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
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