IIT Celebrates 75 Years of Mies
To celebrate its perennial master of modernism, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the Illinois Institute of Technology produced a video showcasing his work and influence in Chicago. Take a few minutes on the 75th anniversary of Mies’ arrival in the Windy City to watch it.
Doha Tower Named World’s Best by Council on Tall Buildings
Doha Tower façade (Jean Nouvel)
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat held its 11th annual awards symposium Thursday, bestowing architect Helmut Jahn and structural engineers Charles Thornton and Richard Tomasetti with lifetime achievement recognition and awarding Doha Tower the title of 2012’s Best Tall Building.
Ateliers Jean Novel’s cylindrical landmark for the burgeoning Qatar capital is the first tall building to use a diagonal grid of reinforced concrete columns in a cross shape. This innovation leaves open the central core, creating a stunning space at the tip of the tower that makes perhaps the best use of the building’s intricately detailed facade.
Facades+Innovation in Chicago: Romero’s reunion, adaptive glazings and more
IIT’s Mccormick Tribune student center. (courtesy Charles MacEachen via Flickr)
AN’s Facades + Innovation Conference wrapped up last Friday in Chicago, rounding out the event’s inaugural run from New York to San Francisco and ending at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Architects, engineers, builders, and designers at today’s symposium plumbed the conceptual depths of form as well as the materials, programs and trends that could guide the future of design.
Fernando Romero, founder of architecture firm FREE, kicked off the morning with a tour of his facade work, from the hexagonal network of mirrored steel tiles enclosing the Museo Soumaya in Mexico City, to IIT’s McCormick Tribune Campus Center just two blocks from the conference hall. Romero worked on the McCormick Center while at OMA, but had never before visited the completed structure. Walking through the building after his talk, delivered on his 41st birthday, the architect said it was a gift to finally visit.
Event> Oct 11-12: AN’s Facades & Fabrication Conference…And Look Who’s Coming!
Evolute, a Collaboration conference workshop leader, consulted on Dongdaemun Design Plaza and Park designed by Zaha Hadid, to open in Seoul in 2013.
Chicago’s collective IQ, no doubt already impressive, may rise a few points even higher this Thursday and Friday. The city is hosting a gathering of international thinkers and innovators who specialize in the tools that enable the creation of some of the world’s most high-tech and visually arresting building skins. The conference, Collaboration: The Art and Science of Building Facades, is sponsored by The Architect’s Newspaper and Enclos.
On Thursday, the conference features a high-powered line-up of speakers on Thursday, including Fernando Romero of FREE as the keynote. Then on Friday, the conference turns practical with a series of hands-on workshops that will lead participants through the very latest tools, programs, and applications. For example, Florin Isvoranu of Austria-based firm Evolute, which has collaborating with Zaha Hadid, Asymptote and others, will host a workshop on parametrically driven optimization of freeform facades, a topic that even has industry experts signing up to learn something new.
From students to seasoned veterans, those currently attending include staffers from firms like Sapa, Thornton Tomasetti, Interface, Cannon Design, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architcture, Perkins + Will, NBBJ, SOM, and KieranTimberlake, with roles ranging from engineer to BIM manager, market analyst to company president. PhD candidates, MArchs, and undergrads are flocking in from area universities and colleges including The School of the Art Institute, IIT, and Cranbrook Academy, as well as a hefty contingent of 12 students and three profs from the University of South Dakota State University‘s new Department of Architecture (DoArch).
Collaboration is the industry conference you can’t afford to miss. There’s still time to sign up! Registration details here.
Profile> Marc Teer Explores Facade Patterning Techniques, October 12
Marc Teer
Marc Teer, an instructor at IIT, founded the site Black Spectacles in 2010 to create a friendly forum where architects and designers could learn the latest software online, from 3ds Max to RhinoScript and everything in between. In a day-long workshop on Friday, October 12, Teer will zero in on programs that enable the design and patterning of facades. The event is part of Collaboration: The Art and Science of Building Facades, the Chicago edition of the Architect’s Newspaper‘s popular conference taking place October 11-12.
Facade Patterning: Translation from Grasshopper into Revit will investigate interoperability between Grasshopper and Revit and explore the array of evocatively named tools that make this translation possible: Geometry Gym, Hummingbird, Chameleon & Import, OpenNurbs to Revit. “On the one hand you have Grasshopper, which provides architects with an unlimited architectural vocabulary, and on the other, you have Revit which is arguably the most powerful design development and documentation tool. The problem is these two tools don’t work well together out of the box,” said Teer. Read More
IIT announces $30-million Innovation Center
IIT's Innovation Center will overlook the Dan Ryan Expressway. (Courtesy IIT)
The Illinois Institute of Technology announced last week that they will break ground next year on a 5-story “innovation center” at the university’s Bronzeville campus in Chicago. The new 100,000-square-foot building will overlook the Dan Ryan Expressway and will house academic classrooms as well as resources for entrepreneurs.
“It will combine the power of higher education,” said IIT President John Anderson, “with Chicago-style imagination, determination and boldness to fuel innovation.”
The center will house IIT’s Interprofessional Projects Program as well as high-tech workshops and computer labs. IIT will also provide space for companies at University Technology Park.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel was present for the announcement, eager to tout Chicago’s growing business community. City support will provide cost savings that Anderson said will translate into twice as many Chicago Public Schools students in its summer programs for high school students.
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