Archinect - Features

At the Chicago Architecture Biennial, T+E+A+M Deconstructs the Big-Box Store as a Post-industrial Community Space

2017-12-28T15:00:00-05:00

This article was originally published on the blog of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the largest platform for contemporary architecture in North America. The 2017 Biennial, entitled Make New History, will be free and open to the public between September 16, 2017 and January 7, 2018.

Collage and Bricolage: Point Supreme’s Constant Reinterpretation of Greek Heritage Through the Architects’ Home

2017-12-05T11:00:00-05:00

This article was originally published on the blog of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the largest platform for contemporary architecture in North America. The 2017 Biennial, entitled Make New History, will be free and open to the public between September 16, 2017 and January 7, 2018.

Political pavilions: Dellekamp Arquitectos’ “Wallderful” presents a gathering space for the U.S. - Mexico border at the Chicago Architecture Biennial

2017-11-16T09:00:00-05:00

This article was originally published on the blog of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the largest platform for contemporary architecture in North America. The 2017 Biennial, entitled Make New History, will be free and open to the public between September 16, 2017 and January 7, 2018.

Exhibiting Visionary Histories: a Conversation with the curators of "Past Forward" at the Art Institute of Chicago

2017-10-12T09:00:00-04:00

This fall has brought no shortage of design events and exhibitions to Chicago, the hometown of American architecture. In addition to exhibitions at the Graham Foundation and Chicago Architecture Foundation, this year’s Biennial ties together numerous tours, performances, events, and allied shows in two and three dimensions. But no other event seems to complement the Biennial so well as the inaugural presentation of the Art Institute’s permanent Architecture and Design collection.

The Amnesias of "Make New History"

2017-09-27T10:30:00-04:00

Before there was Mies, there was Mecca. Built originally as a hotel for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, the Mecca Apartments, which once occupied the site of the now-heralded IIT campus in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, served as a cultural epicenter for the city’s Black community. This was a community formed primarily by participants of what is called “the Great Migration,” one of the largest mass internal migrations in history. Between 1916 and 1970, 1.6 million people fled the American South, where they faced Jim Crow laws, racist ideology, and widespread, institutionalized murder (nearly 3,500 Black people were lynched between 1882 and 1968). But when they arrived in Chicago and other Northern cities, they were met with similar instances of racism, segregation, and violence. Places like the Mecca Apartments served as rare shelter. So when, under the guise of so-called “urban renewal,” the Mecca Apartments were slated for demolition to make room for the IIT campus,...

Exploring the architecture of the atomic age, starting with the Chicago birthplace of the world's first nuclear reactor

2017-08-24T09:30:00-04:00

The 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial blog is edited in partnership with Consortia, a creative office developing new frameworks for communication. This article also features embedded content from Are.na, an online platform for connecting ideas and building knowledge.

The Continuous Reinvention of Chicago's Palace of the People

2017-08-10T09:00:00-04:00

Photographing the demolition and transformation of Chicago's public housing

2017-07-25T12:00:00-04:00

A decade-long photo series shows the demolition and transformation of Chicago's public housing from a human perspective.

This article was originally published on the blog of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the largest platform for contemporary architecture in North America. The blog is edited in partnership with Consortia and invites designers, writers and other contributors to independently express their perspectives on the Biennial across a range of formats. The 2017 Biennial, entitled Make New History, will be free and open to the public between September 16, 2017 and January 6, 2018.

What we can learn from Chicago's CARYATIDS, the feminist curatorial collective that fought sexism in architecture

2017-06-27T13:11:00-04:00

This article was originally published on the blog of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the largest platform for contemporary architecture in North America. The blog invites designers, writers and other contributors to independently express their perspectives on the Biennial across a range of formats. The 2017 Biennial, entitled Make New History, will be free and open to the public between September 16, 2017 and January 6, 2018.