from James Rojas, listen to Archinect Session's 2016 podcast conversation with him and designer S. Surface about the use of space by the Latinx and queer community following the Pulse nightclub mass shooting.

Queer Space, After Pulse: Archinect Sessions #69 ft. special guests James Rojas and S. Surface

2016-06-23T14:45:00-04:00

In light of the recent killing of 49 people at Pulse, a gay night club in Orlando known to many as a center for Queer and Latinx culture, our focus for this week’s podcast is the role and significance of queer spaces in creating community and culture.

We wanted to use this time to encourage constructive discussion of why recognizing, and preserving (in some way), these 'third spaces' is so important. Not just for those who identify as queer or the Latinx community, but for creating diverse, welcoming urban spaces for all.

We’re joined by two guests, S. Surface: a queer designer, curator, organizer, and the program director at Design in Public in Seattle, and James Rojas: an urban planner trained at MIT and specializing in cultural landscapes, who has written extensively about Latino urbanism.

Listen to episode 69 of Archinect Sessions, "Queer Space, After Pulse":

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