Tiny Islands to Clean the Cuyahoga
The Cuyahoga River (courtesy Sharon M. Leon/flickr)
Hey, remember that time that stretch of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught on fire? That wasn’t so great. Things have gotten better since then. We now have the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Water Act, Superfund and lots of other pollution control and remediation tools. Things have gotten better along the Cuyahoga too. One segment of the river remains persistently sick though, the one mile stetch, lined with steel bulkheads, that runs through to downtown. Planners are trying a new method to reintroduce a softer edge–with plants and the attendant microrganisms and fish–while preserving the areas still active industrial and shipping character: floating artificial islands. Read More
FLW Double Header! Experience Fallingwater at the Guggenheim
Attention Frank Lloyd Wright fans! You can satisfy two Wright cravings with this one event. Head over the the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to catch a screening of Kenneth Love’s lush new documentary Fallingwater: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Masterwork with Reflections of Edgar Kaufmann Jr. The film, which was supported by the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation, the Estate of Edgar Tafel, and the Laurel Foundation, will be screened in the museum’s New Media Theatre on October 21 and 28 and November 4 and 18 at 1:00 and 3:00 pm. The screenings are free with the price of admission to the museum. It’s the perfect marriage of content and container. Wright would approve.
SOM, with Kung Fu Panda, Wins Nanjing Waterfront Competition
(all images courtesy SOM/MIR Renderings)
Today, SOM announced it has been selected by Beijing-based MCCC Real Estate to redesign the Nanjing waterfront. The redevelopment will extend two-kilometers from the Yangtze River levee to the old city wall. The plan calls for renovating existing rail bridges and an old power station into new cultural and commercial spaces, preserving existing trees, and adding a hotel and other amenities along a renovated shipping canal. The plan also calls for remediating waterways for public access and recreation.
Gang in the Great Hall
(Courtesy MacArthur Foundation)
Fresh off winning a MacArthur Fellowship, last night Jeanne Gang gave a lecture at the Great Hall at Cooper-Union, organized by the Architectural League, which emphasized her firm’s commitment to material research, sustainability, and collaboration with experts from diverse fields. She spoke about an ongoing research project into possibly restoring the natural flow of the Chicago River, which may have intrigued New York’s Planning Commissioner, Amanda Burden, who was among those in the audience. The project, in many ways, mirrors the Bloomberg Administration’s citywide sustainability efforts. Amale Andraos, from Work AC, introduced Gang and guided her through some gentle questioning. Read More
Every Designer on the Planet Wants to Redesign Chicago’s Navy Pier
(courtesy Navy Pier)
There’s a certain dorky pleasure in the reading lists of teams vying for design competitions. The big names paired with the dependable locals. The firms with very busy dance cards that everyone seems to want. The odd random people with no discernible reason to be involved. The 52 teams that responded to the Navy Pier RFQ have all those in spades. Zaha! Foster + Partners, BIG, OMA! Every prominent Chicago architect! Hoerr Schaupt Landscape Architects on no less than four teams! We’ll be watching to see who makes the next round. Amusement aside, it’s great to see so many prominent local and international designers vying to improve the iconic pier.
Rahmbo to City Workers: Take the Train!
Emanuel at a CTA station (Courtesy National Journal)
Mayor Emanuel has made transit, biking, and sustainability some of the top priorities of his young administration. The same goes for fiscal restraint and transparency (something notably lacking in the administration of his predecessor). Drawing on his experience as White House Chief of Staff, his most recent edict combines these two sets of goals. Emanuel is mandating that city employees use public transit when on the job. Read More
Miami of Ohio’s Talent Pool
An old pool transformed into art studios at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (all photos: Ken Schory).
Sukkah STL: A Contemporary Twist on Ancient Tradition
60 Degree Sukkah by Filip Tejchman
Ten Sukkahs—small temporary structures built for the Jewish festival of Sukkot—will be on display at Washington University in St. Louis. The ten winning projects, by architects and designers from across the country, were chosen out of a group of 40 competition entries. Sukkot recognizes the struggle of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, and Sukkahs recall the fragile structures they inhabited.
Architecture Festivals Everywhere (Even Cincinnati!)
Chicago's Garfield Park Conservancy is one stop on Open House Chicago. (Damon Taylor / Flickr)
The craze for architecture festivals is not just consuming New York and Los Angeles, it’s also sweeping the Midwest! On October 15 and 16, the Chicago Architecture Foundation will present the inaugural year of Open House Chicago, with over 100 sites open to public access like the Garfield Park Conservancy, above.
But that’s not all! Cincinnati is getting into the action with a week long festival called, ArchiNATI, sponsored by the Young Architects and Interns Forum of AIA Cincinnati, running October 14 through the 21st. Events range from walking tours to a screening of design lover film of the year, I Am Love. Go see stuff!
Pushing for a New Park in Chicago’s Lakeview Neighborhood
(images courtesy Moss Design)
The designers behind the Lakeview Area Masterplan, Moss Design, are pushing ahead with a plan for a new park on a vacant lot on North Paulina Street adjacent to the Brown Line tracks. According to their research there are five vacant lots within a one block area, so there is ample land available for development. This argument has yet to sway Alderman Scott Waguespack, who has opposed a plan for the Special Services Area to acquire the land with the help of the non-profit Openlands. Read More
DePaul Museum Takes Contextual Approach, Foregrounds Art Inside
The new DePaul Art Museum (photos courtesy DePaul University)
A passerby might mistake the Art Museum at DePaul University as an enduring Lincoln Park fixture, even though the brand new building just opened. Bucking the trend for cutting-edge art museum architecture in favor of a contextual approach was a deliberate decision by the university and its longtime architect, Antunovich Associates.
CHA Gets a New “Community Builder” Boss
Mayor Emanuel with newly appointed CHA CEO Charles Woodyard (courtesy the Chicago Reporter)
Charles Woodyard has been appointed chief operating officer the of the Chicago Housing Authority. Woodyard has served in a similar capacity for nine years at the Charlotte Housing Authority. Woodyard will be tasked with completing the “Plan for Transformation,” which cleared most of Chicago’s large-scale public housing developments, displacing nearly 17,000 people and opening up vast tracks of land. Rebuilding is only partially complete, a process that has been slowed by the still-stalled real estate market. Read More
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