AIA Chicago’s 2011 Design Excellence Awards
James I Swenson Civil Engineering Building (Courtesy Kate Joyce, Kate Joyce Studios)
On October 28, over 800 architects, designers, contractors, and their clients gathered together at Navy Pier in Chicago to celebrate the architecture firms recognized with 2011 Design Excellence Awards. Firms were honored for achievements in the following four categories: Distinguished Building, Interior Architecture, Regional & Urban Design, and Unbuilt Design. Out of 357 entries, there were 42 awards total– 10 Honor Awards (the highest distinction), 24 Citation of Merits, and 8 Special Recognitions. Half of these awards were for designs in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, while the remaining awards were for designs in other cities, states, and countries. Read More
Quick Clicks> Zombie Train, Chicago Scales, Tracking LA, Church Sales, and Booking Philly
Photo of the Day: Rahm Emanuel takes public transit with zombies! (Courtesy Mayor's Office)
Calm like Rahm. Halloween might be over, but we couldn’t resist sharing this Facebook photo of Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel riding public transit with zombies! The photo was posted with the following caption: “In case of a zombie apocalypse, remember to stay calm like Rahm.” (h/t Transportation Nation)
S, M, L, XL, XXL. The AIA-Chicago has released their latest round of awards and the Chicago Tribune‘s Blair Kamin takes a look at the winners, lauding the range of project scales undertaken by Chicago architects, from a small pavilion to the world’s tallest building.
Tracking LA. While Chicago has zombies, LA County has some cold hard cash. Everything Long Beach reports that eight key transportation projects were awarded $448 million including a 6.7 light rail line that is expected to become one of the busiest lines in the U.S.
Sacred sale. Bankrupt mega-church Crystal Cathedral has found a buyer for their expansive, starchitect-studded Southern California campus (think Philip Johnson, Neutra, and Meier). The LA Times says Chapman University will pay $50 mil for the site, allowing the slimmed-down church to stay and eventually buy back their core building.
Philly reads. In this economy, small book stores—especially architecture book stores—are struggling to keep their doors open. Philly is bucking this trend as the AIA Philadelphia opens up a new shop working with the Charter High School for Architecture and Design in Washington Square.
Competing Visions for Chicago, Big and Small
Two new competitions of note explore possible futures for Chicago‘s public realm. The 2011 Burnham Prize ideas competition sponsored by AIA Chicago and the Chicago Architectural Club calls for new visions for the McCormick Place East building, the 1971 modernist covention center on the lakefront designed by Gene Summers of C.F. Murphy Associates.
The massive, Miesian building has a powerful presence on the lakefront, and a vast column-free interior, but parks advocates have long contended it should be removed. Meanwhile, the building’s owner, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, says it needs $150 million in repairs and is functionally obsolete.
The competition aims to inspire new dialogue around the future of the building and site. The Street Furniture 2011 competition sponsored by Architecture for Humanity‘s Chicago chapter aims for something more universal, new street furniture that could be deployed to activate almost any vacant site.
New Leadership at AIA Chicago
There’s a new regime in town. AIA Chicago has announced its new board of directors and chapter officers. Walter D. Street III has been named chapter president. He brings a wealth of professional experience and has shown a commitment to expanding diversity and mentorship within the profession. According to a statement from AIA Chicago
Street will lead ongoing efforts for the chapter, which serves more than 3,200 members in Chicagoland. He is currently a senior architect at Johnson & Lee, Ltd. and has been a member of AIA Chicago for many years, previously serving as Treasurer in 2008. Street also regularly participates in the National AIA Grassroots legislative conferences in Washington, D.C., the Illinois Prairie Grassroots conferences in Springfield, and is an active member of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). Street has also served on the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s committee to develop an architecture curriculum for K-12 students.
Read the full list of directors after the jump. Read More
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