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A twin-towered residential development slated for the former Chicago Spire site on Lake Michigan has received formal municipal approvals and is now heading toward construction. The project, developed by Related Midwest and designed by SOM will bring 1,100 residential units to the site across... View full entry
Members of Chicago's architecture community have spoken out in recent days over the abrupt and unexplained departure of AIA Chicago Executive Vice President Zurich Esposito, a highly regarded figure in the city's professional community who is praised for undertaking a variety of successful... View full entry
There is an end in sight for a pair of years-long federal reviews of the Obama Presidential Center, and based on a Thursday briefing we now know City Hall will not insist on replacement land outside of Jackson Park to make up for the 19.3 acres the complex will occupy. — Chicago Sun Times
President Obama chose to build his presidential center in Jackson Park, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designed by landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. This is what sparked the series of reviews around the project. Lyn Sweet... View full entry
Conceptual artist JB Daniel wants to transform a Chicago landfill site near the Calumet River into a sculpture park to house all of the toppled monuments from recent protests, reports The Art Newspaper. The artist proposes the statues be installed in their topped states with their... View full entry
New York City-based Terreform and Chicago community development nonprofit Blacks in Green are planning to moving ahead with the BIG Green Homestead project, a development that will bring community-owned sustainable housing and commercial spaces to the city's South Side. The project... View full entry
The City of Chicago has put out an RFQ seeking architects interested in working on small-scale commercial improvement projects within some of the city's "underserved neighborhoods." Describing the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund (NOF) initiative that is fueling the RFQ call, a city website explains... View full entry
Today's featured virtual event happenings, from Archinect's Virtual Event Guide, address issues from resiliency, mass timber, community engagement, residential design, art, public art, urban design, Palm Springs modernism and bamboo. Are you hosting a virtual lecture? Presentation?... View full entry
Two of Chicago's most treasured architectural landmarks have been impacted by recent torrential rains that have battered the Midwest. The Chicago Tribune reports that flooding impacted the SOM-designed Willis Tower basement, which caused a building-wide power outage. The resulting blackout... View full entry
John LaPlante, a longtime city employee who served as the first commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation, died Saturday at 80 after testing positive for the novel coronavirus less than two weeks earlier.
The son of a Cook County judge and the head librarian for the Chicago Public Schools, Mr. LaPlante was a “municipally minded” Roseland native who cared deeply about his city and its government, according to his daughter Leslie.
— Chicago Sun-Times
LaPlante worked for the City of Chicago for over 30 years, starting as an intern in the 1960s for what was then the city’s department of public works. He served as chief traffic engineer in the 1980s and as the city’s Transportation Commissioner in 1992. John LaPlante. Image courtesy of... View full entry
In a $30 billion deal, Aon is buying Willis Towers Watson, a rival in business insurance and risk consulting, but it raises one question in the mind of most Chicagoans: What will happen to the Willis Tower name now that we’ve gotten used to calling it that?
The deal between the two London-based companies was announced Monday. Executives said the combined operation will use the Aon name, not Willis.
— Chicago Sun-Times
Willis Tower, which once reigned the skyscraper ranking as the world's tallest building for nearly 25 years under its former name Sears Tower, will likely not be renamed again anytime soon as the naming rights contract with Willis Towers Watson insurance does not expire until March... View full entry
A nonprofit consortium consisting of the Getty Research Institute, the J. Paul Getty Trust, the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution has taken another step toward preserving the photo archives... View full entry
A plan created by architects Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) and developer 601W Companies that aims to bring the tallest exterior glass elevator in North America to the Edward Durell Stone-designed Aon Center in Chicago has been approved by the city's Department of Planning and Development... View full entry
A recent study of the Illinois State Capitol Dome in Springfield, Illinois has discovered “some obvious flaws on the exterior of the dome,” including significant cracking "on all four compass points" where bracketed structures support the interior stone columns below the dome, The... View full entry
Gia Biagi, principal at Studio Gang, has been nominated by Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot to lead the city's Department of Transportation. Previously, Biagi has served as the chief of staff at the Chicago Park District and has worked at the Department of Planning and Development. Biagi earned... View full entry
The Design Museum of Chicago, Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), and NeoCon have unveiled a new Design Impact Grant Program targeted at "elevating the visibility of Chicago's design legacy, assets, talent, and community, and at supporting civic good through... View full entry
