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The much-publicized void left behind in the wake of Santiago Calatrava’s failed Chicago Spire proposal is finally being attended to, as now the Chicago Sun-Times and other outlets are reporting on developer Related Midwest’s start of construction for the SOM-designed replacement at 400 Lake... View full entry
Gensler has unveiled plans for a major renovation of JPMorgan Chase’s 55-year-old Chicago headquarters in the South Loop that will transform the building into a new state-of-the-art workplace aimed at fostering collaboration and ushering the bank’s over 14,500 local employees into what the... View full entry
This week's edition of our curated jobs roundup from Archinect Jobs highlights five employers with exciting job opportunities in the Chicago area. For helpful guidance on how to get that next job, make sure to check out Archinect's Guide to Job Titles series and our Archinect Tips collection... View full entry
The Chicago White Sox professional baseball franchise may be moving out of the neighborhood that's been synonymous with its existence for more than a century if a proposal for a new stadium at The 78 advances to approval in the coming months. According to the Sun-Times, Related Midwest is pushing... View full entry
Following last week’s visit to San Francisco-based JENSEN Architects, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Chicago this week to explore the work of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. From their studios across Chicago and Beijing, the firm operates along an ethos... View full entry
An important milestone has been reached in the construction of 400 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. According to Urbanize Chicago, a caisson permit has been issued, and below-grade work is scheduled to kick off early next year. The blog reports that once that work is done, "above-grade work will start... View full entry
New renderings for Google’s $280 million redevelopment of the Helmut Jahn-designed James R. Thompson Center in Chicago have been released by the company ahead of the start of construction activities early next year. The announcement was made via Google’s The Keyword blog and appears to show... View full entry
In 45 days, the construction team will be on site to begin site clearing and mobilization. Crews will begin below-grade work, including caissons, sheeting, and the cofferdam. Work below-grade is expected to begin in Q1 of 2024 and run through Q2 2025. Once underground work is done, crews will transition to vertical construction, including concrete pours, the building enclosure, and interiors. Above-grade work will start in Q1 2025 and continue through Q2 2027. — Urbanize Chicago
Developers Related Midwest had initially promised a start of the project by the end of last year. Construction now will begin with the 72-story Tower One and work towards an eventual 2027 completion, ending a saga that began with the cancellation of Santiago Calatrava’s ambitious... View full entry
Significant alterations to the exterior of Helmut Jahn’s aging James R. Thompson Center have been revealed inside of planning documents submitted for Google’s forthcoming $280 million renovation of the landmark former government office building in Chicago. The building’s glass facade... View full entry
Amid the backdrop of a national trend of tumbling enrollments, brutal pandemic-era learning losses and an ongoing flight of young families from urban centers, the dilemma of how to repurpose empty schools is that many cities face. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 2,200 public schools closed from 2019 to 2022. Chicago’s experiences offer some insights into what can happen to these spaces, and the communities around them, after the students get sent home. — Bloomberg
Lamar Johnson Collaborative Associate Principal Max Komnenich tells Bloomberg the other side to the growing problem of school closings can offer a “beacon for reinvestment” given the proper incentives. His firm’s Aspire Center conversion took advantage of a $12.5 million TIF that’s... View full entry
The Illinois Institute of Technology has appointed Maria A. Villalobos Hernandez as director of its Master of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism program. “Villalobos is the first woman of color and first Latinx person to be a director of a College of Architecture program, and she will bring a... View full entry
While the city’s top transportation post remains vacant, the department’s respected former commissioner has landed a leadership post at the award-winning Chicago architecture firm Studio Gang.
Gia Biagi will join Studio Gang as Principal of Urbanism, the firm announced Thursday.
Biagi told the Sun-Times that under the newly-created role, she’ll lead Studio Gang’s planning and urban design work nationally.
— Chicago Sun-Times
Biagi told the Sun-Times architecture critic, Lee Bey, her work will help Studio Gang’s efforts to shape “how we think about cities, how we revitalize them, and how that connects to other important systems, whether that’s emphasizing ecology or looking at the important public... View full entry
The Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) has just announced newly-extended dates and an additional slate of 50 contributors, bringing the total number of cultural participants to over 100 for the exhibition, which runs from September 21st to February 11th of next year. Under the direction... View full entry
The celebrated ongoing restoration of Chicago’s St. Laurence elementary school by the Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation has added new leadership to support the $10.35 million project, which broke ground on the city’s South Side in May 2022. The Foundation shares that Nonprofit Operations... View full entry
“Underground climate change is a silent hazard,” he said. “The ground is deforming as a result of temperature variations, and no existing civil structure or infrastructure is designed to withstand these variations.” — NBC Chicago
NBC Chicago reports on research from Northwestern University Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Alessandro Rotta Loria and his findings on the effect of density and subterranean heat in the city’s downtown Loop, where temperatures have been shown to be... View full entry
