Does anyone have any knowledge of firms in chicago who might provide meaningful interesting internships? Also, who is your favorite architect or firm based out of, or with an office in, the windy city?
to me kruek + sexton or john ronan or built form are probably the most progressive. why chicago? are there any other places you can look? from what i can tell it's still pretty bad.
I know of a firm that has absolutely no interesting architecture, but if you are a single male you will be pleasantly surprised to see all the beautiful women outnumber men they are firing all the men and hiring lots of beautiful women not that I'm complaining just interesting curious behavior in this economy.
many offices in chicago are desperately trying to hang on and down to just principles. i also heard a rumor that brininstool and lynch dissolved (to an extent), joined with a third party and now a developer owns a chunk of their business.
Chicago has some of the most pompous, arrogant and closed minded architects I've ever had the displeasure of working with. The best thing to happen to Chicago Architecture would be for them to all go under and start over with new faces.
yup JoeyD is right, all chicago architects are terrible, terrible people. I dont think he goes far enough, they should probably all be put in prison for sucking so bad.
In all fairness, chicago doesnt have the cutting edge stuff you see in NYC... but then again... what other american city does?
Letdown, take a look around at the Chicago scene. It is the same 4 or 5 firms recycling the same design over and over. For a big city it is a surprisingly small, old and closed architectural community.
yeah, I have to agree with letdown and joey! I don't think they are terrible architects, actually many of them are very good architects, but they are horrible people. They are stuck up assholes thinking Chicago is the center of the world and they, as architects, are in the middle of it. Architects have a tendency to be full of themselves, thinking that they are the only ones that suffer and the ones not appreciated enough, but you would think that they would treat fellow architects with respect...NO, they don't.
Joey, even if we change the entire face of architecture community in Chicago and get rid of the old fucks from here, even the new ones would turn into the same old full of shit architects.
I'm pissed off, because I just got pissed ON by one of those old school Chicago architect.
well, since the conversation has taken a bit of a negative turn, can i just throw out woodhouse's name. I really respect their work, and I think they deserve just as much cred as gang, ronan, urblab.
honestly letdown, LOTS of non-coastal cities have more cutting edge architecture than chicago imho. phoenix has at least as many great firms, and it is a much smaller city. austin has fantastic architecture seemingly everywhere you look. even kansas city, omaha, and pittsburgh have great architects, for what they are as cities. it seems that with the exception of about a half-dozon firms there are two routes you can take for a career in architecture in chicago: working downtown in a huge corporate firm on huge corporate projects, or doing mostly production-related sf residential somewhere else. don't get me wrong, there are some great architects there; maybe i would've felt differently if i would have arrived at some point other than the worst possible time to be there.
; rumor is correct(ish) - I think it's an interesting move for the firm, and will probably prove to be rewarding. They have just moved offices to Aqua, as well.
i would venture to say that even boston, sf and of course LA have a more vibrant progressive/experimental architecture scene....part of it might have to do with IIT's conservatism, or maybe chicago as the traditional capital of american architecture also translates to a lack of urgency to innovate...
i'm trying to be a little bit provocative here toward the folks who know more about the chicago architecture scene than i do. certainly there have to be some firms i've never heard of. perhaps there are architects who aren't totally full of themselves. i want to like chicago. there are firms that do great work. but i have worked with really talented people, at both places i went to school, in detroit, and out west. all of these people were genuinely nice, enthusiastic people, some of them were relatively well known, at least regionally. but i go to chicago, work for a decently above-average non-licensed residential "architect" that i've never heard of doing nothing but work that i could almost do blindfolded, and i get abused, treated like crap, see other employees treated even worse, being called names and so on, go six weeks without a paycheck, am set up to fail for every single assignment, and eventually get thrown under a bus after two months for something really, really stupid. all by people that i don't regard nearly as highly as those i've worked with in the past. for all the stories i've heard about working with architects in chicago, this seems to be the norm. i hear worse stories about bad employers in chicago than i do anywhere, even nyc and i'm sorry, not that i'm claiming to be the next rem koolhaas or anything, but i'm just not that blown away by most of the work, especially when compared to the prevalant attitude. so what gives? am i missing something here? right now, i'm designing homes in chicago for an architect out west, and everything is going just fine. the common denominator seems to be the architects themselves, not the place. is there something wrong with chicago's culture of design business, or is there just something wrong with me?
i'm not trying to turn this into a chicago-architect-bashing thread, so i apologize if it seems like that...
I just want to thank le bossman for acknowledging that there are less-obvious places in the US to do interesting architecture. Sure it might not be working on the next international competition winning project, but it's still good quality (and decidedly less pompous) than some (perhaps most) of the big city firms. I would venture to say that you might even be able to have both an interesting career and a life outside of the office in a smaller market.
I get really tired of this attitude that the only "progressive" firms are the ones in big cities.
Chicago has some of the most pompous, arrogant and closed minded architects I've ever had the displeasure of working with. The best thing to happen to Chicago Architecture would be for them to all go under and start over with new faces.
could be rewritten about almost any city, depending on your experience. Just in interviews alone I've come across my fair share of "pompous, arrogant and closed minded architects" in LA. I think it's enviable that there is always that one office in every city that fits that mold.
Not that I am defending the windy city. Everyone I know from Chicago worked for Gensler so I don't have much to go on.
i dunno... i haven't really run into anything like what you're describing le bossman... and i haven't really heard similar stories from my friends... something like that could also be due to this economic climate, everybody is probably getting very defensive and clinging to everything they've got...
May 28, 10 1:53 pm ·
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Chicago interesting firms?
Does anyone have any knowledge of firms in chicago who might provide meaningful interesting internships? Also, who is your favorite architect or firm based out of, or with an office in, the windy city?
compared to nyc, boston, or sf, chicago is not a great city for avant
garde/experimental architecture...
off the top of my head:
urban lab picks from their students
jeanie gang is only considered progressive in chicago
if you're into robotics, objects or augmented reality type stuff maybe some faculty at saic.
not sure how corporate you're willing to go.
there are tons of high end residential and people like murphy/jahn or scott/gill
to me kruek + sexton or john ronan or built form are probably the most progressive. why chicago? are there any other places you can look? from what i can tell it's still pretty bad.
The most interesting firm in Chicago is the one that you will open in the future.
yeah john ronan....heard he was a slave driver tho
oh yeah Ronan is a horrible employer....
it is bad up here in Chicago, so many unemployed peeps and every firm is struggling to have some kind of work. It's very sad.
My buddies firm just laid off 10 people last week. I though lay offs were last year, but I guess there is still people to be laid off!
I know of a firm that has absolutely no interesting architecture, but if you are a single male you will be pleasantly surprised to see all the beautiful women outnumber men they are firing all the men and hiring lots of beautiful women not that I'm complaining just interesting curious behavior in this economy.
ooOOooo pray tell, what is this firm of which you speak? i could send a resume...
asl lletdownl,
kidding, na i've already pissed off enough firm bosses on here.
i do think they have stopped hiring as of this week the roster is full for now lletdownl
many offices in chicago are desperately trying to hang on and down to just principles. i also heard a rumor that brininstool and lynch dissolved (to an extent), joined with a third party and now a developer owns a chunk of their business.
*principals (i do that every time)
Chicago has some of the most pompous, arrogant and closed minded architects I've ever had the displeasure of working with. The best thing to happen to Chicago Architecture would be for them to all go under and start over with new faces.
yup JoeyD is right, all chicago architects are terrible, terrible people. I dont think he goes far enough, they should probably all be put in prison for sucking so bad.
In all fairness, chicago doesnt have the cutting edge stuff you see in NYC... but then again... what other american city does?
Letdown, take a look around at the Chicago scene. It is the same 4 or 5 firms recycling the same design over and over. For a big city it is a surprisingly small, old and closed architectural community.
yeah, I have to agree with letdown and joey! I don't think they are terrible architects, actually many of them are very good architects, but they are horrible people. They are stuck up assholes thinking Chicago is the center of the world and they, as architects, are in the middle of it. Architects have a tendency to be full of themselves, thinking that they are the only ones that suffer and the ones not appreciated enough, but you would think that they would treat fellow architects with respect...NO, they don't.
Joey, even if we change the entire face of architecture community in Chicago and get rid of the old fucks from here, even the new ones would turn into the same old full of shit architects.
I'm pissed off, because I just got pissed ON by one of those old school Chicago architect.
well, since the conversation has taken a bit of a negative turn, can i just throw out woodhouse's name. I really respect their work, and I think they deserve just as much cred as gang, ronan, urblab.
oh yeah woodhouse. they do good work.
honestly letdown, LOTS of non-coastal cities have more cutting edge architecture than chicago imho. phoenix has at least as many great firms, and it is a much smaller city. austin has fantastic architecture seemingly everywhere you look. even kansas city, omaha, and pittsburgh have great architects, for what they are as cities. it seems that with the exception of about a half-dozon firms there are two routes you can take for a career in architecture in chicago: working downtown in a huge corporate firm on huge corporate projects, or doing mostly production-related sf residential somewhere else. don't get me wrong, there are some great architects there; maybe i would've felt differently if i would have arrived at some point other than the worst possible time to be there.
you definitely get a 'i've paid my dues so you should too' mentality in chicago
; rumor is correct(ish) - I think it's an interesting move for the firm, and will probably prove to be rewarding. They have just moved offices to Aqua, as well.
i would venture to say that even boston, sf and of course LA have a more vibrant progressive/experimental architecture scene....part of it might have to do with IIT's conservatism, or maybe chicago as the traditional capital of american architecture also translates to a lack of urgency to innovate...
i'm trying to be a little bit provocative here toward the folks who know more about the chicago architecture scene than i do. certainly there have to be some firms i've never heard of. perhaps there are architects who aren't totally full of themselves. i want to like chicago. there are firms that do great work. but i have worked with really talented people, at both places i went to school, in detroit, and out west. all of these people were genuinely nice, enthusiastic people, some of them were relatively well known, at least regionally. but i go to chicago, work for a decently above-average non-licensed residential "architect" that i've never heard of doing nothing but work that i could almost do blindfolded, and i get abused, treated like crap, see other employees treated even worse, being called names and so on, go six weeks without a paycheck, am set up to fail for every single assignment, and eventually get thrown under a bus after two months for something really, really stupid. all by people that i don't regard nearly as highly as those i've worked with in the past. for all the stories i've heard about working with architects in chicago, this seems to be the norm. i hear worse stories about bad employers in chicago than i do anywhere, even nyc and i'm sorry, not that i'm claiming to be the next rem koolhaas or anything, but i'm just not that blown away by most of the work, especially when compared to the prevalant attitude. so what gives? am i missing something here? right now, i'm designing homes in chicago for an architect out west, and everything is going just fine. the common denominator seems to be the architects themselves, not the place. is there something wrong with chicago's culture of design business, or is there just something wrong with me?
i'm not trying to turn this into a chicago-architect-bashing thread, so i apologize if it seems like that...
I just want to thank le bossman for acknowledging that there are less-obvious places in the US to do interesting architecture. Sure it might not be working on the next international competition winning project, but it's still good quality (and decidedly less pompous) than some (perhaps most) of the big city firms. I would venture to say that you might even be able to have both an interesting career and a life outside of the office in a smaller market.
I get really tired of this attitude that the only "progressive" firms are the ones in big cities.
Also, I think this statement:
Chicago has some of the most pompous, arrogant and closed minded architects I've ever had the displeasure of working with. The best thing to happen to Chicago Architecture would be for them to all go under and start over with new faces.
could be rewritten about almost any city, depending on your experience. Just in interviews alone I've come across my fair share of "pompous, arrogant and closed minded architects" in LA. I think it's enviable that there is always that one office in every city that fits that mold.
Not that I am defending the windy city. Everyone I know from Chicago worked for Gensler so I don't have much to go on.
i dunno... i haven't really run into anything like what you're describing le bossman... and i haven't really heard similar stories from my friends... something like that could also be due to this economic climate, everybody is probably getting very defensive and clinging to everything they've got...
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