Archinect - News

Former Chicago nightclub where House music was born is now a designated landmark

2023-06-22T17:04:00-04:00

A one-time nightclub where the roots of house music spread from a group of Chicago DJs to worldwide prominence is now an official city landmark. [...] “The Warehouse at 206 South Jefferson is where Black and Brown Chicagoans celebrated life and love and the birth of house music, a genre that has taken over the globe [...] The Warehouse is where Frankie Knuckles, a Grammy winner and proud openly gay Black man, created a safe space for everyone.”

The Chicago City Council approved a landmark designation on Wednesday, June 21st, for The Warehouse at 206 S. Jefferson Street in the city’s West Loop. The three-story structure, built in 1906, served as a dance club between 1977 and 1982.

It was where world-renowned artist and House pioneer Frankie Knuckles served as the club’s resident DJ, who used the space to develop and popularize the genre. The club became a safe space for Chicago’s Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ communities. The venue closed in 1983 due to safety concerns.

Today, the building is home to law offices. It has long had no historical protections, allowing the potential of its demolition after being sold in December 2022. This led to the creation of a petition by Preservation Chicago that garnered close to 15,000 signatures calling on the City to recognize and preserve the building. The nonprofit organiz...

Berliners are pushing to add the Berghain techno club to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites

2021-12-27T20:02:00-05:00

The world’s premier techno capital is back under the grip of the pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped its vanguard from seeking a special status for venues like the Berghain from an international cultural organization with a reputation for being as formidable as its famous bouncer.

The Guardian is reporting that a group of club owners, DJ’s, and festival organizers, collectively known as Rave the Planet, is pushing to get the club and several other dance spaces such as Tresor added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites owing to what it says are existential threats caused by gentrification and years of business failures.

The city’s club scene has been hard put by COVID-19 restrictions that have shuttered venues across Berlin and accelerated a trend which had been affecting businesses since well before the lockdown began.

“So many venues have closed in just the seven years I’ve lived here full time. In other cities, it would be the natural club cycle at work, but Berlin is a different...

Detroit's P. Funk-inspired Mothership is ready to get the party started

2015-03-31T20:24:00-04:00

Most people would probably be envious of the lucky DJs that got to spin tunes in The Mothership (I know I am). Ann Arbor-based practice Anya Sirota + AKOAKI looked to legendary funk collective P-Funk and their iconic album Mothership Connection to design the swanky modular DJ and broadcast booth for Detroit's North End neighborhood and its local music scene.

Akoaki created The Mothership to mark the start of the collaborative O.N.E. Mile initiative, which brings together architects, designers, and artists to revive the public spaces along historic Oakland Avenue for a series of experimental cultural events all year long. The Mothership made its debut during O.N.E. Mile's free (and unprecedented) Mothership Launch event this past October, where 12 honorary members of Parliament-Funkadelic did a special live performance in an empty garage on Oakland Avenue. The mobile unit is still stationed there but has more future public appearances in tow.

The Mothership is constructed by an aluminu...

Michael Maltzan Guest DJ's on Santa Monica's KCRW

2013-04-10T18:29:00-04:00

Architect Michael Maltzan has designed prestigious museums, luxurious private residences and social housing in Downtown LA. Music has been a factor in his life since he first started to discover architecture and he ruminates on the connection between the two art forms while sharing songs from Big Star, Talking Heads and more.

Track list:

The Bad Plus - Long Distance Runaround
Talking Heads - The Big Country
Big Star - The Ballad Of El Goodo
PJ Harvey - We Float
Glen Campbell - There's No Me Without You