Tadao Ando-designed Wrightwood 659 exhibition space opens in Chicago
Chicago’s architectural legacy has always been an integral facet of the city’s culture – one that has experienced fresh interest with the occurrence of the Chicago Architecture Bienniale since 2015. The opening of Wrightwood 659 this week, a private institution dedicated to architecture and socially engaged art, builds upon things even further with its newly renovated structure, designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando.
Located in the city’s Lincoln Park neighbourhood, the new art space occupies a 1920s apartment building that has been dramatically transformed by Ando into an elegant hybrid of past and present. Although the classical red brick facade and its original adornments have been preserved, inside the building, bold volumes of concrete, thin glass banisters and large industrial windows are juxtaposed with exposed brick walls that boast gestural cut-outs to let natural light in. A long glass corridor on the top floor provides views of the city skyline, while a new rooftop structure rising above the original building at a tilt allows for a new terrace and additional gallery space to be installed.
Fred Eychaner, president of the Alphawood Foundation Chicago, and architectural historian Dan Whittaker are the founders of the non-commercial gallery space. The formation of Wrightwood 659, in fact, evolved very much out of Alphawood’s exhibition programming – shows will oscillate between socially geared art and deeper explorations in architecture and design.
‘We are delighted to be opening a new space for art in Chicago, one conducive to quiet reflection and thoughtful engagement, while also provoking activism on behalf of a more just society', says Lisa Cavanaugh, Wrightwood 659’s director.
Although it is a non-collecting entity and will not have its own holdings, Wrightwood 659 will present two exhibitions each year, kicking off with ‘Ando and Le Corbusier: Masters of Architecture’ for its inauguration. The show includes over 100 drawings, models and photographs of Le Corbusier, on loan from the Fondation Le Corbusier in Paris and the Art Institute of Chicago, alongside 160 small models of the icon’s architecture works made by students of Ando.
Curated by Whittaker and Eric Mumford, professor of architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, it explores the influence of Le Corbusier on Ando. The gallery’s second floor has been filled with works ranging from his Purist period in the 1920s to lithographs, paintings, archival photographs and models of key works, like the Villa Savoye in Paris and the Assembly in Chandigarh, India.
Its third and fourth floors showcase Ando’s creations and includes focuses on the island of Naoshima, several museum projects and hotel structures. A large concrete scale-model of Ando’s Church of the Light in Ibaraki, Japan sits on the mezzanine level, beneath the building’s skylights.
It is worth noting that walk-in visits to the space will not be entertained, in a bid to preserve the sanctity of the gallery. Admission is strictly by online reservation only.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Pei-Ru Keh is a former US Editor at Wallpaper*. Born and raised in Singapore, she has been a New Yorker since 2013. Pei-Ru held various titles at Wallpaper* between 2007 and 2023. She reports on design, tech, art, architecture, fashion, beauty and lifestyle happenings in the United States, both in print and digitally. Pei-Ru took a key role in championing diversity and representation within Wallpaper's content pillars, actively seeking out stories that reflect a wide range of perspectives. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, and is currently learning how to drive.
-
Ash Tree House offers a contextual approach to a north London site
Ash Tree House by Edgley Design is a modern family home in a north London conservation area's backyard site
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Inside Palazzo Versace Macau’s mosaic-rich extravaganza
Palazzo Versace Macau, the brand’s first hotel in Asia, continues to preserve Donatella Versace’s swanky hospitality vision
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Paolo Roversi’s poetic, timeless fashion photography celebrated in Paris exhibition
’Paolo Roversi’ at Paris’ Palais Galliera is the first large-scale exhibition of the seminal fashion photographer’s work in his home city. Curator Sylvie Lécallier tells Wallpaper* the story behind the landmark display
By Jack Moss Published
-
An Aoyama House exemplifies a synergetic architect and client relationship
A client’s faith in his architect pays dividends in Aoyama House; a light-filled, effortlessly elegant Tokyo home
By Jens H Jensen Published
-
Tokyo home Le49Ⅱ brings together drama, domestic luxury and hybrid working habits
Le49Ⅱ by Japanese architects Apollo is a Tokyo home for a young family with hybrid working habits
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Takeshi Ikeuchi’s kei truck is a minimalist Japanese mobile showroom
Takeshi Ikeuchi's kei truck design is a Japanese timber specialist’s minimalist mobile showroom
By Jens H Jensen Published
-
Giovanni Michelucci’s dramatic concrete church in the Italian Dolomites
Giovanni Michelucci’s concrete Church of Santa Maria Immacolata in the Italian Dolomites is a reverently uplifting memorial to the victims of a local disaster
By Jonathan Glancey Published
-
Nekoyacho Bldg is a Hiroshima office on a crossroads of 'food, work and entertainment'
Nekoyacho Bldg has been designed by Suppose Design Office as a 21st century workspace in Hiroshima, Japan
By Danielle Demetriou Published
-
Heatherwick Studio’s Azabudai Hills district launches as Tokyo’s newest city-in-a-city
Tokyo welcomes the Azabudai Hills district, designed by Heatherwick Studio and constructed as a city-in-a-city after over three decades of planning
By Danielle Demetriou Published
-
Toranomon Hills Station by OMA adds dynamism to the Tokyo skyline
Toranomon Hills Station is OMA's first tower in Tokyo - as well as a project expanding and evolving the high rise typology
By Danielle Demetriou Published
-
Terunobu Fujimori’s Kodomari Fuji guest house features a roof lined with cherry trees
Cherry trees line the roof at Kodomari Fuji, Terunobu Fujimori's first accommodation facility design, a private guest house in Japan
By Joanna Kawecki Published