Chicago Architecture Biennial 2021 on community and urban space
The 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial has announced its list of contributors – and it's a rich, diverse and exciting one, tapping into critical ideas, such as urban and social sustainability, vacant spaces, diversity and community
![Boarderless Studio project photo looking from above](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/x4HSmCjrKMpyiZvCuTMGQ8-415-80.jpeg)
The Chicago Architecture Biennial is gearing up for its fourth edition, and the organisers have just announced the contributors taking part this year, responding to the festival's overall theme, ‘The Available City'. The list, rich and diverse, is exciting, tapping into innovators pomoting important ideas, such as urban space, social sustainability, diversity and community, instigating deep architectural debate.
The festival's artistic director David Brown has paired these creatives with local community groups in Chicago, and together the teams will explore ‘forms of shared, collective space and inspire new and imaginative uses of vacant spaces in the city'. As a result, events and exhibits will pop up across town, including neighbourhoods such as North Lawndale, Woodlawn, Bronzeville, Pilsen, South Loop, the Loop, and Edgewater.
Contributor Ania Jaworska
A total of 29 participating studios and individuals come from all corners of the world, spanning Cape Town, Caracas, Chicago, Copenhagen, Dublin, Paris, Basel and Tokyo. Exhibitors include Atelier Bow-Wow from Tokyo, global practice Gensler, Studio Ossidiana from Rotterdam, Matri-Archi(tecture) from Basel and Cape Town, In Care of Black women from Chicago, and Fala from Porto.
The biennial is set to offer a varied output on vacant urban space, including installations, activations, exhibits, projects and programmes. ‘The Available City results from a long interest in the landscape of vacant spaces that are so prevalent in many cities across the US, and beyond,' said Brown. ‘The 2021 edition asks us to imagine the transformative possibilities of collective spaces within those vacant spaces through a process of exchange and collaboration between designers and local residents. I look forward to the conversations introduced by the 2021 contributors given their global perspectives and connections.'
The event, which is planned to unfold in both physical form and on digital platforms, is scheduled to open its doors on 17 September 2021.
Ana Miljački (Critical Broadcasting Lab at MIT)
Atelier Bow-Wow
Central Park Theater Restoration Committee
Christophe Hutin Architecture
Departamento del Distrito
Drawing Architecture Studio. Photography: Hu Kangyu and Yan Hu
El Cielo
_TRACE mural project designed and painted by TRACErs in partnership with Englewood muralist Just Flo - 2018. Photography: TRACE - Eric Hotchkiss
Enlace Arquitectura + Cuidad Laboratorio. Photography: Elisa Silva
The fala partners
Hypo Park by Gensler (Stone Soup Group)
Hood Design Studio
In care of Black women
Jill Desimini
Marti-Arch(itecture), Urban Nomads In Johannesburg 2019. Image: Matri Archi And Archdaily Khensani De Klerk
Outpost Office
Port, Oval Plus 2018. Photography: Albert Yee
Silverroom by ProjectHOOD
Studio Barnes (pictured) with Shawhin Roudbari and MAS Context
Studio Ossidiana. Photography: Arthur Schoonenberg
All Access Home, 2019. Studioapt. Image: John Mcmorrough
The Bittertang Farm: Being Storefront For Art And Architecture 30th Anniversary Exhibition, 2013
The Open Workshop. Photography: Neeraj Bhatia
Toni Griffin at Urban American City
Farnoosh Rafaie from Riff Studio, LLC
INFORMATION
chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
IM Pei's Everson Museum of Art gets a modern makeover
The East Wing of the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY has been given a contemporary refresh by emerging Los Angeles studio MILLIØNS
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Black Modernism’s lesser-known, at-risk architecture gems gain a lifeline
Conserving Black Modernism announces vital funding to save and preserve overlooked and endangered buildings by African American architects and designers
By Bridget Downing Published
-
Step into the Blanton Museum of Art's reimagined public realm by Snøhetta in Austin
Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas is completed and reveals its reimagined public realm and plaza designed by Snøhetta
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
This New York Townhouse renovation is a lesson in contemporary minimalism
TenBerke’s carefully considered New York townhouse is the reimagining of a century-old Manhattan structure that reframes vertical living
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Visit The Frost House, a lesser-known modernist architecture marvel in Michigan City
The Frost House is a lesser-known midcentury architecture gem in Michigan City, Indiana; we took the tour as the property goes on the market
By Audrey Henderson Published
-
Broadway designer Scott Pask’s Arizona retreat is a scene-stealing discovery
Scott Pask invites us inside his Arizona retreat, nestled in the foothills overlooking Tucson – a place to reboot, recharge and commune with nature
By Michael Webb Published
-
Upstate New York retreat Ridge House evokes land art
Ridge House in upstate New York, the work of Brooklyn-based studio Worrell Yeung, is at one with the surrounding countryside
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Rafael de Cárdenas’ first ground-up project is a forever home with waterfront views and hidden treasures
Rafael de Cárdenas reveals his latest completed project in the Pacific Northwest, a family home of calming spaces that bleed the outside in, and ten years in the making
By Ellie Stathaki Published