'Although dancehall and reggaetón are associated with entertainment and nightlife, they carry deep social, political, and spiritual histories,' says Carla Acevedo-Yates about a new exhibition she curated that explores how the music genres have been helpful as a form of resistance.

'They have a profound history in Black Atlantic performance, serving as sites of cultural production and tools for survival and resistance. Joy and pleasure are essential to that story,' states Acevedo-Yates, adding, 'The exhibition tries to hold these tensions, between resistance and celebration, and grief and joy, across different sexual, racial, and class experiences. It’s not about replacing one narrative with the other, but about expanding how we understand these cultural forms.'

The show titled Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago features the work of some 40 artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Phil Collins, Reggie Burrows Hodges, Edra Soto, Alberta Whittle, Carolina Caycedo, and Lee 'Scratch' Perry spanning painting, sculptures, video, installations, photographs and a special commissioned mixtape project by Juan Rivera on the evolution of the music genres. Central to the selection of artists and artworks for the exhibition were research trips to Panama and Kingston, where Acevedo-Yates met with curators, historians, and artists, and also spoke with pioneering reggae en español artists, including Renato and Nando Boom. The research trips were supported by prior knowledge and by research conducted by her curatorial team.

One of the curator’s highlights in the exhibition is Territories (1984), an early student film by British artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien that examines Black life in Britain, focusing on the Notting Hill Carnival and sound system culture in London during the 1970s and 1980s. The carnival has its origins in Trinidad as a form of resistance to British colonial rule. The film emphasises how the carnival and expressions of black joy in public spaces were subjected to police violence and government surveillance, shares Acevedo-Yates.

The idea for the exhibition kicked off about seven years ago during mass protests in Puerto Rico, which included members of feminist and queer communities dancing to reggaetón on the steps of a colonial cathedral in Old San Juan, near the governor’s mansion. The protests eventually led to the resignation of then-governor Ricardo Roselló.

Work on the exhibition started some four years after the protests. 'While the exhibition initially focused on reggaetón and the summer of 2019 in Puerto Rico, it expanded to include Jamaica and Panama. It felt important to trace reggaetón’s roots in Black Atlantic culture, from Kingston’s sound system traditions to dancehall to reggae en español,' explains Acevedo-Yates. 'Through my research, I understood that dancehall is not just a genre of music, but also a social space, an attitude, an economy, and even a kind of ritual. Across all of this, I found that visual artists have been engaging with these histories for decades.'

Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón is on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago through 20 September 2026

People generally have one question for architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien when they find out the duo designed the new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago: How involved was the 44th president in the project?

‘We joke that Barack was one of those clients that comes in and says, ‘If I weren’t a ______, I’d be an architect.’ Which is always a little problematic when you are an architect,” laughs Tsien

In fact, the former president has spoken several times about architecture as a youthful ambition. No surprise then, “[His] was a very dynamic and very interesting involvement,’ Tsien says.

The engagement of both the former President and First Lady Michelle Obama is evident throughout the site, which formally opens on Juneteenth (19 June, a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the US), nearly a decade after Williams and Tsien won a competition to design the centre. Barack pushed for boldness, at one point invoking Constantin Brancusi; Michelle kept returning to the word ‘fun.’

From the outset, the architects, who were awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Obama in 2013, framed the project around the values of ennobling and enabling. The first represented a landmark worthy of the nation’s first Black president; the second reflected Barack’s years empowering residents as a community organiser on Chicago’s South Side.

‘We’ve always thought very much about not trying to just make a building, but trying to make a place,’ says Tsien. That place now unfolds within Jackson Park, the Frederick Law Olmsted-designed landscape that once hosted the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

The surprise of the 19.3-acre campus is how little it feels like a monument. Instead, it reads as a series of spaces for everyday life, with small surprises throughout. While the 225-foot museum tower is the most recognisable image, an argument could be made that the real story happens at ground level: a forum, a Chicago Public Library branch, a 21,000 sq ft playground, gardens, beehives, a picnic area (complete with grills, per Barack’s request) and a regulation basketball court (in a separate building designed by Moody Nolan), all woven into a landscape by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA). With the exception of the museum, everything is free and open to the public.

'Play and fun was such a big part of what the Obamas wanted,’ says MVVA principal Matthew Bird, adding ‘having spaces to gather, and a variety of spaces, was extremely important.’

Interiors were the purview of Michael S. Smith, the Los Angeles designer responsible for the Obama White House interiors, and author of Designing History: The Extraordinary Art & Style of the Obama White House. He advised on furnishings and oversaw the museum’s full-scale recreation of the Oval Office circa 2014 (where visitors can have their photo taken at President Obama’s desk).

Art is everywhere, with more than two dozen commissioned works by artists including Julie Mehretu, Mark Bradford and Nick Cave, most of which can be viewed without a ticket.

About the tower. First: it is a museum, not a library, which explains the limited windows. The hand-made edifice is clad in what Williams describes as ‘very figured’ New Hampshire granite; other buildings on the site are clad in ‘a quieter stone.’

Visitors traverse the levels of exhibitions via escalators positioned directly next to the 83-foot-tall Mehretu stained glass piece, offering a colourful, filtered view of the city while ascending, often accompanied by music from Barack's own playlist.

Near the top, five-foot-tall concrete letters, creating sentences drawn from Obama’s 2015 Selma speech, wrap two elevations of the building. The installation, entitled You Are America, emerged from a collaboration with Pentagram consulting partner Michael Bierut, who suggested language as an alternative to an abstract pattern. The words – in the same typeface used by the former President during his campaign and his presidency - are intentionally difficult to read to avoid feeling ‘oppressingly bombastic,’ per Bierut.

Standing in the Sky Room at the top of the museum (the architects’ favourite space), visitors find themselves enveloped by those words, while gazing out across Chicago’s South and West Sides.

In a video posted by the Obama Foundation, Williams recalled that when the architects first met Barack, he said he wanted the centre to be ‘exactly the opposite of all presidential libraries.’ Mission accomplished.

In that same video, Barack lays out his hopes for its legacy: ‘Twenty years from now, 30 years from now, I want young people all across the South Side of Chicago, all across Chicago, all across America, to be able to look at this centre and say “this is a sign I count, and this is a sign that I can change the world."'

Travellers are increasingly looking for authentic, sustainable ways to explore, and cycling has become one of the fastest-growing choices for both recreation and tourism. Responding to this trend, hospitality group Viceroy has teamed up with cycling brand Rapha to give guests the chance to discover destinations on two wheels.

Viceroy Hotel Group and Rapha announce partnership

The programme is currently available at three Viceroy hotels in the US — Santa Monica, Chicago and Washington D.C. — as well as at a fourth in Portugal’s Algarve. Rapha has created itineraries for all levels, from relaxed three-mile spins to endurance rides of more than 60 miles, accessible via a dedicated digital portal. Guests can use the hotels’ in-house bikes or tap into advanced road models through local partners. For those who prefer company on the road, Rapha also hosts group rides that guests are encouraged to join.

In Santa Monica, the route has been planned for a combination of urban and natural environments, from the city’s signature boardwalk and the eclectic neighbourhoods of Venice to the Hollywood Hills. In Washington, D.C., landmarks such as The White House and the Lincoln Memorial are combined with the greenery and history of the National Mall and President’s Park. Lakefront breeze and hotspots await in the Windy City, while in the Algarve, it’s all about rolling hills, quaint villages and coastal views.

For more information, viceroyhotelsandresorts.com

Every two years, architects, designers and likeminded aficionados descend upon Chicago, home of the world’s first skyscraper (10 stories tall and completed in 1885, for those curious), to explore the industry’s contemporary ideas about the global built environment. The Chicago Architecture Biennial is one of the biggest design events on the industry calendar—drawing on the Windy City’s history as host of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. However, unlike that event, which took place in Jackson Park on the city's South Side, the Biennial allows visitors to explore not only its program of exhibitions, performances, talks and film screenings, but requires they traverse the city itself to do so, perhaps making the pilgrimage to some of its famous historic structures along the way.

Opening in two phases this year, on 19 September and 7 November, this year’s edition is the biennial’s sixth. Following the 2023 biennial’s collective artistic director model, Argentine architect and writer Floriencia Rodriguez is heading a solo role this year, curating over 100 international participants around the theme SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change. 'The shifts we showcase point to a field that is becoming more collective, more experimental and experiential, and more deeply attuned to both crises and possibilities,' explains Rodriguez. 'Architecture not as dogma, but as a set of open tools to imagine possible futures.'

The proposals and projects will address topics including housing, ecology, material exploration and construction, as well as how architecture can engage with everyday socio-political, cultural and environmental issues.

What is the Chicago Architecture Biennial?

Established in 2015, the Chicago Architecture Biennial is the largest exhibition of contemporary architecture and design in North America. Free and open to the public, each edition of the biennial is curated by an artistic director who proposes a theme and selects contemporary projects by architects, designers and artists that explore it. These projects, presented at important venues across the city, can include physical installations, performances, lectures or even smaller exhibitions of multiple works around a single topic.

Where is the Chicago Architecture Biennial?

The 2025 biennial will be hosted at several sites in Chicago this year and open in two phases. On 19 September, the first phase launches with nearly 50 participants showing work at the Chicago Cultural Center, the Graham Foundation, the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, the courtyard of a historic Andrew Rebori–designed apartment building on the Near North Side and the Stony Island Arts Bank, all buildings important to the city’s architectural history. The Arts Bank is a new venue to the Chicago Architecture Biennial lineup and houses artist Theaster Gates’s Rebuild Foundation, an archive, community center, gallery and library hosted inside a Neoclassical former bank designed by William Gibbons Uffendell in 1923.

On 7 November, phase two will open with 25 additional large-scale installations, some collaborations, others solo endeavors, that explore 'altered states,' says Rodriguez. The projects on view will include work by Takk and Ivan Lopez Munuera, based on Chicago’s disco culture, and a grandstand designed by former Biennial curators Johnston Marklee that will provide a platform for talks inside the iconic Hancock Tower, built in 1969.

Top things to see at the 2025 Chicago Architecture Biennial

Sunken Garden

In the courtyard of a 1922 residential building designed by the late Chicago architect Andrew Rebori, artist Alexis de Chaunac and photographer Brooke Hummer will bring together in-situ works by nine Chicago-based artists that explore the architecture and materiality of the depressed garden site as well as the future of resilient design in the face of rising sea levels.

When: 19-29 September, by appointment only
Where: 40 West Schiller Street Chicago, IL 60610

Surfaces in Flux

New York– and Athens, Greece-based design studio Objects of Common Interest / LOT Office for Architecture will experiment with inflatable architecture, creating a space for gathering that shifts and moves with lounging participants—and maybe evokes those backyard bounce houses of your youth.

When: 19 September to 28 February, 2026
Where: Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E Washington St, Chicago, IL 60602

TRACES

At the former site of the 1893 World’s Fair, architecture firms Balsa Crosetto Piazzi and Giorgis Ortiz have designed an installation of 10,000 dry-stacked bricks, putting the ambitions—and available building technologies—of this Fair on display.

When: 19 September to 28 February, 2026
Where: On the lawn outside the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, 5700 S DuSable Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60637

Louie

This living structure by the Bittertang Farm pulls Chicago’s environmental eras—swamp, prairie and oak forest, slaughterhouses, and metropolis—into one intertwined tower of building materials, plants, bones, and more. 'Like ecosystems,' says cofounder Antonio Torres, 'buildings are better when they are a little wild.'

When: 7 November to 28 February, 2026
Where: Hancock Tower, 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611

Inhabit, Outhabit

In a time of urgent housing crisis, this video installation will highlight around 30 collective living case studies with some of today’s forward-thinking architects including MASS Design Group, French 2D, and Productura.

When: 19 September 19 to 28 February, 2026
Where: Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E Washington St, Chicago, IL 60602

Pay a visit to the leafy Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois and you’ll encounter some of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most celebrated works – his famous home and studio and his restored Unity Temple among them – and the throngs of tourists that follow. But just a few miles away, two stops east on the Green Line in Chicago’s Austin neighbourhood, Wright’s only Prairie Style home on the city’s West Side is in danger.

The Joseph Jacob Walser House, built by Wright more than a century ago, sits vacant. It has a hole in its roof; Its yard is choked with weeds and litter; its interior has been ransacked. The house is in such poor condition that it made a list of Chicago’s seven-most endangered buildings earlier this month, as compiled annually by the nonprofit, Preservation Chicago. 'This is one of those buildings that should be the pride of the Austin community,' says Ward Miller, the organisation’s executive director.

At one point, the house was just that. Wright designed the home for local businessman and real estate developer JJ Walser in 1903. Though not as grand as some of its Chicago area cousins, such as the Laura Gale House or the Robie House, it exhibited the hallmarks of Wright’s organic, Prairie School style: deep eaves; horizontal lines; bands of art glass windows; and an open floor plan. It even earned a spread in House Beautiful magazine in 1905.

The Walsers lived in the house for seven years before parting with it in 1910. The decades saw multiple homeowners – and just as many interior renovations – before it came into the hands of Anne and Hurley Teague in 1970. Austin also changed as the result of redlining and disinvestment and fell upon tough times. But the Teagues remained good stewards of the house for a half-century, during which it became a Chicago Landmark (1983) and was put on the National Register of Historic Places (2013).

For the Teagues, the Walser House was more than an architectural point of interest. ‘I wasn’t too much concerned about whether it was historical or what kind of story it was,’ Anne, who grew up in Atlanta, told the Austin Weekly News in 2009. ‘This is my dream house from a child.’

That all changed when Anne, by then in her nineties, passed away in 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic and the financial burden of maintaining the residence by her heirs caused the home to go into foreclosure. Miller, who says he’d been in touch with the Teagues over the years through Preservation Chicago, 'had no idea that she passed and that the house was vacant'.

The house’s future, because of its complicated status, remains uncertain. One thing’s for sure: it will continue to deteriorate until the legal issues are resolved (it cannot be demolished because of its landmark status). But organisations like Preservation Chicago and Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, another Chicago advocacy group, hope awareness of the Walser House, a gem that’s ‘hidden in plain sight’, will allow it to have a vibrant next chapter.

‘Austin is a community where there’s been a lot of challenges,’ Miller says. In an ideal scenario, the building would land in the hands of an educational organisation and be open to the neighborhood to enjoy. ‘It would be a great point of pride in the community to see this building celebrated and restored.’

In partnership with R Finds

Last year, Wallpaper* went on a global gift-shopping spree for the R Finds store. Working as browsers and buyers on behalf of Renaissance Hotels’ new digital marketplace, we were on the hunt for stuff that we hadn’t seen before and couldn’t get at home: local crafts, quality mementoes, garments, accessories and edible delights, made by people for their regular, neighbourhood customers… and now the rest of the world.

Embracing the art of discovery, our selection was guided by R Finds’ desire to recognise and empower creative economies and elevate the stories of small businesses around the globe; to connect travellers with the vibrant spirit of local communities in the wider world, one gift at a time

Our travels took us to Paris and New York, Chicago, Honolulu and beyond. Clued up on advice from Renaissance Hotels’ front-of-house Navigators in each city, we maxed out our cards and filled our totes – with vintage vinyl records, wooden toys, posters, bow ties, wristwatches and head gear. Now we’re going back for more.

Come global shopping with R Finds

Poster from Chicago Vintage Posters, Chicago

Wallace feather bow tie, from Brackish, Charleston

Guava chocolate from Manoa Chocolate, Hawaii

Architecture book, from CAC Design Store, Chicago

Tote bag, from J Stark, Charleston

Vase from Moustache, Paris

Watch, from Oak & Oscar, Chicago

Wide-brim hat, from Flamekeepers Hat Club, Harlem

Continue shopping at r-finds.com

Towards the end of the 19th century, when Chicago was the fastest-growing city in the world, it was also, arguably, the most architecturally adventurous. Louis Sullivan was creating organically ornamented towers; Daniel Burnham was building steel-framed mega-blocks; Frank Lloyd Wright was hybridising Arts and Crafts, Japanese and proto-deco Prairie styles; the modern office block and skyscraper were both emerging; and the city’s upper-middle-class houses were a riot of invention and eccentricity.

At some point around half a century later, however, the city became enthralled with the work of Mies van der Rohe, newly arrived from Germany and thoroughly worshipped in his adopted home city. Chicago practice SOM began to produce mini-Mieses for the city, and the minimal, Miesian glass and steel block became Chicago’s new architectural motif, steamrollering (almost) everything else.

Inside Larry Booth's 'House of Light'

By the early 1970s, a rebel resistance arrived in the form of the Chicago Seven, their name a tongue-in-cheek riff on that other Chicago Seven, the anti-Vietnam War counter-culture group who were famously put on trial in 1969. One of the architectural seven was architect Larry Booth, who is now 88. ‘It wasn’t that we didn’t like Mies,’ says Booth. ‘It was more that Chicago was being represented only by that kind of architecture – and it was so much richer.

‘There had been a Miesian show in Munich in Germany and they brought it to Chicago [‘100 Years of Architecture in Chicago’, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 1976]. So we decided to set up a kind of counter-show, which illustrated that much broader Chicago tradition. That was where the Chicago Seven started.’

Some of the other members of the seven are perhaps better known than Booth, their works more widely published, including Stanley Tigerman, James Ingo Freed and Tom Beeby. They were later joined by Helmut Jahn (whose landmark Thompson Center is currently being modified by Google). That counter-show at the Walter Kelly Gallery in 1978 centred around what they called the ‘Exquisite Corpse’.

Inspired by the surrealist parlour game in which players would sketch a portion of a body without seeing the others’ contributions, the seven architects conjured up a row of Chicago townhouses, each a mini-postmodernist experiment, but designed to slot in with their historic neighbours. This speculative street might have had some influence on the ‘Strada Novissima’, which formed the centrepiece of the 1980 Venice Architecture Biennale, directed by Paolo Portoghesi. Here, too, architects were invited to contribute to a postmodernist street with the theme of ‘The Presence of the Past’.

Perhaps the least postmodernist contribution of the Chicago Seven, Booth’s design featured a frosted glass façade with a tapering grid of clear openings. He continued to explore the classic Chicago townhouse in its historic street context in his 1983 House of Light, which recently came up for sale.

An impeccable slice of postmodern heritage and one which is now perhaps easier to appreciate in its historical context, the house is set on a narrow plot, with a classically inflected symmetrical façade to the street but with expanses of glass so that it appears almost like a public building. Its most surprising feature is a dominating staircase, arranged around a kind of atrium.

‘It’s a narrow house,’ says Booth. ‘And you’re going to be up and down those stairs a lot. We thought there needed to be some joy in climbing those stairs.’ So the walls are striated using mouldings that echo the heights of the stair risers, giving the effect of a series of extremely shallow shelves spanning the entire atrium. It’s a striking touch and, together with the rather nautical-looking steel railings, gives the impression of an art deco cruise ship. Another striking aspect is the clearly Palladian proportions, albeit squeezed into a mannered verticality.

‘Some time around the mid-1970s, I took off to Italy and visited every Palladian villa,’ says Booth. ‘Some were derelict or being used as barns. Palladio’s architecture is actually very simple but it’s all about proportion, and when you’re in these buildings, you really feel it; there’s a sense that this is a real place, a place of balance, proportions and harmony.’

At the time, the work of 16th-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio was being re-embraced, with many architects and theorists attempting to reconcile modernism and Palladianism, a debate that culminated in the 1976 publication of architectural historian Colin Rowe’s essay The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa. A renewed interest in proportion and mathematics (which would bifurcate into postmodern classicism on one side and deconstructivism on the other) saturated the discourse, but Booth’s House of Light is almost like an essay in proportion itself. It has a diagrammatic quality familiar from those sketches of façades subdivided into their mathematical constituents, their golden sections and so on. Beyond the proportions, the Palladian motifs appear here as arched windows and in the complex vocabulary of variously-shaped doorways.

Incredibly, the house has barely been touched in the more than 40 years since it was completed. In that time, it has had four owners, all of whom have clearly enjoyed the interior and left it as it was. Fashions shifted, and postmodernism (even of this rather understated kind) was out of favour for a long time. That is at least partly why so few interiors from that era survive, making this yet more of a welcome oddity. But perhaps precisely because of its sly mix of modernism and postmodernism, its complex, enjoyable elevations and its elision of style, this little house has never quite gone entirely out of fashion. ‘You could say it was postmodern, but I’d say it was more committed to the Renaissance,’ says Booth. It is a rare survivor of a moment that is currently having a bit of a renaissance itself.

boothhansen.com

This article appears in the October 2024 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

It’s not often that Chicago and Doha are mentioned in the same sentence; both melting pots of culture and economic powerhouses, their contrasting histories and vast geographical distance set them worlds apart. Yet, at the glamorous Four Seasons Resort and Residences at The Pearl-Qatar, guests encounter a delightful fusion in the form of Chicago Rare: prime steaks and classic sips in a 1920s-inspired American-style steakhouse that boasts panoramic views of the Persian Gulf.

Chicago Rare, Doha

Chicago Rare is one of five dining options within the luxurious beachfront Four Seasons property in Doha’s Pearl Island. Unlike its European-inspired counterparts, the vintage-style steakhouse transcends a simple grilled menu, conveying an atmosphere inspired by the Prohibition era in the United States, which gave birth to the concept of speakeasy bars. The project, brought to life by the global firm Avroko, weaves together period inspirations, art deco elements and the ideas of Louis Sullivan, an influential architect from the Chicago School and mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright.

With its dim lighting and a low-ceilinged, tunnel-like entrance that feels like a portal to another era, Chicago Rare unfolds into a bar and restaurant divided by a honey-onyx lightbox. The bar, designed to resemble a polished copper still, pays homage to the production of illicit spirits during the 1920s and provides an intimate wine-tasting room hiding in one of its corners. In contrast, the restaurant presents a more elegant atmosphere; its walls see a meaty, bespoke dark red textured plaster finish, accented with gleaming copper rivets. Here, three large curtained booths are available for more intimate gatherings.

La Pergola is an alternative dining room that breaks away from the restaurant’s moody ambience and offers an outdoor terrace, where a circular banquette encircles the base of a large tree. Inside, the fully air-conditioned space draws inspiration from Chicago’s Greek and Mediterranean immigrant communities, showcasing a lush, overgrown Mediterranean-style garden. Adjacent to this is the Cigar Lounge. Throughout, guests can enjoy entertainment including live jazz performances, swing bands and retro playlists.

Chicago Rare features signature dishes highlighting USDA Prime beef sourced from farms across the USA, whether freshly prepared or aged to perfection. Standout dishes include the Chicago Crusher burger, Black Angus braised short ribs, strip loin, Black Angus tomahawk and braised lamb shank. Accompanying the succulent meats are a range of signature sauces, diverse side dishes and artisanal bread. A live grill showcases the team cooking over live fire, all under the helm of executive chef Christian Gosselin.

Chicago Rare is located inside the Four Seasons Resort and Residences at The Pearl-Qatar, fourseasons.com

New restaurant Tre Dita swoops into the city of Chicago, making a home on the second floor of the decadent St Regis hotel. Built on tradition and glamour, the interior boasts an open-hearth, wood-fired grill, creating a welcoming atmosphere.

Tre Dita in St Regis Hotel

As you are guided to your table, you journey through an arched walkway, which passes a temperature- and humidity-controlled ‘pasta lab’, where chefs can be seen hand-making pasta for the evening ahead.

The interior design of the space was created by David Collins Studio (also behind the recent Fontainebleau Las Vegas). The studio used an organic colour scheme that includes earthy tones of terracotta, sienna, and maroon, alongside white and grey marble. The entrance features arched detailing and columns that nod to Italian architecture. The use of dark-stained, chequered flooring, timber panelling, and wrought-iron lighting adds a casual flair while also evoking the sophisticated yet relaxed dining style of southern Europe.

The surrounding upholstery features deep blue leather and forest green, complementing the linen curtains at the floor-to-ceiling windows that offer a stunning view of the city. Overall, the studio has successfully blended modern dining with traditional elements, creating what feels like a hidden culinary gem that could be tucked away on an Italian street.

Tre Dita is a collaboration between chef and partner Evan Funke, his first Chicago restaurant, and Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants. ‘When you visit a restaurant in Florence, Lucca or Livorno, you meet a constant in themes and traditions – handmade pasta, wood-fired cooking, and bistecca. Tre Dita is a place where those traditions can live in full illustration,’ says Funke.

To stay true to this ethos, Tre Dita gathers an array of culinary inspiration from many areas within Tuscany, including Pontremoli, Pienza and Chiusi. The menu offers an assortment of antipasti, Tuscan pastas and insalati. Highlights include Funke’s signature Schiacciata Bianca, a house-made rosemary and sea salt focaccia Toscana; Fiori di Zucca, which is squash blossom with ricotta and Parmigiano; and Gamberi in Salsa Verde, fresh prawns doused in Italian Salsa verde. Pasta includes Tagliatelle al Ragù and Tortelli di Zucca.

Tre Dita is Italian for ‘three fingers’, a traditional measure to achieve the precise thickness of Bistecca alla Fiorentina, the restaurant’s namesake and speciality.

treditarestaurant.com

Michael Bennett might not be a household name in the design world, but in the realm of American football, he is as big as it gets. He played an incredible 11 seasons with the likes of the Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Philadelphia Eagles, as well as winning the Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks in 2014, before retiring from the sport in 2020. A prominent anti-racist campaigner, who frequently spoke out against the injustices of the sport, Bennett’s many efforts included setting up an endowment at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2021 to enable more people of colour to get into design.

Michael Bennett: design rooted in community

‘In some ways, design has always been a part of my life,’ says Bennett, who is a graduate of the Heritage School of Interior Design and is currently finishing an architecture degree at the University of Hawaii. ‘My grandpa was a welder. He built his church with his own hands, and we would make things. I never thought of them as being designed, but we built a shed, a barbecue grill and stuff for the hog pen.’

Now Bennett marks a new chapter in the form of Studio Kër, a design studio he established in 2020, that took full form after he met the late industrial designer Imhotep Blot in 2021. Together, they drew from their shared upbringings in the coastal American south, and their African and Haitian roots, to create a collection of sculptural furniture that explores themes of intersectionality, segregation and the American ghetto, alongside the identities and experiences of African Americans and the diaspora. Each piece is rooted in the ideas of place and community through references to historically Black cultural motifs and object-histories, and consciously challenges dominant Western domestic codes.

‘I think that every object has the ability to be what someone wants it to be,’ says Bennett. ‘That’s how I like to think about design. There is no true idea that everything has to be one way. There’s a lot of that going on in architecture and design. You’re forced to follow this European way of thinking. If you ask 100 people for their gumbo recipe, no one will tell you the exact same one. Our collection is interesting and unique. It’s not the same thing over and over. When you hold these objects, there’s this sense of communion and closeness of what it’s like to be Black in America.’

It’s apt that Studio Kër’s first collection focuses on the home. Even its name, Kër – which refers to the traditional family living arrangements and sense of togetherness within Wolof culture, the largest ethnic group in Senegal – exudes a deep reverence for this fundamental and universal typology. Bennett and Blot have reimagined domestic mainstays, such as tables and seating, while imbuing them with poignant references to Black history. The ‘Gumbo’ lounge chair draws from the ubiquity, democracy and versatility of DC Simpson’s 1946 stacking polypropylene ‘Monobloc’ chair. Realised in fibreglass with a matching cushion that can be laid on top of it or on the floor, the lounge chair signifies a new approach in African diasporic design while retaining the same emphasis on fellowship, exchange, utility and generosity that’s present in Black gathering spaces.

Equally meaningful is the ‘Mo-Mo’ dining table, a large circular table designed to seat up to ten people. It’s inspired by Akili Ron Anderson’s bas-relief frieze Last Supper (1982), which was commissioned by the New Home Baptist Church in Washington DC and only recently discovered, in 2019, after decades hidden behind drywall. Topped with a central rotating tray for distributing food, it reinforces the studio’s ethos of designing pieces that encourage communion and discourse while also nodding to West African griots (storytellers) and the Black matriarchs behind them.

‘As a Black person growing up in America, you have these rituals and traditions, but you don’t understand the connection. You think it’s a singular event, but, in reality, it’s a chain of events and suddenly gumbo isn’t a Southern thing, it’s an African thing. There’s a twist to it that makes it American. So in a sense, this collection is about Black history. These forms are African, but they also have a twist of America and that’s where the new diaspora meets in the middle to dialogue with the past,’ he says, adding that even in details like the asymmetric spines of the ‘Paw Paw’s’ dining chair, which is available in African Sapele or Argentine rosewood, there are nods to the forms and geometries traditionally seen in West African culture. ‘As a Black designer, you have to be able to tell stories of your history because not a lot of people have the platform.’

Despite the unexpected passing of Blot earlier this year, Bennett has continued on the path to bring the duo’s designs to life. ‘It’s been emotional. He was young, just 27,’ he says. ‘We went really deep into what African design is and what the future of design is for Black people. We wanted to create an archive, and document the process of Black design. To this day, I don’t think I have really dealt with losing him. He’s not here, but the main thing that we always talked about was how do we create something that outlives our physical beings and becomes a part of the universe.’

Studio Kër’s debut will be shown in Chicago by LA gallery Marta and Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation in a presentation titled ‘We Gotta Get Back to the Crib’. On view until 11 February 2024, it will be the first design intervention to inhabit Rebuild’s newest creative project, 6 Flat, which will become artist residences when the formerly vacant St Laurence Elementary School reopens as an arts incubator (Rebuild's past projects include the Stony Island Arts Bank). The show will later travel to Marta in LA and then Houston.

‘As Black people, we have to travel to white galleries to see things. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have things in these spaces, but I also think that there is an opportunity for people of colour to experience things within their own community in places that are already there,’ says Bennett. ‘Also, does it have to be a white box? If we expect things to change, then we can’t always use the same systems over and over. We have to start rethinking them. Having this show at Rebuild speaks a lot because what Theaster Gates is doing culturally is phenomenal. It’s important that, as Black people, we see design happening within our community. Because once we see design, we start to think about how we can use it and about rebuilding.’

Michael Bennett, ‘We Gotta Get Back to the Crib’ is on view until 10 Feburary 2024

6 Flat, Rebuild Foundation
6760 S Stony Is Ave
Chicago, Illinois

The Chicago Architecture Biennial 2023 ('CAB 5', the event's fifth edition) has opened, filling galleries with architecture-adjacent installations and dispersing pop-up projects across the city. Though Chicago is a place packed with iconic architectural moments – from the likes of SOM, Frank Lloyd Wright, Jeanne Gang, and Mies van der Rohe – CAB 5’s title, 'This is a Rehearsal', draws attention to architecture as a collaborative process to develop future worlds, rather than celebrating a singular architectural object.

This year’s edition is curated by arts collective Floating Museum, formed of poet avery r. young, architect Andrew Schachman, sculptor and community facilitator Faheem Majeed, and artist Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford. Their diverse vantages into cities and communities shape the biennial’s broad offering – though with only one architect in the collective, it is perhaps no surprise that CAB 5 doesn’t include much traditional architectural presentation. This is not a biennial of foam models, scale drawings, and manifestos stuck onto walls.

Chicago Architecture Biennial 2023: the highlights

But there are some architectural propositions. A 1:1 scale model of a future monument to abolitionists Anna and Frederick Douglass, designed by a collaborative team led by Norman Teague Design Studios, is sited in an empty patch of land in Bronzeville, South Chicago. It is a community-facing, timber rehearsal of a finished design, offering itself as a chalkboard platform for public discourse as well as to test the architectural form ahead of the construction of the final copper version in Douglass Park.

Other projects are scattered around, supporting Floating Museum’s declaration that 'the city is the site'. It doesn’t matter, they state, that many projects are some distance from Downtown Chicago, they encourage people to visit but emphasise that the primary audiences are existing local communities. Indeed, in many locations the biennial installation could be considered secondary to the community itself, with CAB 5 seeking to raise awareness of non-profits and bottom-up schemes into the city conversation, developing new cultural connections.

One project can’t even be seen yet. Non-profit Urban Growers Collective harvests year-round crops from remediated soil and community-constructed growing tunnels within South Chicago’s Clara Schafer Park, at 14 acres the largest of their eight city farms. 'Where food gathers, community gathers,' says co-founder and artist Erika Allen, who has received 50 per cent funding from CAB 5 towards a new community, culinary, and creative space designed by architect David Benjamin of Columbia University. Visitors don’t have much to see other than a small construction site for a few months, but Floating Museum intends to draw attention to the Black- and women-led project, which distributed over 25,000kg of food across the city over the last two years.

However, CAB 5 is not just about the boroughs and does have a downtown presence with the showcase biennial exhibitions held throughout a suite of rooms at the Chicago Cultural Center. Here, the focus on Chicago and its communities begins to lose its curatorial focus with an eclectic mix of projects which start at the building’s threshold, with each of the two grand entrances dominated by gateway sculptures: Berlin architects Barkow Leibinger bundle found cardboard tubes into a grotto-like tunnel, while Indian artist Asim Waqif’s dystopian (and smelly!) portal of rubber tubing sourced from a non-profit store of city waste materials clashes intensely with the intricate Carrera marble of Chicago’s former library.

Upstairs, a room holds a more traditional architectural presentation, introducing a range of architecture and landscape projects, some of which speak directly to local issues and context: Amanda Williams’ ongoing Redefining Redlining project comprises tulips planted into the floorplan of abandoned Black neighbourhood houses within an installation considering a disparity in property value, largely due to discriminatory practices of restricting financial services based on race or ethnicity; Depave Chicago is a vast co-design project that works to remove impermeable surfaces, cleanse land, and replace with landscaping as an act of natural and social repair; and schematic drawings from local artist Deb Sokolow playfully twist architectural histories and bring new angles to the canon, with one concertina document reading 'Frank Lloyd Wright Vs. Secretaries'.

While these examples are all Chicago-adjacent, not a lot of the physical displays has direct connection to the city, and this is also an issue in the adjoining gallery focusing on future monuments – a theme regularly explored in cultural institutions across the Global North of late. Here, there was opportunity to make a singularly unique exploration of what monument and memory is specifically to Chicago and Chicagoans, but many exhibited works speak to other places or dissipate into general themes.

There are exceptions: a drawing by landscape architect Carol Ross Barney with Ryan Gann and the DuSable Park Design Alliance overlays modern Chicago upon the landscape of two centuries ago, as a formal exercise towards a new park honouring the city’s first non-native resident, Haitian Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable; and Ghanaian artist Paa Joe presents a decorated coffin modelled on Mies van der Rohe’s S.R. Crown Hall, 6km to the south.

The eclectic and disparate ideas are tied together with intelligent exhibition design from local architect Leticia Pardo. Scaffolding constructions provide a supporting framework, while a topology of white polystyrene geofoam – a material used to landform public space before a covering of soil, as hidden under the Millennium and Maggie Daley Parks, observable through the window – forms an unsure landscape.

Elsewhere in the city, SOM and Promethius Materials show a solid architectural proposition with a first public outing for their Bio-Block concrete alternative blockwork, here constructed into a spiral wall showcasing its solidity and practicality. Formed of a dried microalgae powder bio-cement, the architects hope it can help wean the world off an Anthropocene-feeding concrete addition. In contrast, a more playful proposition from Cecil McDonald Jr is his Praise House-shaped mirror glass sculpture, a scale model which he hopes to construct at full size in a local neighbourhood. Internal film projections spray kaleidoscopic images from within onto surrounding Graham Foundation walls.

At a larger scale, the Helmut Jahn-designed James R Thompson Center offers up its enormous interior to CAB 5. Forty jute canvases from Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama hang delicately yet powerfully from balconies, but ultimately become decoration without much contextual conversation to the building or its imminent demolition and reconstruction into a Google HQ. In contrast, Dan Peterman’s sculptural reimagining of a long-abandoned space-frame farmers’ market in Chicago-adjoining Gary, Indiana, sings to the building’s architecture and its precarity, though feels a little alone in such a monumental space.

Because Floating Museum is formed of diverse disciplines – art, architecture, social engagement, and poetry – CAB 5 has a breadth of voices that speak to the worlds of architecture, landscape, and society. These voices, however, are not always in curatorial harmony and there's a constant feeling that a tighter curation could have resulted in a clearer take-home message. The mix of ideas –  rehearsal, city as site, decolonisation, Chicago's communities, pan-American discourse – touch on important topics but also pull the attention to different directions instead of honing down on a single one. Still, standout moments and fantastic projects on show offer a fantastic opportunity to see the diversity and depth of Chicago's boroughs and buildings.

chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org 

The Chicago Sukkah Design Festival opened on 1 October 2023 for its second consecutive year, with six sukkahs – temporary outdoor structures to commemorate the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot, the holiday that celebrates harvest gathering. The architectural pavilions can be found at various spots within James Stone Freedom Square, located at 3615 W Douglas Boulevard in the North Lawndale neighbourhood on Chicago’s West Side. The site is owned by Stone Temple Baptist Church, a former Jewish synagogue located across the street.

Chicago Sukkah Design Festival 2023: a celebration of migratory cultural traditions

The sukkahs represent themes of design literacy, social justice, and the future of North Lawndale. The location of the festival in North Lawndale reflects not only its former status as a Jewish community, but also its present predominantly Black population – the product of the Great Migration of African Americans from the Jim Crow South during the early-20th century. During the festival, the sukkahs will be activated with public programmes designed to reflect Jewish, African, African-American, and many other migratory cultural traditions. 

'We were always interested in doing this project in North Lawndale, because [it] was the centre of the Jewish community for a long time in the city. And we were interested in using sukkahs as a vehicle through which to bring together different communities past, present, and future. So, [we were] thinking about these architectural structures as something that can bridge across years,' said Joseph Altshuler, founder of The Chicago Sukkah Design Festival, and an assistant professor at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

Six Chicago design teams were selected to work collaboratively with local community groups to design sukkahs that reflect themes of social justice and anti-racism. As co-directors of Could Be Design, a Chicago-based design practice, Altshuler and Zach Morrison provided curatorial leadership and architectural design support to the contributing sukkah design teams.

'In addition to the sukkahs themselves, thinking about the design of the landscape, and thinking about the permanent site and infrastructure improvements to this site as a public space that the church intends to use, not only for future additions of this Festival, but for other formats of community programming, was a top priority of our efforts as Could Be Design and as artistic directors and organizers of the festival,'  Altshuler said. 

Chicago Sukkah Design Festival 2023: the contributors

• Studio Becker Xu with One Lawndale Children’s Discovery Center
• Odile Compagnon + Erik Newman with YEM and North Lawndale Greening Committee
• Akima Brackeen + Office of Things with I Am Able
• Antwane Lee with Building Brighter Futures Center for the Arts
• Architecture for Public Benefit + Trent Fredrickson with Mishkan Chicago + Lawndale Christian Community Church
• Could Be Design with the Chicago Tool Library

The Chicago Sukkah Design Festival is organised and produced by Could Be Design and Lawndale Pop-Up Spot (LPUS), a community museum in a shipping container, co-founded by Chelsea Ridley and Jonathan Kelley. The festival, which continues through 15 October, is also affiliated with the 2023 Chicago Architecture Biennial. 

chicagosukkahfestival.org 

Last year, industrial designer Stephen Burks debuted his first modern altar, ‘Spirit House', at the High Museum of Art, for his exhibition 'Stephen Burks: Shelter In Place'. Now, a year on, he reveals his latest exhibition, 'Spirit Houses', at Chicago's Volume Gallery.

Stephen Burks: 'Spirit Houses'

Spirituality, loss, and belonging are some of the underlying feelings and beliefs that inspired Stephen Burks’ latest collection of ‘Spirit Houses’: drawing on ten years of commercial practice and collaborations, in this current exhibition, Burks has questioned how design can be employed to accompany traditional religious practices, while also creating products and furniture to serve everyday needs and functionality.

With the Black Lives Matter movement and the aftermath of the global Covid-19 pandemic in mind, the Chicago native wanted to address social issues by emphasising the importance of self-care, race, spiritually, and loss through the collection of modern altars.

Burks’ unique interpretation of West African and Asian spiritual practices is at the forefront of the Spirit House design, with the implication that these beliefs and rituals inform multiple aspects of society today.

The exhibition will include ‘Altar’, a minimalist wall-mounted display shelf made out of plywood. The open-faced shelving could pay homage to pictures of loved ones, or showcase favoured trinkets. ‘Tableau’ will also be on display: a black-stained, low oak coffee table for an area of shared gatherings and open conversations.

The interlocking container 'Transformer' is a multipurpose handheld container to hold belongings or, in a religious context, offerings.

The collection also includes a series of lights: ‘Cozy’, a small, warm-toned, coiled rope container, and ‘Lantern’, crafted from paper and silk, take reference from Buddhist traditions and east Asian culture. 'Ypsilon', a Y-shaped floor lamp is the largest of all pieces. This series invites people to come together with compassion and calmness, allowing a pause for thought- spiritual or not- in our busy day-to-day lives.

‘Spirit Houses’ are on display in the Chicago Volume Gallery, Illinois until 28 October 2023.

wvvolumes.com

1229 West Concord in Chicago's Lincoln Yards is a science lab like no other; while the building is the home of groundbreaking medical research, the space, created by Gensler with Sterling Bay Design Studio (the scheme developer's in-house design team), could easily be mistaken for a high-end hospitality interior. Smooth, curved glass façades and streamlined volumes offer sleekness and edge. At the same time, warm, soft interiors with modernist architecture influences, and a list of amenities to put many hotels to shame, create a workspace environment for the 21st century. 

Chicago science lab: where luxury meets technology

The life-science building spans eight storeys, including a generous, double-height reception lobby. It leads to a range of spaces above, catering both to the business' needs, as well as the employees’ comfort and wellbeing. The architects implemented biophilic design principles throughout – including wellness amenities for users, generosity of space and views of the city's river, expansive outdoor private terraces, and circadian artificial lighting to complement natural light exposure from the wrap-around gazed façades. 

Meanwhile, clean, minimalist architecture-style surfaces in neutral colour tones are accentuated by sculptural design elements, such as the twisting staircase that connects the ground-level lounge and the mezzanine above. These design features are matched by flexible interiors throughout, to accommodate changing work needs, as well as the necessary event spaces, office and lab areas that the company required for its operations. 

'Designed under the principles of ‘light, air, and openness’, 1229 W Concord infuses hospitality with life-sciences through abundant daylight, riverfront outdoor spaces, and warm interior furnishings. The building’s façade is a celebration of both lab and workspace. The southern (lab) half is more controlled, with deep overhangs protecting the glazing from heat gain. The northern (workspace) half opens up with floor-to-ceiling glass, jutting out towards the water to take advantage of skyline views. In the overlap of the two, prominence is given to long sweeping balconies along the waterfront,' says Michael Townsend, principal at Gensler.

'This building is the first step in the much larger masterplan revitalisation of the Chicago River, and it is part of the shift from past industrial and manufacturing riverfront use to healthy, publicly accessible places for emerging industries, including life-sciences. Given the city’s location along one of the country’s most prominent bird migratory paths, the building sets a new standard for Chicago high-rises with holistic bird collision deterrence strategies.'

Steph Geronimo Smothers, vice president for design at Sterling Bay adds: '1229 West Concord is designed to push the envelope and predict the needs of the next generation of lab spaces. Life-science spaces are often created with a technical, sterile lens, but this building is designed to humanise the tenant experience.'

She continues, 'Sterling Bay Design Studio worked closely with Gensler to create a cutting-edge vision for life-sciences, including hospitality-inspired amenities and sophisticated communal spaces that leverage style and function to inspire collaboration and, hopefully, breakthroughs among peers. With panoramic river and city views and expansive outdoor terraces, the building seamlessly connects to nature, utilizing natural light and fresh air to set new standards for the industry.'

gensler.com 

sterlingbay.com 

To commemorate what would have been Emmett Till’s 82nd birthday, Chicago nonprofit organisation Blacks in Green commissioned Germane Barnes, founder and principal of Studio Barnes, assistant professor and director of The Community Housing and Identity Lab (CHIL) at the University of Miami School of Architecture, and part of our Wallpaper* USA 300 list, to create an installation for the site of Till’s childhood home.  The installation was unveiled on 23 July at a ceremonial groundbreaking for exterior renovations to the house, which will ultimately serve as a cultural house museum. Restoration efforts are scheduled to be completed by 2025. 

Emmett Till installation: ‘Be Careful, I Always Am’

For Barnes, the name for the installation, 'Be Careful, I Always Am', reflects both his mother’s protectiveness and the tragedy of Emmett Till,  who was brutally lynched by white racists in Mississippi in 1955.

'If you're from Chicago like I am, then your parents tell you as a kid how important the story of Emmett Till is. And especially if you're a young Black male who, like me, [is] from the West Side of Chicago. Whenever I would leave the house, my mother always [said] to me, be careful. And I always jokingly and sort of arrogantly [said] back, I always am. You know, you just assume you're invincible. But she's always trying to remind me that that's not always the case. Sometimes you don't make it home,' Barnes said.

The three-storey scaffold installation incorporates vivid yellow and red segments, along with archival texts drawn from research conducted by Jonathan Solomon and Elizabeth Blasius of Chicago firm Preservation Futures.  

'It's done in the Superman colour palette because Superman was [Emmett’s] favourite comic series. And then we also know that photograph of him with this iconic tie with the hat. And so, we took just the shape of the tie and then sort of made these very large banners that have [text] on them. And then the banner begins to morph as it goes across the scaffold, which shows how we might think we're perfectly safe and under certain circumstances we lose that stability and we're no longer safe. And then at the very bottom,  the hammocks are there so that people can also be a part of the installation. Because I'm always one that likes for people to see themselves in the work, as opposed to things they can't touch,' Barnes said.

The abstract nature of the installation reflects the collaboration between Barnes, Solomon and Blasius.

'Germane did not want to use photographic images. He wanted, and we agreed, to do something that interpreted images that people maybe had seen before... The tie is iconic of [Emmett], and it's also kind of iconic of the time period,' Solomon said.

The installation is located adjacent to the Till House at 6427 South St Lawrence Avenue in West Woodlawn on Chicago’s South Side, and will remain there until 23 November – Emmett's mother, Mamie Till’s birthday.  

blacksingreen.org 

‘I say this often: Chicago is “big town, small town”,’ says EXPO Chicago president and director Tony Karman over Zoom. ‘The city offers the international impact and scope that anyone would want when they come and visit, while there’s a collaborative nature to our city that is unique. And we benefit greatly from those collaborations and alignments.’ Set to welcome a far-reaching coterie of collectors, curators, dealers and connoisseurs to its milestone 10th edition at Navy Pier, EXPO Chicago (13–16 April, 2023) reemerged from the Covid pandemic last year with a new slot in the international calendar – pivoting from autumn to spring – and with it a sense of renewal. 

The fair’s core programming builds on its foundations, including the return of ‘IN/SITU’ and ‘IN/SITU Outside’, presenting large-scale sculpture, video, and site-specific installations in Festival Half and throughout the city’s public spaces; ‘/Dialogues’ panel series, bringing creative luminaries together in conversation; ‘Curatorial Forum’ and ‘Director Summit’, gathering curators and museum leaders to discuss pressing issues in their fields; and ‘OVERRIDE’, a curated display of artworks commandeering digital billboards and information panels in the city’s Central Business District. ‘I go backwards to go forwards. I’m mindful of what we started out to be: and that is a great international fair that serves the greater Midwest region,’ explains Karman.

Headlining the talks programme, artist Hank Willis Thomas will be joined by Chance the Rapper for a conversation on galvanising communities through public art and underrepresented artists. Elsewhere, Rosario Zorraquin (Isla Flotante, Buenos Aires), Jeanne Gaigher (Southern Guild, Cape Town) and Julien Creuzet (DOCUMENT, Chicago, Lisbon) are among some of the artists to have created new works for this year’s ‘IN/SITU’ presentation. ‘Chicago’s art scene continues to be robust. In generations past, people would leave for the coasts. Now, you’re seeing a new renaissance of artists who are recognising that we have incredible teaching institutions and arts programmes throughout Chicago,’ Karman reflects. ‘Either it’s the best-kept secret or obvious to most that this is a city with a fantastic list of artists working and living here.’

EXPO Chicago 2023: beyond the booths

On view nightly until 5 July, Derrick Adams’ new site-specific commission Funtime Unicorn: Ruby Rides Through Four Seasons will light up the Chicago Riverwalk with projections celebrating Black joy, love and play (the project coincides with the artist’s activation at Navy Pier’s Polk Bros Park). Nearby at 150 Media Stream, art-world multi-hyphenate Kenny Schachter dons his artist hat with an immersive video installation that uses artificial intelligence to imagine a version of Chicago in prehistoric times, collaged with manipulated depictions of the city at present and its hypothetical future.

Curator Zoe Lukov and cultural producer Abby Pucker, co-founders of nonprofit creative enterprise Art in Common, are casting a spell over the Windy City with Boil, Toil + Trouble – a vast group exhibition taking shape in a 10,000 set ft mixed-use building in Fulton Market District. The travelling exhibition examines water through the lens of magic and the role of the ‘witch’, while this iteration reflects the work of local artists including Ricardo Partida and Armani Howard against rarely exhibited works by Marina Abramović and Bruce Nauman, among others. Over at the Color Club – a locale for Chicago’s creative community occupying a 100-year-old brick gem – the third edition of the invitational Barely Fair will present miniature works in 1:12 scale booths presented by artist-run spaces, commercial galleries and curatorial projects. 

Hotels, too, are getting in on the fun of the fair: The Peninsula is illuminating Chicago galleries through highlights from the collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody. Curated by Laura Dvorkin and Maynard Monrow, the riveting line-up of contemporary artists includes Amy Sherald, Adam Pendleton, Ebony Patterson, Ayana V Jackson and Kennedy Yanko. At 21c Museum Hotel, the theme of ‘ritual’ – from religious to cultural, institutional to domestic – forms the foundation for ‘OFF-SPRING: New Generations’, a meditation on the contemporary construct of identity society.

EXPO Chicago, 13–16 April; Navy Pier, 600 E Grand Avenue, Chicago IL 60611; expochicago.com 

The 'Black Creativity: Architecture' exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) in Chicago celebrates the contribution of Black architects around the world – from the Great Pyramids of Egypt to soaring, global 21st-century structures. The show is integrated into the museum's annual Black Creativity programme, which first began in 1970 – and fittingly runs through the USA's Black History Month.

The multimedia exhibition, spanning two galleries located across a hallway from one another, features displays of architectural texts, building materials and three-dimensional models of structures designed by Black architects. A highlight is a fragment and several artifacts from the National Pythian Temple, which stood in the South Side Chicago neighbourhood of Bronzeville from 1928 until 1980. Designed by Walter T Bailey, Chicago’s first licensed Black architect, the Pythian Temple was the largest commission financed, designed and constructed entirely by Black Americans at that time.

'Black Creativity: Architecture'

Two drafting tables anchor each end of one gallery. One of the tables features a display titled 'Architectural Drawings', along with a photo and quote from Norma Merrick Sklarek, the first Black woman elevated to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), in 1980. The other drafting table features a display titled 'Working as an Architect', along with a photo and quote from Paul Revere Williams, admitted as the first Black member of AIA in 1923.

A timeline covers an entire wall, featuring among others, Robert Robinson Taylor, who earned a bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1892 to become the first formally educated Black architect in the United States; Beverly Loraine Greene, the first Black woman licensed as an architect in the United States, in 1942; the Johnson Publishing Company Headquarters, the first high-rise in downtown Chicago designed by a Black architect, John Warren Moutoussamy, in 1971; and the selection of Diébédo Francis Kére, the well-known native of Burkina Faso and principal of Kére Architecture in Germany, as Laureate of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, in 2022.

Another wall features photos and capsule bios of prominent Black architects, including John Anderson Lankford, the first Black architect in the United States with an established architectural office; Sir David Adjaye, designer of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, completed in 2016; Germane Barnes, principal with Studio Barnes in Miami; and Tiara Hughes, AIA, NOMA (National Organization of Minority Architects), senior architect with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago. Barnes and Hughes are also featured in a continuous loop of short videos with Curtis J Moody, FAIA, chairman of the board of Moody Nolan Architects in Columbus, Ohio.

'The Black Creativity: Architecture exhibition is a testament to the rich heritage of Black architects who, through dedication and ingenuity, brought their designs to life,' said MSI president and CEO Chevy Humphrey in a press release. 'Our hope is that this exhibition will not only spotlight the achievements of past and present African American pioneers, but also inspire the next generation of innovators.'

'Black Creativity: Architecture' runs concurrently with the 'Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition', which continues through 23 April 2023

msichicago.org 

515 North State Street in Chicago is a modernist skyscraper by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange, who won the Pritzker Prize in 1987. Built in 1990 as the American Medical Association Building, it blends contemporary styles of its time, traditional influences and minimalist lines in an architecture Tange described as ‘basic forms, spaces and appearances’ arranged in a ‘logical’ way, uniting technology and humanity. Now, the 20th-century building, one of the city’s prized landmarks, has a fresh addition to its main lobby: a design-led, sleek new Chicago coffee cart courtesy of architecture studio Norman Kelley with architect and educator Spencer McNeil. 

A Chicago coffee cart's minimalist architecture

The project, simply named ‘Cart’, was conceived as a retail cart to offer locally roasted coffee and a seasonally inspired takeaway menu on the ground floor of the 29-storey office building, which is owned by an affiliate of Beacon Capital Partners. ‘In keeping with Tange’s architectural legacy, Cart is an abstraction of a traditional form,’ says the design team. Just like the surrounding lobby (a minimalist mix of stainless steel and polished granite), the new structure is a composition of sleek, stainless steel geometric shapes. 

The cart – at 5m long, 2m wide and 3.4m tall – draws on a stationary yatai cart, a mobile food stall dating back to 17th-century Japan. Offering a modern twist on the historical typology, which traditionally had two wheels, this particular cart sits on six stainless-steel cylinders. 

The stainless steel refrigeration equipment (four refrigerators, one cooler) and an array of jatoba wood shelves are arranged on top of this base. An open ceiling structure featuring a four-sided continuous LED ribbon completes the design, crowning it with a dynamic banner, which can be paired with a nearby 7m tall media wall, to display stills, text or moving image for passers-by. 

‘Although Cart is stationary, its abstracted metallic form is designed to imbue the lobby and adjacent public plaza with the image of movement,’ say Kelley and McNeil. 

normankelley.us

spencermcneil.com 

Furniture has long been part of artist Tom Sachs’ oeuvre. For over 30 years he’s been designing and building chairs, tables, cabinets and more, considering his furniture an extension of his sculpture practice. His ‘NASA’ chairs from his 2012 show sold out in five hours when he re-editioned them in 2017, and in the early days of his career, he was assisting Frank Gehry when Gehry designed his bent plywood chair for Knoll. 

This week, Sachs unveils his first furniture show in the US in over 20 years, at Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago, a building supported by Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation, established by Gates in 2010. The meticulously restored former bank has lent its first floor to Anthony Gallery for a year-long takeover. ‘Tom Sachs: Furniture’ (on view until 4 September 2022) is the fourth show to be presented by Anthony Gallery in the space. 

The exhibition will showcase a selection of new and past designs, including his ‘Shop Chair’, which appeared on Wallpaper’s April 2019 newsstand cover. Its plentiful holes are inspired by the so-called ‘lightening holes’ from Second World War aviation, when excess material was removed to make structures both lighter and stronger. ‘We drilled out as much as we could while still making sure there is support,’ Sachs told Wallpaper* at the time. 

His armchair titled Crate Chair No 13 (2018) is crafted from found ConEd red and white barriers, a material he previously used in his mixed media artwork The Cabinet (2014). 

Indeed, Sachs creates his pieces with evidence of their construction, almost delighting in the very practice of building. His fascination with the everyday plays out in his mixed-media sculptures, which often use ordinary-to-the-point-of-mundane materials. These are not cosy, comfortable designs; there’s not an upholstered cushion in sight.

After all, Sachs is the artist who, regarding his long-term collaboration with Nike, told Wallpaper*: ‘I take the sock-liners out of my sneakers so that the ground is harder below so I can think clearer. I like to feel my skeletal structure because it’s within all of us.’

Although they are considered an extension of his art and sculpture practice, Sachs has encouraged people to use his chairs and wear his Nike collaboration trainers, preferring his work to be engaged with, rather than tiptoed around. The physical, elemental nature of the works offers an interesting contrast to Sachs' exploration into NFTs, in particular with his Rocket Factory, which won him a Wallpaper* 2022 Design Award. 

To mark the opening of the Chicago exhibition, Tom Sachs’ Rocket Factory will be doing a physical rocket launch on 8 July at Chicago's Kenwood Gardens, another of the city’s South Side locations invested in by Theaster Gates.

INFORMATION

‘Tom Sachs: Furniture’ runs from 7 July to 4 September 2022

rebuild-foundation.org
anthony.gallery

Left, Reka Nyari, Pussy, signed and numbered 1/7, chromatic print on silver paper. Executed in 2012, this work is number 1 from an edition of 7. Provenance: the artist. Right, Penny Slinger, Homage to Lawrence Durrell, painted wax life cast, in 2 parts. Executed in 1973. Provenance: the artist

A playful and provocative look at female sexuality is the focus of a Sotheby’s selling exhibition. ‘A Woman’s Right to Pleasure’, created in collaboration with BlackBook and inspired by the tome of the same name, traces female experience over the last century in a reframing of traditional narratives.

Sexuality is viewed through the lens of female artists, with works from the likes of Nan Goldin, Penny Slinger, Reka Nyari, Tracey Emin, Judy Chicago, Jenny Holzer, Marilyn Minter, Betty Tompkins, Alexandra Rubinstein and Louise Bourgeois presenting women’s sexuality through a plethora of mediums. Artworks, encompassing prints, photography, oil paintings and neon, riff on both traditional and contemporary multimedia.

Pieces consider both classical motifs and cheeky double entendres, from Reka Nyari’s Pussy print, which intertwines the linguistic and the sexual, to Penny Slinger’s rethinking of everyday motifs. With a slight shift in perspective, domestic objects – long symbols of women’s repression – become markers for female pleasure.

Judy Chicago celebrates the tactility of unexpected materials with Submerged/Emerged #1, which draws sensual silhouettes in acrylic spray on pressed and moulded cast paper, while Sophia Wallace’s Άδάμας (Unconquerable) is a sculptural celebration of femininity in wood, fibreglass, steel and enamel.

Jewellery is also included, with Indian brand Studio Renn presenting six pieces from the ‘Seed-Leaf’ collection, which will debut at the exhibition, representing the cyclical nature of fertility and abundance in gold and precious stones.

The book that lends its name to the exhibition was released in 2020, and featured artists’ works alongside essays from Erica Jong and Roxane Gay. There is photography by both established and emerging names, including Cindy Sherman, Marilyn Minter, Carrie Mae Weems, Harley Weir, Mickalene Thomas and Martine Gutierrez, while written contributions from Erika Lust, Stoya, Alice Little, Vaginal Davis, Naana Otoo-Oyortey, Dani Lessnau, Natasha Stagg and Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova muse on the links between pleasure and empowerment.

Nan Goldin, Nan and Brian in Bed, New York City. Signed, titled, dated and numbered AP4 in ink on an accompanying label cibachrome print, flush-mounted. Executed in 1983. Provenance: the artist

Louise Bourgeois, House Struck By a Lightning Bolt. Signed with the artist’s initials; titled and variously inscribed on the reverse. Ink, graphite, whiteout and gouache on paper. Executed in 1998. Provenace: acquired by the present owner at Wright Auction, Chicago, April 27, 2010

INFORMATION

‘BlackBook Presents: A Woman’s Right to Pleasure’, 8 July – 12 August, Sotheby’s LA

sothebys.com

When a building gets demolished, or refurbished, what happens to its parts? They might get destroyed, or just thrown away to the back of a junkyard, never to be seen again – or, they will get reused. And it's that last option that Garry Cooper Jr, founder of Rheaply, decided to tackle when he launched his enterprise asset management venture in 2016. Rheaply is a digital platform that serves the circular economy, essentially enabling the rehoming of parts of buildings and equipment just before a structure is torn down, placing them in new, local buildings in construction, in a bid to enhance upcycling, sustainable architecture and local enterprise. 

Ohio-born Cooper is now based in Chicago and the idea to found Rheaply was born there, thanks to his keen observation skills and entrepreneurial mind (while now he operates in the construction and architecture world, his background is in science). ‘It was super organic,' he says. ‘I came to Chicago in 2008, and studied at Northwestern University, trying to find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease. I noticed in our lab we had lots of material that we were not using, from chairs, to plastics, chemicals, and I kept hearing people saying, oh if only I had this or that, and I knew we had whatever they needed somewhere in our closet. So I started a resource sharing platform – it was basically a cart!'

The humble cart soon grew into a business, as demand increased. The concept caught on as it offered the opportunity for landlords to swiftly, easily and sustainably get rid of parts of their building that would otherwise be scrapped; this expanded from smaller-scale equipment and furniture to larger elements, such as doors, window frames, façade panels and anything in between. At the same time, new owners could acquire all these features to incorporate into their properties in an eco-friendly and cost-efficient way.  

‘I thought, all this is reusable and has embodied energy,' says Cooper, who emphasises that timing is key in making everything run in the most efficient way in this business, which is all about wasting less and lowering carbon emissions in the building industry – which currently accounts for a significant part of the world’s emissions, up to 40 per cent in some countries, such as the UK. ‘I have buildings I scope out and inventory everything in them, even before they become available. So, things get rehomed before the building is in fact deconstructed – it means there's even less transport carbon involved.'

Rheaply can now manage the reuse of everything from artwork and interiors to large steel elements and infrastructure through a dedicated digital platform. The team works with contacts and the local community to create inventories of buildings to be demolished, which clients then have access to through a website and app, making securing reusable parts for new projects smooth and fuss-free. It's all quite local – as the company doesn't operate by storing the elements or shipping far. They just transport them directly to a new construction site to be used immediately. Keeping things local is important in managing the company's (and associated projects’) carbon footprint. 

Impact is measured in various ways – in a financial sense, in how much money is saved or how much economic opportunity is granted through this scheme; in terms of waste diversion and how much waste is diverted from landfill; and through carbon emissions savings, thanks to reuse. A special carbon emission calculator tool, to be launched through the platform soon, is set to provide further clarity and visibility for the operation and its users.

What started off as a Chicago business is now expanding substantially due to high demand, with Rheaply operations aiming to launch in up to 50 US cities in the next few years, while Cooper's some 50-strong team is expected to grow more than two-fold in the next year alone. A San Francisco wing is throwing open its door this month. As Rheaply’s mission spreads through word-of-mouth among industry specialists – Cooper has a network that includes several Fortune 100 level companies in the US, as well as a range of contractor and architecture studios – expansion seems assured. 

‘The circular economy is a behavioural change. And once you’ve done something, you always look for something more, it makes you more aware. Even in a small way, it makes a big difference. [If people don't recycle more in this way, it] isn’t because we don’t want to, it’s just visibility,' Cooper stresses enthusiastically – and Rheaply seems perfectly positioned to amend this.

INFORMATION

rheaply.com

The historic Chicago neighbourhood of Bucktown lies to the north of the city centre, bisected by the I-90. Shaped by over a century of immigration by Europe and Central America, it is an architecturally diverse part of town that has inevitably been transformed by 21st-century gentrification. Grand Victorian houses are mixed with contemporary structures on vacant lots, together with modern condos and all the upscale commercial trappings of a district on the rise. Now, a sharp, metal-clad house has been added to the area’s collection of domestic offerings.

House 1909 was designed by Chicago’s Studio Dwell Architects for a slender plot alongside a mixed bag of traditionally styled brick houses.

The architects have made the most of the site by digging down to create a generous garden level, with three terraces on the floors above. They describe the structure as a ‘series of stacked metal-clad boxes’, sub-dividing each functional component into its own area. 

At street level is the ‘public’ box, a fully glazed living and dining area that overlooks the street, providing views right through the house.

The main staircase is enclosed by balustrades of tall frameless glass, and exposed shuttered concrete anchors the space and provides a contrast to the brick walls of the adjacent house. This level is cantilevered out above the first floors, providing shade for the glass wall beneath it. 

The second floor is the ‘private’ box, with only a single window to the street elevation. Two en-suite bedrooms open off a large landing, with a void through to the kitchen below.

Above this is the ‘green’ box, a self-contained ‘penthouse’ level with terraces front and rear, set back from the street to create a secluded suburban eyrie.

The programme was tight, even though it integrates a double garage and a generous amount of natural light from all directions. Although the materials include cor-ten steel, stone, the aforementioned concrete, and details in walnut wood, the bulk of the interior is white to maximise the spread of light.

Up on the penthouse level, where light is less of an issue, full-height sliding doors provide access to each deck, opening up the space in the summer to the views of the Chicago skyline.  

Mark Peters founded Studio Dwell Architects in 2005. The small studio has won awards from the AIA and places an emphasis on rich materials and light-filled spaces, regardless of the scope and scale of the brief. 

INFORMATION

StudioDwell.com

Judy Chicago’s career is defined by a fierce self-belief, prodigious creative flair, a zest for social justice, and a lot of smoke. 

In the early days, she injected expression into the emotion-deprived landscape of 1960s minimalism and met acclaim, and notoriety, with The Dinner Party (1979), a work that shook the foundations of art history. What Chicago has created since has been no less prophetic, fearless or radical; it continues to unearth the untold facets of history and penetrate contemporary culture deeper than most will dare to.

Judy Chicago’s limited-edition cover for Wallpaper’s February 2022 issue features Forever de Young, 2021, a fireworks performance in collaboration with Pyro Spectaculars by Souza. Staged on 16 October 2021 in front of the de Young Museum in San Francisco, Forever de Young was sponsored by philanthropist Jordan D Schnitzer, in memory of his late mother Arlene Schnitzer (1929-2020). Photography: Donald Woodman. Limited-edition cover © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Chicago began her Atmospheres series in the 1960s. In these site-specific cinematic works, plumes of pigment gush the air, liberating colour from the rigidity of painting and sculpture. They were an unobtrusive, ephemeral reimagining of what land art could be, but also, as Chicago told us in a recent interview: ‘an effort to feminise and soften an exceedingly male-centred art scene.’ 

These days, Chicago’s adventures in pyrotechnics (including her recent contribution to our Artist’s Palate series) are no less dramatic. On 16 October 2021, in celebration of the artist’s first retrospective, at the de Young Museum, San Francisco, Chicago filled the skies with a new smoke sculpture, Forever de Young, created in collaboration with Pyro Spectaculars by Souza. The work, awarded Best Fireworks in the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2022, also adorns the limited-edition subscriber cover for the issue. 

The volcanic, multi-coloured smoke performance erupted from a 27ft-high tiered scaffold in front of the museum; non-toxic pigments danced in the wind and light in a spectral chromatic haze. The piece was staggering in scale, concept and choreography, and a fitting reflection on Chicago’s epic career. ‘I was marginalised for many decades because nobody could fit me into the narrow categories of contemporary art. When I was young, I wanted to fit in, but now I’m old, I’m like, “I don’t want to fit in.”’

INFORMATION

Judy Chicago’s cover is the latest addition to the Wallpaper* limited-edition cover series, which features a specially created artwork by a different artist, architect or designer each issue, available exclusively to subscribers. 

judychicago.com; deyoung.famsf.org

Ann Lui and Craig Reschke head Future Firm, a boutique architecture studio they set up in 2015 in Chicago. They are joined by Pei-San Ng, Andrea Hunt, and Chloe Munkenbeck and together they make up a studio that is small, but punches far above its weight in ambition and influencing power. 

So, what exactly is Future Firm’s specialty? ‘The fastest way to describe us is that we are architects for changemakers. We do not specialise in any specific building type or style, but tend to work well with people who want to make change in their own communities or industries and see architecture as a means to that end,’ says Lui. ‘We also like to describe Future Firm as a dialogue between the two words in our name. “Future” refers to things that are speculative, catalytic, sci-fi oriented, and “firm” to a focus on buildings that do not leak and are delivered on time and on budget. The practice is a balance and tension between the two.’

Thinking about ‘unlikely but seductive futures’, as well as thinking outside the box, both in terms of formal styles and architectural atmosphere, and practical parts of the job – like the bureaucracy that comes with it – are all key drivers for Lui and Reschke. Also, ‘When useful, bite the hand that feeds’, they add. 

Projects such as the Bronzeville Winery, a restaurant focused on art, music, and wine in Chicago’s South Side, led by Eric Williams and Cecilia Cuff; and Hem House, a single-family home trying to make contemporary design available to a broader market for Hem Development, are good examples of projects that work hard and on many levels – bringing together architecture, community, and culture in a powerful mix that inspires and enriches the lives of its users. 

As one might suspect, picking the right clients is crucial in Future Firm’s groundbreaking endeavours. ‘We work best with changemakers, dreamers, night owls, rebels and rule breakers. People who throw a good party. People who are good at choosing the right song that makes everyone else want to dance. So-called “impossible” buildings or sites,’ says Reschke.

Meanwhile, extracurricular activities beyond the ‘conventional’ architectural commission also inform their practice, as both Lui and Reschke are also involved in teaching, exhibitions and curatorial projects, research and policy proposals, pro bono and advocacy work and construction and development. Multi-tasking and multi-achieving, Future Firm is one to watch. 

INFORMATION

future-firm.org

A version of this article appears in the January 2022 Next Generation issue of Wallpaper* (W*273). Subscribe today!

DAAM is an acronym for ‘Designers, Architects, Artists and Makers’, and it’s a name that aptly summarises this cross-disciplinary, energetic young studio’s stance and deeply collaborative and hands-on culture.

‘DAAM (pronounced “dam”) was a purposefully bold choice,’ explains the studio’s Chicago- based founder, Elyse Agnello. ‘It serves to focus attention on our work process and product rather than our authorship, and its playful irreverence reflects our design aspirations.’

DAAM: creating ‘new ways for people to live, learn and be together’

Agnello set up DAAM in 2016 and was soon joined by current co-director Alex Shelly. Together they lead a small team of two to six people, pursuing ‘the type of work that valourises neighborhoods, breathes new life into abandoned structures, inspires a better future, and creates new ways for people to live, learn and be together’. Seeing themselves as a ‘people-centric’ practice, they place conversation and function at the heart of their design process – form comes after.

This is also reflected in their project, client and collaborator choices. ‘We’ve prided ourselves in not “having a type” when it comes to the projects that we take on. We’ve sought out and created projects where problems are celebrated, craftsmanship is embraced, and good design is truly valued,’ Agnello says. That said, he does express a soft spot for ‘dynamic gathering spaces’, such as the studio’s Lyte Lounge (the conversion of a nursery into a community centre for-risk and homeless youth on Chicago’s South Side) and Guild Row (a former industrial site transformed into a new membership club around creativity and civic engagement). 

However, their breakthrough project is without a doubt Shell House, a small – just 1,000 sq ft – home in the Catskill Mountains. The project is a delicate renovation of a retreat originally designed in 1996 by architect Seymour Rutkin (with consultation from the Monolithic Dome Institute), and its refined approach and extreme attention to detail resulted in many awards and publications. More housing work, including entry-market initiatives, such as their Starter Home project, a concept they have been incubating for several years, are currently in the works. 

The duo’s multidisciplinary attitude and energetic nature means that their work often takes them beyond ‘traditional’ designing and building. They both often teach, while Agnello is also co-founder of Guild Row, as well the design principal of Platform Managers, a real estate development and venture management firm. All their ‘extracurricular’ activities help them grow and cross-pollinate their daily design practice. 

As to what they feel is missing from today’s architecture world? ‘Globally, we always need more young open-minded practitioners that come from diversified backgrounds that are able to blend their architectural expertise and other life experience,’ says Agnello. ‘Locally, it’s an exciting time to lead a small practice in Chicago. The City has an appreciation for design, and with the ongoing development of civic initiatives geared at addressing local issues of poverty and racism, paired with the Chicago Architecture Biennial spotlighting the role of architecture and design at the intersection of critical issues such as health, sustainability, equity, and racial justice, local opportunity abounds.

‘Small creative firms generally need better means of seizing these opportunities though. We need to develop better tools and processes to productively insert ourselves in these conversations and projects.’

INFORMATION

daamprojects.com

Mexico-born architect and urban designer Paola Aguirre Serrano set up Borderless Studio in 2016 in Chicago – and was joined by Illinois native Dennis Milam in 2019. Now, with offices in their home base and soon one in San Antonio, Texas, the duo lead a practice of five centred on ‘interdisciplinary projects, and connecting communities to design processes’.

The design and research studio is adept at looking at the intersections between art, architecture, urban design, infrastructure, landscape, planning and civic participatory processes – a skill the team put to good use in their varied projects. 

Borderless Studio: ‘invested in spatial justice and equity’

‘We approach most of our work as a collaborative process, and we try to balance commissioned work and self-initiated projects that enable us to be responsive to the communities that we work with,’ says Aguirre.

‘Our practice is invested in spatial justice and equity – and we often prioritise working with organisations, groups and businesses working with or located in communities of colour.’

Borderless’ body of work is expansive, for such a young practice. It spans a women-owned and Black-owned business storefront in Bronzeville, Chicago, focused on health and wellness services and products, called Haji Healing Salon; an outdoor pavilion inspired by temporary markets, weaved canopies and hyperbolic surfaces for the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2021; an open air installation for Exhibit Columbus 2019; a number of master plans; and Creative Grounds, a platform for actionable research to bring visibility to the closure of nearly 50 public schools concentrated in the West and South Sides of Chicago, flagging up issues of collaborative agency and social infrastructure. 

Indeed, the idea of the collective is central in Borderless’ approach and a recurring theme in all its projects. ‘We think the architecture field is missing more approaches that consider collectiveness and generosity as driving values,’ say the team. ‘The dominant narrative of architecture has been centred in individualistic efforts, and the single creative figure when we know how collective it is in practice – from ideation to implementation.’

Aguirre is a tireless campaigner of collective efforts and collective power – she is also co-founder of City Open Workshop (2016) and Design Trust Chicago (2020). The team often works with public agencies, city departments of planning or housing, and community-based organisations, aiming to instigate change and raise awareness for their goals. 

The future seems bright for the studio. Aguirre and Milam are currently in the process of getting their San Antonio base up and running, from which they hope to engage more with border region communities, and be closer to Agguire’s hometown of Chihuahua. A public housing redevelopment in the border region is also in the pipeline, along with Chicago based schemes that seek to ‘broaden the possibilities and role of public art and public space in revitalisation in communities of colour.’

INFORMATION
borderless-studio.com

An artfully designed hospitality destination is cementing the buzz of Chicago’s Wicker Park neighbourhood. The Robey, one of the stateside properties from Mexico-based Grupo Habita, is located far away from the din of the city’s congested downtown, yet has managed to generate an air of excitement that is all its own.

As the only skyscraper for miles around, The Robey commands attention at this creative ‘hood. Based in the 12-storey art deco Northwest Tower, the 69-room hotel was transformed by Belgian design firms and occasional collaborators Nicolas Schuybroek Architects and Marc Merckx Interiors, and is fully dialled into the history of its landmark home. Schuybroek, the brains behind sophisticated designs such as JJM House in Brussels, is a deft hand at balancing warmth and minimalism, rawness and refinement. 

‘Every floor tells a story,’ says Merckx. ‘It’s all about comfort and feeling at home, embracing the creative vibe and heritage of the neighbourhood.’ As such, minimalist furniture, hardwood flooring and intelligent lighting by Chicago-based Filament 33 impart a mood of simple luxury, both in rooms and in the French-American-style Café Robey. ‘The design was conceived as a subtle balance between Americana style and pared down, timeless, almost Belgian interiors,’ adds Schuybroek. ‘A harmony between old and new, European and American, unpretentious and elegant, timeless and warm.’

The property has been really on the up since its opening in 2017, offering visitors an opportunity for a taste of the Habita world as the group has managed to carve out its place in this blossoming corner of Chicago. And why Chicago? ‘For its authenticity,’ says Habita co-founder Carlos Couturier. ‘It’s a true community with unique values. It's the crossroads of America – trains, planes, roads merge in Chicago – and lastly, for its great past and amazing architecture. As Frank Lloyd Wright once said: "Eventually, Chicago will be the most beautiful, great city left in America.' 

So impressed were we by The Robey's energy that we chose it as our location for our Next Generation shoot - a series of portraits of exciting, emerging architecture practices from the American Midwest, featured in our January 2022 issue of Wallpaper*. Read more here. 

As originally featured in the January 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*214)

INFORMATION

therobey.com

ADDRESS

The Robey
2018 W North Ave
Chicago IL 60647

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

The long, dark form of Hem House cuts a minimalist, if somewhat utilitarian figure in its sleepy residential street in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighbourhood. Aiming to fill a hole in the Chicago housing market, this is not just a fine example of contemporary architecture in the city; it's also an affordable residential model for the Midwestern city and beyond. Chicago architecture studio Future Firm's co-principal Craig Reschke and local real estate developer Joseph Root joined forces to create Hem Development, a company aimed at filling a very specific gap in Chicago's housing market – with a strong design-led angle to boot. 

‘While Hem House does not compete with subsidised affordable housing in the neighborhood, the project helps fill in the “missing middle” of housing options,’ explain the team. Created with a price tag that resonates with that part of the market, the project plays a key role in diversifying the housing landscape. On top of that, Hem House is built on a lot purchased from the Cook County Land Bank Authority (CCLBA), an organisation which makes use of vacant lots in Chicago’s underserved neighbourhoods – doubling the concept's effectiveness. 

A minimalist model for Chicago housing

‘While there’s a very vibrant art and culture scene in Chicago, there isn’t a lot of bespoke contemporary architecture, and what exists in residential is almost exclusively very high end – so we’re hoping to help change that narrative,' says Future Firm co-principal Ann Lui. ‘We wanted to create a house using a few strategic construction and design ideas to keep costs down, as an idea for Chicago’s vacant residential lots,' adds Reschke.

The house is composed of two volumes stacked on top of each other – one long, low one, which makes up the ground level, and a taller one that extends up to form the first floor. Both are clad in durable, black metal siding on the outside.

The interior contrasts with the dark exterior skin, using crisp white surfaces and natural timber. A clean, minimalist aesthetic throughout puts an emphasis on light and spatial generosity, directing views out to the garden. Everything was designed with functionality in mind, while the 150 sq ft mezzanine containing a double bedroom and bathroom, adds architectural interest. 

Given the plot's size, Hem House can easily be replicated, creating plenty of future possibilities for this design and Chicago housing. ‘Because Chicago residential lots are all the same size, it’s easy for people to repeat plans and end up with a lot of underwhelming architecture. We’d like to be a trend in a different direction,’ Lui concludes. 

INFORMATION

future-firm.org

The Chicago Architecture Biennial 2021 opening exhibits have been revealed. Our catch-up with artistic director David Brown earlier in the month offered a preview of what to see and do at the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2021. Now, the highly anticipated North American architectural event is under way, launching with a range of pavilions, installations and city-wide or neighbourhood-specific activations that delve deep into ideas of The Available City – this biennial edition’s overarching theme.

The plan was to use vacant lots as a way to ‘experiment in new possibilities of how to explore and activate space’, Brown had revealed. And the projects indeed feel wide ranging and engaging, ready to spark conversation and inspire action; community values and topical, pressing issues about equity and urban living come hand in hand with colourful design pieces that draw the attention and bring joy to some of the city's previously empty sites. 

Tour of some of the best installations at the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2021 opening

Englewood’s Commons by Atelier Bow-Wow

Atelier Bow-Wow’s installation in Englewood connects with Grow Greater Englewood (GGE), an organisation that ‘works with community stakeholders to develop local food economies and land sovereignty’. Protecting land, while engaging residents with nature and locally grown food, the Englewood Village Plaza at 58th Street and Halsted will serve as a key focal point, including a weekly community market, a learning garden, as well as ‘a site for cultural discussions and film screenings, all rooted in Black culinary and land traditions'.

Living Room by The Bittertang Farm

This is a collaboration between Chicago architecture firm The Bittertang Farm and CCA Academy, a private, non-denominational high school in Chicago’s North Lawndale community. Living Room invites engagement with urban agriculture and farming within the PermaPark Garden, with an emphasis on health and wellness.

Frame(Works) of Resilience by Borderless Studio

This Chicago-based collaborative research and design practice, co-led by Paola Aguirre Serrano and Dennis Milam, has chosen to focus its 2021 biennial project on the 50 or so public schools that closed in the last four years in the West and South Sides of Chicago. The aim is to amplify creative initiatives that work towards caring for these local communities. The Overton Exchange, a community pop-up market, is part of this concept by Borderless Studio. 

New Witness Trees by Hood Design Studio

‘Trees that remain in place decades or even centuries after noteworthy events are referred to as witness trees,' explain this project's team. Hood Design Studio and its collaborators have created a new set of witness trees for the city, aiming to record this year’s events – including the ‘pandemic, racial reckoning, police brutality and reform, and climate crisis'.

Central Park Theater by Manuel Herz

An important social and cultural hub for the city of Chicago, the Central Park Theater was paired with Switzerland-based architect Manuel Herz for an installation that tells the story of the local community and contemplates its, and the threatre’s, future. The project, a fascincating mural called Traces of Past Futures, recreates the floor plans, sections, and domestic spaces of the buildings that once stood next to the Central Park Theater until the 1960s. 

Reflecting Our (Global) South Side by Matri-Archi(tecture) 

This design aims to ‘explore how occupation and reflection can facilitate learning about other cultures', says Matri-Archi(tecture), a dynamic collective dedicated to empowering African women in African-built development and spatial education and beyond. The installation invites links and similarities between Matri-Archi’s African references and Chicago’s South Side. 

Woodlawn Canopies: Stories and Futures by Norman Teague Design Studios

Norman Teague Design Studios and BNMO Design joined Project HOOD (Helping Others Obtain Destiny, an organisation that offers job training and resources to local communities in the Woodlawn and Englewood areas) and New Beginnings Church for this installation. A formerly empty lot now becomes a site for performance, reflection and displays, bringing colour to this stretch of town. 

The Center Won’t Hold by The Open Workshop

The critical issue of property ownership is at the heart of this piece by San Francisco- and Toronto-based The Open Workshop. Examining the subject of sharing resources and domestic communes, the installation discusses scaling up this idea into an urban commune, ‘a network of buildings’, the team say. ‘The design challenges the enclave nature of communes to encourage full integration with the neighborhood.’

Block Party by Studio Barnes

A 15-block stretch under the Pink Line ‘L’ train developed by Open Architecture Chicago and Freedom House, this project has two main elements: Block Party and Cover the Grid (see below). The former is a collaboration between Miami-based Studio Barnes, Shawhin Roudbari (Colorado), MAS Context (Chicago) and the Westside Association for Community Action (WACA). It celebrates Chicago’s West and South Sides’ rich history of block parties, creating a space for community programming and gathering, anchored by a structure designed to mimic blow-up bounce houses that are block party staples. 

Cover the Grid by Outpost Office

Cover the Grid comprises architectural-scale urban paintings by GPS-guided robots that transform vacant territory into landscapes for civic gatherings, inviting people to engage with unexpected civic space. 

River Frames by PORT

A gravel walkway leads to PORT's installation, River Frames, a cluster of slender forms that ponders upon the historical layers of its Southbank site. Simple steel frames arranged in minimalist warehouse-structure outlines examine the idea of new spaces for Chicago. 

Grids + Griots by Sekou Cooke Studio

‘The griot is a storyteller, entertainer, and occasional healer and an important character in many West African cultures,' explains Sekou Cooke Studio. The design team here drew on this concept, blending it with a painted grid to express tensions and opportunities for YMEN (Young Men’s Educational Network), an organisation helping young Black men in North Lawndale to transform their lives. 

Soil Lab by James Albert Martin, Eibhlín Ní Chathasaigh, and Anne Dorthe Vester, and Maria Bruun

The winner of an open call hosted by the Danish Arts Foundation in collaboration with the Chicago Architecture Biennial, Soil Lab is set in the North Lawndale neighbourhood of Chicago. As its named suggests, the project's programme is dedicated to exploring opportunities around materiality – and in particular brick. Soil Lab events include workshops and built elements using bricks, ‘a material with significance to both the Chicago and the Danish architectural vernacular’.

The Garden Table by Studio Ossidiana

Alessandra Covini and Giovanni Bellotti of Studio Ossidiana brought their expertise to Chicago with The Garden Table. The piece – ‘part kitchen, part game, part stage’, say its creators – takes simple, cleverly designed modular blocks and transforms them into places to sit on, play in, eat at or allow wildlife to grow in. 

SPLAM by SOM and the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

This outdoor pavilion is constructed from sustainably sourced timber and designed as a classroom and event and performance space by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, collaborating with Tsz Yan Ng and Wes McGee at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, utilising robotic fabrication techniques. ‘Weaving together timber beams like threads in fabric, SPLAM explores the idea of using smaller pieces of wood than conventional mass timber construction systems. Doing so means that the wood can be sourced from more rapidly renewable forests, or, in theory, even from the salvaged components of deconstructed buildings,' says Scott Duncan, SOM design partner.

INFORMATION

chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org

At the age of 82, and after 60 years of spearheading feminist art, Judy Chicago has just received her first retrospective. Puzzling, perhaps, that it’s taken so long, but in understanding Chicago’s relatively recent institutional acclaim, one must first appreciate what it took to arrive here. 

I reach Chicago via Zoom. She’s in a San Francisco hotel preparing a new Smoke Sculpture to accompany her seminal show at the city’s de Young Museum. She sits on a chair, knees bent to her chest; her wavy hair has psychedelic purple sides with a silver top. She’s eating breakfast, then apologising for eating breakfast. ‘So tell me about you,’ she begins. Not a question a journalist often predicts, but then predictability is not exactly synonymous with Judy Chicago. 

Chicago was born Judith Cohen in Illinois in 1939 to a family of Jewish liberals. Her mother, a dancer, nurtured her prodigious creative flair; her father, a Marxist and labour organiser, doted on Chicago and instilled in her a political consciousness and passion for social justice. In childhood, her parents armed her with a fierce self-belief. She never considered that, as a woman, her aspirations would be unobtainable; these were obstacles reserved for adulthood. 

The veneer began to abrade when Chicago was studying at UCLA. In response to an environment riddled with hostility and cultural contempt for female creativity, the artist adopted ‘macho’ materials and techniques, like automotive parts and heavy machinery. ‘My gender kept slipping into my work,’ says Chicago. ‘I either had to try to construct an alternative face for myself and other women, or continue to not be taken seriously.’

The patriarchy was urging Chicago to make a choice: be a woman, or be an artist. But she wanted to be both. ‘I watched my male artist colleagues moving along the choo-choo train of success, then I showed work like Rainbow Pickett (1965), and nothing happened. I felt like even though I was trying my best to be one of the guys, it wasn’t working, so I thought, “What do I have to lose by being myself?”’

In 1970, Judy Gerowitz – then her married name – legally became Judy Chicago to ‘divest herself of all names imposed upon her through male dominance’. The same year, she founded the first feminist art education programme in the US at California State University, Fresno, but there remained little discourse on the lack of female representation in art. ‘Other women artists were working then, two from the Bay Area, Joan Brown and Jay DeFeo. I tried to raise the issue and asked what it was like for them, and they wouldn’t talk about it, they denied it. It was a level of fear combined with lack of consciousness.’

In 1979, Chicago unleashed a tidal wave on the art world with The Dinner Party. The installation was visited by 100,000 people in its first three months and would be seen by 15 million by 1996. It was audacious, unabashedly vaginal, staggering in scale and content, and unprecedented in its celebration of ‘feminine’ craft. The piece is formed of a triangular table with 39 elaborate place settings for 39 iconic women from myth and history, including Sojourner Truth, Georgia O’Keeffe and Virginia Woolf. ‘Even though I believed in myself, it wasn’t an easy road that I trod. If I had not found my history as a woman, and learned about what all those women before me had faced and overcome, I could never have done it,’ she says. 

But another tidal wave loomed, one carrying an unexpected concoction of criticism and utter annihilation – ‘a lumbering mishmash of sleaze and cheese’, said one Los Angeles Times critic of her installation.

Criticism came from other, more unexpected sources. ‘When The Dinner Party opened, there was a group of English feminists who were like, “Monuments are male”. I was like, “Excuse me? Why do guys only get to do the monumental?”’ Chicago recalls.

A gulf formed between those who revered Chicago’s work, and those who mauled it, but there were also those who ignored it altogether. ‘I just didn’t fit,’ says Chicago. ‘I was marginalised for many decades because nobody could fit me into the narrow categories of contemporary art. When I was young, I wanted to fit in, but now I’m old I'm like, “I don’t want to fit in.”’ 

Forty years after The Dinner Party was exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Chicago’s de Young retrospective feels like a homecoming of sorts. Its 130 paintings, prints, drawings, and ceramic sculptures, alongside ephemera and several films chart her bold and brilliant path. ‘Claudia Schmuckli [Chicago’s de Young exhibition curator] is probably the first person to try to represent my art practice and make it intelligible across different subjects and techniques. When we came here [to San Francisco], I said to her, “I have no idea how I’m going to react when I see my entire life’s work presented. I could just end up in tears on the floor.”’

Chicago is also well known for her Smoke Sculptures – also known as Atmospheres – which she began in the 1960s. In these cinematic works, pigments flood the air, liberating colour from the rigidity of painting and sculpture. ‘It was an effort to feminise and soften an exceedingly male-centred art scene,’ she says. While her male contemporaries – the likes of Michael Heizer, James Turrell and Robert Smithson – were busy moving the earth with their land art, Chicago’s Atmospheres were a different sort of environmental intervention: explosive, ephemeral and, contrary to the work of her peers, left little trace. 

Her first wave of Atmospheres was created between 1968 and 1974. ‘When I started, the issue of toxicity and the effect on the environment wasn’t even in people’s consciousness.’ Chicago stopped making Smoke Sculptures until 2011. ‘By then, they were formulated using environmentally riendly, non-toxic materials; basically, just pigment which washes away.’

These days, Chicago’s adventures in pyrotechnics are no less dramatic. In July 2021 Diamonds in the Sky was showcased in Belen, the New Mexico town where she lives in a former hotel with her photographer husband Donald Woodman. ‘Some woman called the office and said, “The smoke turned my hair yellow.”’ Chicago’s studio manager, aware of the soluble properties of the smoke’s residue, replied, ‘Did you try washing your hair?’ The woman had not. More recently, during the creation of Niçoise Smoke, a mini Smoke Sculpture that Chicago produced for Wallpaper’s Artist’s Palate series, a concerned witness raised the alarm. ‘We had no idea how much smoke we’d need. In the first one, there was way too much smoke, and it completely covered everything and the fire department came,’ said Chicago. On 16 October 2021, a new, 15-minute long Smoke Sculpture, Forever de Young will be performed in front of the museum in celebration of ‘Judy Chicago: A Retrospective’. 

Chicago – whose new autobiography, The Flowering, was published earlier this year – has had a career punctuated by interventions. It all began with injecting expression into the emotion-deprived landscape of 1960s minimalism and reached acclaim, and notoriety, with The Dinner Party, a work that shook the foundations of art history. But the work Chicago has created since has been no less prophetic, fearless or radical; it continues to expose the untold facets of history, and penetrate contemporary culture deeper than most will dare to.

From 1985 to 1993, Chicago collaborated with Woodman on The Holocaust Project: From Darkness into Light. They delved into their Jewish roots while confronting global power structures. By examining the Holocaust in a contemporary context, the piece became a prism through which to explore oppression, injustice, and the darkest caverns of human cruelty, but also hope. 

Her most recent body of work, The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction (2015 – 2019), casts a searing eye on her own mortality, and the extinction of other species through human action, and inaction. ‘In a lot of environmental [art]work, suffering is aestheticised. You see extinct animals but don’t see how they became extinct,’ she says. ‘It’s not comfortable to look at my work, but I don’t think art’s function is to make you comfortable. I think art’s function is to make you think.’ 

Now that the art world has acclimatised to works like The Dinner Party, Chicago’s new show will take things up a gear. ‘Claudia has installed my retrospective backwards,’ explains Chicago. ‘You see the most uncomfortable work before you reach the comfortable work.’ 

Chicago’s art has never been easy to digest, and that’s the whole point. But it erupts from a place of deep curiosity, intellect, determination, wisdom and above all, empathy, not just with female artists, but with all those marginalised by the patriarchy. 

When Chicago first blazed a trail for the feminist art movement, the world wasn’t ready. But it’s not as though Judy Chicago’s art is finally in tune with the times; the times have finally caught up with Judy Chicago. 

INFORMATION

‘Judy Chicago: A Retrospective’, until 9 January 2021, de Young Museum, deyoung.famsf.org

The Flowering: The Autobiography of Judy Chicago, with introduction by Gloria Steinem, is published by Thames & Hudson, thamesandhudsonusa.com

ADDRESS

De Young Museum
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr
San Francisco, CA 94118

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

As in-person events in some parts of the world slowly start returning (with Milan Design Week and Open House London already making a splash), the Chicago architecture scene has been preparing for a celebration of its own. For the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2021, the festival’s fourth edition, artistic director David Brown digs deep into a rich pool of contributors and topics, creating a layered, varied and exciting city-wide show, tapping into critical ideas, such as urban and social sustainability, vacant spaces, diversity and community. First-hand installation experience and meaningful discourse are central to this biennial’s iteration. 

With his programme, Brown expands on the theme The Available City, his entry for the inaugural 2015 Biennial, where vacant lots served as his muse for developing ‘an experiment in new possibilities of how to explore and activate space’. In keeping with this subject (and to accommodate the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic) the biennial has migrated outside the traditional headquarters of the Cultural Center in the Loop, placing the vast majority of entries in the city’s neighborhoods, especially on the South and West sides, with their wealth of vacant lots.

We met up to find out more about this edition’s highlights, and while stressing that the biennial is a dynamic work in progress, Brown names Living Room and Under the Grid, pieces that tackle issues such as urban farming and neighbourhood gatherings, as some of his must-sees – while maintaing that of course visitors should try to visit all the sites, if possible. Looking through the festival’s advance information, RAISIN, Invest South/West and Epic Academy also feel like standout designs and concepts, talking about ideas of homeownership, performance and equity and the arts.

Here is our pick of some of the finest installations to visit during Chicago Architecture Biennial 2021. 

Living Room

This is a collaboration between Chicago architecture firm The Bittertang Farm and CCA Academy, a private, non-denominational high school in Chicago’s North Lawndale Community. Living Room invites engagement with urban agriculture and farming within the PermaPark Garden, with an emphasis on health and wellness.

Under the Grid

A 15-block stretch under the Pink Line ‘L’ train developed by Open Architecture Chicago and Freedom House, this project has two main elements: Block Party and Cover the Grid. The former is a collaboration between Miami-based Studio Barnes, Shawhin Roudbari (Colorado), MAS Context (Chicago) and the Westside Association for Community Action (WACA). It celebrates Chicago’s West and South Side’s rich history of block parties. Block Party creates a space for community programming and gathering, anchored by a structure designed to mimic blow-up bounce houses that are staples of block parties. 

Meanwhile Cover the Grid is made by architectural-scale urban paintings by GPS-guided robots that transform vacant territory into landscapes for civic gatherings, inviting people to engage with unexpected civic space. 

RAISIN

Organized by guest curator Asha Iman Veal with curatorial assistants Shannon Lin and Esraa Yousef, this piece explores themes from Lorraine Hansberry's classic 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun – including first-time homeownership, gender dynamics within communities of colour, and generational dreams. Featuring artworks by more than 30 Chicago and international artists, RAISIN offers local and global perspectives on ‘home’.

INVEST South/West

These site-specific programmes are led by artists-in-residence in four communities (Auburn Gresham, Austin, Englewood, and New City/Back of the Yards) and supported by Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, furthering an ongoing commitment to equity and access to the arts. Artists involved include (respectively for each community mentioned above) Dorian Sylvain, Antonia Ruppert, Eric Hotchkiss, and Fernando Ramirez and Project Onward. 

Epic Academy 

This outdoor pavilion is constructed from sustainably sourced timber and designed as a classroom and event and performance space by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, collaborating with Tsz Yan Ng and Wes McGee at the University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, utilizing robotic fabrication techniques.

As exciting and important as these topics may be, and however dynamic their creators’ voices, they are only just a taster of what’s on offer at Chicago Architecture Biennial 2021. A wealth of events (pavilions, exhibitions, talks and more) span the width and breadth of Chicago, making the whole city a large-scale architectural party – one that tackles serious issues in what will hopefully be an accessible, enjoyable, experiential way. Some 30 or so contributors from around the globe promise a varied and topical show, which, following on the main theme, spreads all across town. 

‘The proposition of The Available City is that all of the city-owned vacant land could in fact be community-driven collective spaces,’ says Brown. ‘Why that's important is that those lots are primarily in under-resourced neighbourhoods. This kind of collective space is driven by thinking of the interests of organisations or residents in the neighbourhood, and how those ideas might manifest to make spaces or be expressed through spaces.’

INFORMATION

The 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial opens 17 September 2021, featuring activation weekend programs and events through 31 October. Installations will remain on view until 18 December.

chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org

Through searing, potent pieces such as The Dinner Party and her smoke sculpture series, American artist Judy Chicago has examined, reimagined and rewritten the role of women in the history of art, confronting patriarchal systems with a fearless zest.

Her chosen dish, selected for its simple genius, is a Niçoise salad, with a recipe attributed to Jennifer James, who co-owns Albuquerque restaurant Frenchish with Nelle Bauer. ‘Until the pandemic, we regularly celebrated our wedding anniversary with the festive New Year’s Eve dinners that Jennifer cooked up at Frenchish. And in 2020 – our 35th – Jennifer and Nelle personally delivered our feast to us at home.’ When composing the salad, ingredients should be seasonal, in their prime, and ‘at the whim of mother nature’. 

Photographed by Chicago’s husband Donald Woodman, the artist’s recipe features colour-coordinated carnations, seasonal ingredients and a specially created smoke sculpture titled Niçoise Smoke. ‘We had no idea how much smoke we’d need,’ says Chicago. ‘The first time we tried, there was way too much; it completely covered everything and the fire department came.’

Recipe for Judy Chicago’s Niçoise salad

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup champagne vinegar (any white wine vinegar will do)

1 tsp smooth Dijon mustard

¼lb French beans, snipped, cooked and allowed to cool

7 radishes, 1in or less in diameter, well scrubbed

2 tomatoes, golf ball size, quartered and cored

1 head baby leaf lettuce, preferably summercrisp or buttercrunch, halved lengthwise

2 hen eggs, soft-boiled in the shell, peeled, chilled and halved

5oz sushi-grade tuna, preferably 1+, raw and very cold 

½ lemon, seeded

¼ cup Niçoise or black olives (optional)

Method

In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar and mustard with some kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to make the vinaigrette. In a large bowl, toss the green beans with a spoonful of vinaigrette, just to gloss. Set on a serving plate. Dress the remaining vegetables (radishes, tomatoes, lettuce), one type of vegetable at a time, in the same way, just enough to gloss, then arrange on the serving plate. Arrange the hen eggs on the plate. Slice the tuna into ¼-in-thick slices and arrange on the plate. Garnish with the lemon half. As this is Judy Chicago’s preferred salad, the olives are omitted. 

This article appears in the October 2021, 25th Anniversary Issue of Wallpaper* (W*270), on newsstands now. 

INFORMATION

Judy Chicago’s first retrospective is at San Francisco’s de Young Museum until 9 January. deyoung.famsf.org

judychicago.com

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. 

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.

INFORMATION

chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org

Ardmore House was designed and built for personal use by architects Alison Von Glinow and Lap Chi Kwong of Kwong Von Glinow. Making the most of an overlooked site – a small alleyway at the end of a residential avenue – the architects have pushed the built envelope to the edge of the plot and inverted the traditional house structure.

Despite the relatively conventional pitched-roof house approach, the upper floor houses the living space, with bedrooms on the middle floor and stores and utility on the ground floor. The striated façade mirrors the internal arrangement, with a long row of glazing on the upper level and a solid concrete base where the project meets the street. The wooden Accoya cladding comes in two shades, black and grey, further reducing the bulk of the overall volume.

The independently accessed basement level is zoned as a multi-functional space, incorporating storage space, room for an office or even a self-contained rental unit. The ground floor is dominated by a large inner courtyard, a gently curving volume that rises right up to the pitched roof and serves as both circulation space, lightwell and informal living space.

The three bedrooms are accessed from this space, with a primary suite overlooking the external courtyard to the north. Deep doorway recesses give strength and sculptural presence to this curved wall, with a ribbon of vertical balustrades above. The primary living space is on the uppermost floor, with the ceiling raised up into the pitched roof. This in turn is supported by four large wooden trusses, with create a monumental sense of scale and pair with the use of wood in the staircases, floors and fixed furnishings.

The ribbon windows form an unbroken 56 long run, creating a panoramic view of the surroundings and the sense of an indoor balcony. You’re never unaware of the house’s tight urban site, regardless of where you are within the space, but the architects have made the most of the location, unashamedly framing views of neighbouring buildings, balconies and even the brick flank wall of the adjacent structure.

Pared back detailing, a very straightforward material and colour palette and expansive open plan spaces, all contribute to create a calming yet involving urban space. Kwong Von Glinow made an appearance in our 2017 Architects’ Directory thanks to their focus on housing projects with a twist and designs that invert established design thinking.

INFORMATION

kwongvonglinow.com

Founded by Chicagoan Eric Williams in 1997, The Silver Room is one of the North American city's prominent retail destinations, known even beyond its urban borders for championing local artists and in particular, artists of colour. Now, the 1,500 sq ft southside boutique and community space has just been redesigned by local architecture studio Future Firm and designer and educator Norman Teague.

Located in the vibrant Hyde Park neighbourhood, the space needed to be truly multi-functional, often shifting from boutique to a variety of other functions daily. ‘Inherently it’s a retail store, but it’s much more than that. It’s a community space, it’s a gathering space, it’s a place for book signings, it’s a dance floor, it’s a place for fashion shows. I like the fact that it’s a lot of different things, and the more people who discover it, the more things it can become,' says Williams. ‘The way I look at it, we just kind of create a platform and people who come in can create what they want from it.'

Future Firm founders Ann Lui and Craig Reschke focused on creating a simple and utilitarian, yet flexible interior in white and grey tones. ‘A minimal design approach becomes a platform for the people, products, events that are the core of Silver Room to take center stage,' says Lui.

The space is vividly occupied by custom plywood display systems, designed in collaboration with Norman Teague Design Studios - each created with The Silver Room's curated selection of products in mind, including from fashion accessories to jewellery and products. Following the overall approach that emphasises flexibility, each unit allows simple but significant adjustments to adapt as merchandise changes. 

Where relevant and possible, the team incorporated in their designs material from the store's previous iterations – The Silver Room has had three location and 10 redesigns in the course of its life so far – giving the project a strong sense of continuity and identity, on top of its refined aesthetic and strong functionality. 

INFORMATION

future-firm.org

normanteaguedesignstudios.com

With museums, art galleries and institutions across the United States bubbling back to life this month, few shows will strike a more profound note than the first solo show of the Ghanaian painter Amoako Boafo. ‘I Stand By Me’, which opened this week at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery in Chicago, is staged in person and allows a maximum of five visitors into the gallery at a time. The exhibition of Boafo’s gloriously textured, large-scale portraits of stylish Black men and women is a succinct representation of the zeitgeist, in more ways than one.

In the last year, Boafo, who lives in Vienna but has spent most of this year in his hometown of Accra, has found a place in the canon of contemporary Black artists who are experiencing rising success. Most recently, he achieved prominence through his collaboration with Dior men’s artistic director Kim Jones for the label’s Spring/Summer 2021 collection that saw Boafo’s colour combinations, graphic prints and patterns and brushstrokes replicated as embroideries, knitwear and even figurative reproductions.

Boafo’s elegant deployment of colour, pattern and articulate manipulations of paint using his fingers give his subjects an invigorating, modern energy, while nodding to classical portraiture and expressionism.
 
‘I use painting as an instrument, both literally and to navigate the human experience,’ Boafo explains, of the oil-on-canvas and oil-on-paper paintings. ‘The hands and faces of the figures in the works have been finger-painted, [which] allow[s] me to create freely and to achieve an expressive skin tone, formed by blue, red and brown tones.’

‘I love that this seemingly simple motion can generate such intense energy and unveil these sculptural figures by the pattern the form of the skin reflects,’ he adds. ‘The lack of control I have with using my fingers is organic, and that shows through in the abstract forms that create the beautiful faces of my subjects.’

Each of Boafo’s portraits exerts an assuredness and strength, not only compositionally, but in the artist’s addition of detail as well. In the new, previously unseen body of work on view at Mariane Ibrahim, subjects often don patterned or printed garments, which have been created using Boafo’s collection of European wallpaper or gift wrap paper and through photo transfer - a significant development in the artist’s technique.

‘As my hope is to present my subjects in a vivid way, I elevate their environment with colours and intriguing patterns,’ Boafo says. ‘My sourced gift paper wrappers explore the possibilities of the transfer method, [as] textiles adorning my subjects and in some [works], placed within the foreground or background.’

In ‘I Stand By Me’, Boafo invites viewers to ‘celebrate oneself’, seeing as these works represent his own moment of self-reflection. ‘[I want to represent] solidarity and individuality [in my work]. I believe these traits have never been more crucial than now during a time of crisis, amidst the pandemic,’ he concludes. ‘In times of crisis, notions are shifting, and our roles as artists must shift as well. The subjects of the paintings serve to challenge existing beliefs surrounding the Black identity as Black people are not only constructing their own identities, but [also] celebrating them. This is how art can play a role in society.’

ADDRESS

437 N. Paulina St
Chicago, IL 60622

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

At the end of the 19th century, the architect who would later be known as Frank Lloyd Wright was still seeking his architectural voice. A new exhibit at the Elmhurst Art Museum, by City of Chicago cultural historian Tim Samuelson, titled ‘Wright Before the ‘Lloyd'', chronicles how Frank Lloyd Wright was influenced by early mentorships with architects J. Lyman Silsbee and Louis Sullivan and other design disciplines in the development of his own distinctive style.

Samuelson assembled the exhibit from his private collection of photographs, computer-aided reproductions and material scraps, several of which were rescued from demolition sites or the dumpster. The exhibit is mounted in three adjoining galleries, beginning with Wright’s childhood in Wisconsin and progressing chronologically to conclude with the first designs signed as ‘Frank Lloyd Wright'.

‘You could see his work evolving, then there is a period (between 1896 and 97), and he turns 30 years old. He figured out where he wants to be... but you can still find the essences of all those other influences if you know where to look,' Samuelson says.

Much of the exhibit focuses on Frank Lloyd Wright's collaborations with Louis Sullivan, with whom the architect shared a special gift, he says. ‘He was able to synthesize a solution drawn from all of those things just the way Google works. It's an unusual comparison to make but it absolutely works perfectly,' he adds.

Wright also had a special ability to think in three dimensions and visualize space, giving his buildings a dynamic effect, Samuelson says: ‘The idea of how a human being can experience three-dimensional space by moving through it. He knew how to orchestrate this. The buildings were functionally efficient but they were inspiring, and you would get the sense of smaller spaces opening into large spaces. Light became part of his palette where it would penetrate the spaces.'

‘Wright before the ‘Lloyd'' runs through to 14 February 2021 and is free with museum admission.

INFORMATION

elmhurstartmuseum.org

The title of this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) ‘…and other such stories', seems like a riposte to that of the previous installment, ‘Make New History'. In some ways it’s more than that – almost a riposte to architecture itself, to the degree that artistic director Yesomi Umolu felt compelled to note, at the opening panel in September, that she was ‘not against architecture'. Just the same, the show’s focus is definitely expanded, with its 80 plus contributors taking on pressing social issues like climate change, inequality and race.    

A signal contribution is the Settler Colonial City Project and American Indian Center’s ‘Decolonizing the Chicago Cultural Center', a series of glass panels installed in various locations throughout the historic building that has been the Biennial’s primary venue since its 2015 debut. The placards bear messages about the history of the Center itself, pointing out for example that its exquisite Tiffany ceilings ‘legitimise the displacement… of Native Americans', owing to the glass company’s appropriation of Sioux and Navajo motifs.

Likewise a contribution from Native American artist Santiago X, titled ‘Hayo Tikba (The Fire Inside)', which features a full-size hut-like dwelling topped by a digitally-projected flame. According to the artist’s statement, the piece ‘alludes to loss and renewal [and] indigenous people’s resilience', though as with the text panels it seems less an allusion than a direct indexical gesture – a pointed reminder, in case anyone had forgotten, of the way the West was won. 

If the show wears its didacticism very much on its sleeve, there are still instances where its lessons are conveyed via original architectural expression. ‘I think of it as like making space for conversation', says Oscar Tuazon: the artist’s ‘Great Lakes Water School' is a simple modular-ish construction that serves as a mobile, adaptable learning and event space aimed at starting community dialogues around local ecology.

Only steps away is another full-size structure, ‘Re-Rooting + Redux': a project of Chicago-based advocacy-and-design group the Sweetwater Foundation, the piece a simple assemblage of wood and bolts of a type that its creators are actually building to help serve under-privileged arounds around the city. According to the Sweetwater Foundation’s Emmanuel Pratt, the team’s strategy is akin to ‘urban acupuncture'.

An expanded vision of the practice of architecture seems like a noble goal – though this CAB is often most effective when it puts buildings front and centre

As in CAB’s past, this year’s edition also included events and presentations outside the confines of the Cultural Center. One such locale was the now-decommissioned Overton Elementary School on the city’s South Side, a stunning 1962 modernist design from architects Perkins + Will whose ghostly halls were filled with the eerie bumps and clangs of Zorka Wollny’s sound work ‘Overtone Hive'. A few miles away, at the site of what is planned to be the future National Public Housing Museum, South Africa’s Keleketla! Library and a group of collaborators debuted another sound piece, ‘Listed', a self-generating work created by the record voices of the visitors themselves as they clamber across a wooden gangway beside an eerily-abandoned housing project.

Whether onsite or off, the commitment to what co-curator Paulo Tavares called ‘an expanded vision of the practice of architecture' seems like a noble goal – though this CAB is often most effective when it puts buildings front and centre. MASS Design Group’s National Gun Violence Memorial, a simple assemblage of gabled glass boxes containing personal memorabilia from shooting victims, seems like the kind of project that really could start a movement. Sometimes architects just have to do architecture. 

INFORMATION
chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org

LA-based graphic design studio ELLA has created the identity for this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial. It’s colourful, layered and architectural – bringing together the curatorial vision, the architecture of Chicago and the many stories in between.

Inspired by Yesomi Umolu’s curatorial vision that takes a research-led approach driven by architecture in Chicago that performs as site for social action and advocacy, ELLA pulled out three guiding themes – multiplicity, unexpected connections, and open ways of thinking about architecture.

After spending time documenting parts of the city, visiting neighbourhoods and looking closely at architectural details, they decided to build the identity as an ‘open framework’. The structure would be built of signs, posters, classified ads and plaques found all around the city – their edges and shapes would become blocks, bricks, pathways and roads, making to the stories of Chicago.

As part of the research, ELLA came across a 1895 map charting the nationalities represented in the community of the Hull House settlement, Jane Addams and Florence Kelley in 1889. The settlement undertook social research of the community, and mapped it out, using a colour key to show the vast range of nationalities living there.

These colours – a bright, burnt orange; a deep petrol blue; a yokey yellow – would become the base palette for the identity, paying homage to the Hull-House social workers' legacy in Chicago and beyond. It recalls the diversity of backgrounds that the colours represent in the map, and that make up the city. The identity is a joyful celebration of the city.

INFORMATION

ella-la.com

chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org

Meet MASS Design Group, a nonprofit architecture and design collective of over 100 employees across three offices, working to advance justice and improve community health through design. MASS stands for Model of Architecture Serving Society. At the Chicago Architecture Biennial, in partnership with the artist Hank Willis Thomas and gun violence prevention organisations Everytown for Gun Safety and Purpose Over Pain, MASS presents The Gun Violence Memorial Project. The piece is a physical representation of the many gun-related deaths that occur over a single month in the US. Combining architecture with memory, advocacy and objects, it is both a memorial and an archive.

Camae Ayewa and Rasheedah Phillips make up Black Quantum Futurism, a Philadelphia-based interdisciplinary creative practice working across writing, film, visual art, performance, sound, socially engaged art, and creative research. They have brought the Community Futures Lab to the Chicago Architecture Biennial, which encourages Chicago residents and visitors to contribute personal accounts of living in Chicago – good and bad. Employing values of community collectivity, the project combines oral recordings of Chicagoans with crowd-sourced discussions on quantum physics, Afrofuturism and Afro-diasporic concepts of time, through which we can learn – and apply to architectural design.

A collective of nine architects, Berlin-based Raumlabor works at the intersection of architecture, city planning, art and urban intervention, particularly interested in abandoned or left-over sites. Their style of 'reserach-based design' involves initiating processes and opening up opportunities, instead of reaching a solution. At the Chicago Architceture Biennial, they continue work on the Open Raumlabor University, an ongoing project that began in 2014. A fictional institution and a mobile workshop, it invites users to form a temporary collective, learning lessons from Raumlabor’s previous projects and thinking about how we can co-produce the city better. 

Forensic Architecture, the research agency based at Goldsmiths University in London and founded by Eyal Weizman in 2010, is made up of a team of architects, scholars, filmmakers, designers, lawyers and scientists. Combining skill sets and knowledge, they provide spatial analysis in legal and political forums, working for international prosecution teams, political organizations, NGOs, and the UN. For the Chicago Architecture Biennial, they teamed up with Chicago based Invisible Institute, an investigative journalism production company, to create the work titled ‘The Killing of Harith Augustus’. This investigates the 2018 police killing of a local barber in Chicago using forensic and journalistic techniques, resulting in a contesting of the outcome of the case.

Urban design and research studio-workshop founded in Chicago by Paola Aguirre Serrano, Borderless Studio works with interdisciplinary projects, creative city design and civic engagement interventions that explore how architecture affects social equity. The Bronzville (+) project features at the Chicago Architecture Biennial and is a community-based initiative centred at the Anthony Overton Elementary School in the south of Chicago that was closed down in 2011. A new map of the neighbourhood drawn on the playground is designed as a collective tool for the community to use for local encounters and exploratory walks.

Turner Prize-winning architecture collective Assemble descends upon Chicago with ‘Tufting Gun Tapestries’, an exhibition showcasing a fertile culture of craft. The heart of the show features textile experiments produced by Assemble and multidisciplinary artist Duval Timothy, in collaboration with Demond Melancon and the Material Institute in New Orleans. Co-founded between London-based Assemble and Tasmania-based Museum of Old and New Art, the Material Institute aims to provide free or affordable space, tools, and professional guidance to students in the city.

Tufting Gun Tapestries transforms the Logan Center Gallery into an active site of learning and production through the investigation of an ancient carpet-making technique, reimagined with contemporary tufting equipment.

‘Tufting Gun Tapestries draws from both the long and storied history of textile art as a political medium,’ says Logan Center exhibitions director and curator Yesomi Umolu. ‘Assemble’s collaborative, participatory approach to highlight both the social and spatial possibilities of fabric.’

Known as a multidisciplinary collective with a civic-minded, collaborative process, Assemble builds on an ongoing interest in alternative education and spatial practices through the exhibition. Also featured in the project is attention to one of the Material Institute’s founding teachers Big Chief Demond Melancon, a contemporary artist and performer known for his meticulous hand-sewn beadwork. As part of programming for the exhibition, Melancon and his students from the Material Institute will come to Chicago to lead a series of workshops at the Logan Center.

Tufting Gun Tapestries is Assemble’s first exhibition in the city of Chicago. Taking place at the University of Chicago’s Logan Center for the Arts until 27 October, the exhibition will coincide with ‘...and other such stories,’ this year’s edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial on view at the Chicago Cultural Center until 5 January 2020 — also curated by Umolu along with Sepake Angiama and Paulo Tavares. 

INFORMATION

assemblestudio.co.uk

arts.uchicago.edu/logan-center

ADDRESS

Logan Center Gallery
915 E 60th Street
Chicago

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

For many years, McCormick House was a jewel hidden in plain sight, incorporated almost invisibly into the Elmhurst Art Museum, connected to the main building by a 15 ft corridor constructed in 1997. The museum's latest exhibition, ‘McCormick House – Past, Present, Future', stages the entire house as a private single-family home with mid-century modern furnishings.

The exhibition, curated by interior architect Robert Kleinschmidt, expands on an installation from 2018, when Kleinschmidt staged the house’s Children’s Wing with period décor. It also represents a continuation of an ongoing project launched in 2017 to restore the house to something approaching the original design by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, including removing the corridor.    

‘Rob’s exhibition will help our guests understand its domestic scale through period furniture and illustrate its history as a residence,' says John McKinnon, the museum's executive director.

McCormick House is comprised of two modular units measuring 2000 sq ft, and was constructed as a prototype for mass-produced modular homes to be located in the western suburbs of Chicago. However, the innovative structures proposed by co-developers Robert Hall McCormick III and Herbert S. Greenwald failed to attract a sufficient number of buyers, and construction never began.

McCormick and his wife, poet Isabella Gardner, lived in the home from 1952 to 1959. In 1961, Arthur and Marilyn Sladek moved in with their family and remained there until 1963, when Ray and Mary Ann Fick moved in till 1991. The house was left empty until 1994, when it was moved to its present location adjacent to the museum, which had purchased the house and used it as its administrative offices from 1997 to 2015.

Highlights from the exhibition include weekly tours on Sunday afternoons from 15 September – one of the guides is a former resident of the house. A lecture, ‘Preserving the Modern Home' by architectural historian Susan Benjamin, is scheduled for 5 October and a panel discussion, ‘Preserving Chicago’s Glass Houses', is scheduled on 26 October; both offer context and celebrate Chicago's lasting architectural legacy.

INFORMATION
elmhurstartmuseum.org

‘Twelve thousand square feet of exhibition space is still just scratching the surface of what Virgil has done for the past 20 years,’ says Michael Darling, chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago, who scoped Virgil Abloh for the survey show – before his Louis Vuitton appointment as menswear director in 2018 – on the basis of holding up one of Chicago’s ‘local superstars’.

The exhibition is a bit of a ‘cheat code’ for understanding Abloh, the creative director, designer and polymath. It covers a lot of ground: his work with Kanye West as a product and graphic designer for 10 years, his DJ career, Off-White, Louis Vuitton, Ikea, and lots in between. ‘We have laid the ground work, so someone can come in after us,’ says Darling, in recognition that there will be much more to come.

Abloh and Darling teamed up with AMO’s head of design Samir Bantal to formulate and design the show. Four sections divide up Abloh’s offering from 1989 to date: Music, Fashion, Design and the Black Gaze – the final section ‘cuts through the hype and the buzz’ and ’brings to the surface the social commentary especially around race, that’s been there from the beginning,’ says Darling.

The buzz is represented by the graphic ‘culture wall’ that welcomes you into the exhibition – an ‘autobiographical, matrix of influences’ inspired by the visual identity of Rem Koolhaas’ 1978 book  Delirious New York, featuring portraits, references and text.

Abloh’s relationship with Koolhaas and OMA goes back to when a new building was being built at the Illinois Institute of Technology campus when Abloh was an architecture student there. The relationship developed further when the pair sat down for an interview for System Magazine in 2017, and it was Abloh’s idea to get AMO involved in the exhibition.

Bantal describes the process of working with Abloh on the exhibition as akin to Nanggol (the original version of bungee jumping, performed as a ritual by the men of Vanuata – without the elastic line) and ‘almost strictly’ all collaboration was online: ‘endless threads of scrollable ideas free from location or time’ writes Bantal in the ‘Figure of Speech’ catalogue.

His work with Abloh and observations about his work led Bantal to conclude ‘the idea of the Prototype as an effective strategy’: ‘A prototype is open-ended and receptive to critique. A prototype is a perfect freeze of exploration, liberated from a definitive end goal,’ writes Bantal.

Walk around the exhibition with these words in mind. You’ll see Abloh fearlessly venturing from project to project, unafraid of failure or new pursuits, priding himself in his ability to be a ‘tourist’. ‘I’ve crafted my output into opening minds, instead of reaffirming closed minds,’ says Abloh in a conversation between Rem Koolhaas and Bantal, explaining his tourist/purist dichotomy. Some prototypes in the exhibition feel like finished works, others feel like the start of something exciting, and some probably made it off the drawing board slightly prematurely, but such is life.

Abloh’s IKEA furniture design prototypes are piled up in the exhibition ready for a bonfire. They are reverse prototypes, taking history and working forwards, summarising, simplifying and stripping back – representing Abloh’s interest in opening up classic 20th century design (think Prouve, Le Corbusier and Nakoshima) to a millennial consumer audience. These works also interrogate his interest in copyright law, public domain and fair usage. ‘A couple of the rugs made it into the world’ says Darling, as we observe the pyre.

Instead of prototypes, some works look more like props. Fake functional objects wheeled out from backstage at the Virgil Abloh show. A billboard spelling out ‘Advertise here’ with graffiti on the back. Concrete style graffitied furniture pieces and a reflective, high-gloss stainless steel iPhone-shaped mirror for Kreo. Diamond studded paper-clip jewellery for Jacob & Co. These objects nod to Abloh’s formative years as a skateboarder in suburban Chicago.

While a T-shirt could feel like a prototype, Abloh makes it a work of art. T-shirt screen-printing frames hang on the walls like masterpieces. One framed Supreme t-shirt in the show has never been worn, and only ever displayed in a frame in a museum. From his early t-shirt printing ventures with J Boogie in Chicago as a teen skater, to making merchandise with Kanye West, to designing the Pyrex 23 t-shirts (a comment on young black men, drug culture and Michael Jordan), to his work with re-used Champion and Ralph Lauren flannel tees, working with Shayne Oliver from Hood by Air, Off-White staples, and pieces for Louis Vuitton – such as an unreleased tie-dye Pistolesi leather t-shirt for Men’s SS19 seen in the show, or a simple black and white staff t-shirt for the first runway show. The t-shirt is a medium that Abloh has mastered.

A whole set of unreleased Nike trainer prototypes on a low plinth are also works of art – studded, bulbous beauties, labeled “prototype”, smooth and contoured in phoenix red or bulky dinosaurs in grey and transparent plastic. The trainers don’t feel like throw-away prototypes, they are there to be studied and savoured.

More than anything, the exhibition shows how Abloh approaches fashion as an artist. As creative director of Off-White launched in 2013, and artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, from March 2018, he has worked to embed concepts and thinking into collections, campaigns and runway shows. The exhibition presents artefacts and remnants of these – a bright yellow neon sign used in his first Off-White runway show in Paris (F/W 16) reading ‘You’re obviously in the wrong place’. Or his first campaign images for Louis Vuitton shot by Inez and Vinoodh featuring children of colour playing with luxury Louis Vuitton products.

Abloh is saying a lot: the A/W 2019 collection titled ‘Sliding, backwards, slowly’ featured rubber coated LV-branded neon gloves and a shirt and pants featuring graphics from The Wiz cartoon, that adapts the Wizard of Oz from an African-American perspective. In the final room, the ‘Keep all’ LV bag with a hefty orange chain to keep it safe, speaks of who he is in the world, and how the luxury industry perceives young black males walking into an LV store. Abloh’s ‘black gaze’ that runs throughout the exhibition and infiltrates his work is personal, but it also feels universal in many ways. He brings a perspective that echoes that of many.

Right now, we are still caught up in who Abloh is, but after seeing this exhibition, maybe you'll start thinking more about what he is actually saying. Abloh summarises in the final conversation of the catalogue spoken to founder and editor-in-chief of Vestoj, Anja Aronowsky Cronberg: ‘...My goal is to disappear and let the work speak for itself.’

INFORMATION

Virgil Abloh: "Figures of Speech" , MCA, 10 June to 22 September 22, 2019
mcachicago.org

A message was delivered during the inauguration of the 51st edition of commercial design fair Neocon last week. At the event in Chicago, keynote speakers Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch of New York-based firm Roman + Williams urged designers to lead with the senses and honour history. Themes of tactility, natural elements, and blurred lines between work and the home continued throughout activations and launches, including those from Skyline Design, Designtex, Haworth and Stylex.

Skyline Design presented a collaboration with Paris-based designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, the Oblique and Chevron glass collection. Inspired by the luminous properties of stained glass and the natural world, these architectural-grade glass tiles provide an abstracted colour landscape. To achieve the ethereal, ombre patterns, colours from eight nature photographs taken by the Bouroullecs were digitally distilled and realigned to transmit optimal light, forming a sense of movement and atmospheric tone.

DesignTex launched The Bauhaus Project which celebrates women designers and tactile Bauhaus developments. Under license and collaborating with the estates of Bauhaus weavers Gunta Stoltz and Anni Albers, 16 minimally or never-produced designs were recreated. Innovative digital technologies and adaptive fibres are integrated into their production, bringing past designs into the modern work environment.

Patricia Urquiola’s designs for Haworth, specifically the Cabana Lounge, combats the chaos of the workplace with sound sensitive barriers that encourage in productivity and sensory protection. In doing so, the lounge is simultaneously private and communal. The rounded edges of the modular seating system produce an overall impression of softness and comfort, blurring the line between the work and home environments.

Stylex presented a set of smart work systems called Free Address, developed by Jay Koback and Ehren Gaag of Gensler. The seating and table sets support cooperative work in free-form creative environments, yet are disguised as sophisticated sofas and side tables for the home.

At Neocon, it was clear brands embraced sensory comfort, domesticity and balance – inside and outside of the workplace. Commercial environments were gearing towards our human experiences and how the space has an impact on our health, productivity, creativity and collaboration.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Neocon website

The onslaught of summer typically brings with it a mushrooming of pop-up stores, bars and other fun short-term concepts, but few can hold a candle to Nike’s newly launched temporary initiative in Chicago: the opening of the NikeLab Re-Creation Center, in partnership with the ultimate polymath and Chicago native, Virgil Abloh. Now running through 28 July, the space has been designed to empower the local youth and community by tapping into the cultural pulse and heritage of Chicago, and hence help nurture the next generation of homegrown creativity.

Backed by a robust line of programming, such as workshops, giveback programs and of course, exclusive merchandise, the Re-Creation Center most notably involves a roster of influential, Chicago-based creative forces – selected by Abloh himself – who will not only host and lead sessions, but also serve as mentors for a specially curated mentorship program as well. These figures include graphic designer Chuck Anderson, photographer Paul Octavious, fabric designer/artist Alyx Harch, architects/designers Thomas Kelly and Carrie Norman for brand identity, and architects Ann Lui and Craig Reschke of Future Firm.

The mentorship program will welcome ten Chicagoan creatives for an eight week long immersive experience with Abloh and the mentors, which will enable them to not only refine their area of expertise, but also open themselves up to other complementary areas to their practice.

Although this enviable opportunity for career development is only available to a lucky few, all visitors to the NikeLab Chicago Re-Creation Center will be able to access the Reuse-a-Shoe initiative – a unique installation that recycles worn-out trainers by turning them into Nike Grind, the sports powerhouse’s proprietary material that transforms recycled footwear and surplus manufacturing material into premium sport surfaces like running tacks, gym floors, courts, playgrounds and turf fields. This material will ultimately be used in the building of a community basketball court in Chicago, also designed by Abloh, that’s currently set to open ahead of NBA All-Star 2020.

INFORMATION

NikeLab Chicago Re-Creation Center is open until 28 July. For more information, visit the Nike website

ADDRESS

673 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago
IL 60611

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

The Hoxton's American expansion continues at full throttle with the addition of its new Chicago outpost – it's third property in the US in under six months, and it's seventh worldwide.

Located in the city's exciting West Loop/Fulton Market neighbourhood, Hoxton's Chicago puts its own stamp on the city with a newly built property, housing 182 rooms.

Designed in-house by Ennismore Design Studio, the stylish hotel touches on the area's industrial past, while bringing in it's trademark residential feel. Mid-century-style furniture and custom-designed rugs are eclectically mixed with locally sourced artwork to create an inviting atmosphere that keeps both locals and visitors in mind.

On the culinary front, hometown heroes Boka are at the helm of Cira, an all-day dining restaurant and Lazy Bird, a cocktail bar in the basement. Cabra, a rooftop bar and eatery by chef Stephanie Izard is now open, together with a pool.

INFORMATION

Website

ADDRESS

200 N Green Street

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

The Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) has announced the curatorial theme for the 2019 edition which will be: ‘…and other such stories’. The theme looks beyond architecture into an exploration of the conditions that affect it, through an expansive, research-led and global approach.

With its main exhibition hub at the Chicago Cultural Center, the third edition of the Biennial will ripple across the city between 19 September 2019 and 5 January 2020. Look out for its punchy new graphic identity designed by Los Angeles-based design studio, ELLA.

While CAB's home city provides much inspiration for the theme, this year it moves beyond the revered architectural heritage of the city to uncover the conditions at play that shape the built environment. Expect multiple disciplines beyond architecture to be addressed, such as visual arts, policymaking, education, and activism.

Yesomi Umolu, artistic director, and Todd Palmer, biennial executive director at the Chicago Architecture Biennial. 

The theme draws from the city-wide and global curatorial process established by the team led by Umolu, and co-curators Sepake Angiama, whose work centres on education, and Paulo Tavares, a Brazil-based architect and academic. ‘Our approach to this edition of the biennial has evolved through conversations with architects, spatial practitioners, and everyday people in Chicago and other global locations, including through partnerships fostered in our research initiatives in the cities of São Paulo, Johannesburg, and Vancouver,’ says Yesomi Umolu, artistic director.

Four curatorial areas of inquiry will segment the biennial: No Land Beyond; Appearances and Erasures; Rights and Reclamation; and Common Ground. These will dig deeper into the theme-crossing issues including indigenous approaches to landscape, monuments and memorials, and civic purpose in architectural practice.

‘We are thrilled that this year’s curatorial focus will open up the architectural conversation on key sociopolitical and environmental issues that shape our present reality and introduce new voices and perspectives. Through the dialogue they catalyse, we expect this Biennial to inform a collectively imagined future,’ says Todd Palmer, biennial executive director. 

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Chicago Architecture Biennial website

In Chicago, on the 32nd floor of a skyscraper in the West Loop, Rome-based architectural firm Alvisi Kirimoto has designed a floor of office space for a private client’s headquarters. Combining Italian and Japanese design principles, Alvisi Kirimoto’s trademark approach, the office captures a calm and warm modernism with its slatted timber space dividers, artwork from the client’s personal collection and unique winter garden.

Elegant spatial solutions including floor-to-ceiling natural wood walls, glass panels and vertical timber slats creating subtle partitions that materialise and dematerialise to control privacy and brightness across the 2,600 sq m space. The natural flow of compression and release delineates the reception area from the meeting rooms, private offices and common areas.

‘The 3.6m ceiling height, which is absolutely extraordinary for an office, has allowed us to alternate suspended elements such as fabric panels, with sculptural elements resting on the floor and left at their original height,’ say Massimo Alvisi and Junko Kirimoto.

Natural materials and plenty of light are complemented by colour to breed a warm modernism, clean and functional, yet also vibrant and inspiring. The bright orange ceiling in the ‘playroom’ space and the red panels of the restaurant are uplifting, while white walls in the collaborative workspace and rust-coloured Japanese wallpaper at the entrance are calming in contrast.

A double height ‘light box’ floating above the city, the winter garden serves as a multi-functional space for art and music. At its heart, a bamboo sculpture by Japanese artist Ueno Masao is suspended from the ceiling above a table with a Japanese lacquer finish designed by Junko Kirimoto. These are just a few of the remarkable unique pieces installed throughout the office – an exhibition space for the client’s collection runs over 1,000 sq m.

The main entrance to the office is located at the centre of the structural core of the skyscraper, also encompassing all services and facilities, leaving the office open to the Chicago city vista, filled with office buildings of the 20th century and the future.

The city beyond the glazed walls of the office is reflected in the interior design: ‘It is precisely the layout of the city with its surprises that we strive to project within this space: we stroll through pieces of contemporary and oriental art, or archaeology, surprised occasionally by strong colours or the unusual double heights of a skyscraper, guided by the tight rhythm of the walls, the light and the visual axes,’ say the architects of the journey through the space.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Alvisi Kirimoto website

Chicago's booming hospitality scene has received a further boost with the launch of Found, a new elevated hostel brand.

Its first outpost is enviably located in the Windy City’s River North, a fashionable neighbourhood full of destination restaurants, cutting-edge art galleries, and one of Chicago's architectural icons, the Marina Towers.

Inside a cast-iron building from the 1920s, the hotel was designed by Built Inc. to appear comfortably lived-in. The lobby, for instance, is outfitted with a backlit, cedar cubby wall stuffed with random tchotchkes – from colourful globes to animal ceramics and old books – the kind that you might collect over a lifetime of travelling. Next to it, there is a seating area where vintage rugs are topped with sculptural chairs, while downstairs the lounge is stocked with vintage board games. The 60 guestrooms are layered with texture: herringbone floors, walnut custom beds (some are even bunk beds), and bright marble bathrooms – the idea being to efficiently and stylishly piece together just the necessities.

It’s in the restaurant and bar outlets, however, that Found is most aesthetically dynamic. The basement-level Chicago satellite of celebrity-approved Blind Dragon (a cocktail karaoke bar with addresses all over the world) is totally unlike the rest of the property in its visual grandeur. The leopard-print stools, fringed red-lit lamps, and gilded banquettes provide an inspiring backdrop to a night out sipping on Asian-inspired libations or to belting out a rock-and-roll classic.

INFORMATION

Website

ADDRESS

613 North Wells Street

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

Hotel EMC2
The scientific equation for a unique hotel-stay has been solved by the 195-room Hotel EMC2 located in Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, which blends comfort with some quirks such as a cute robot delivering room service. Unconventionally inspired by Albert Einstein, bedrooms designed by Greg Keffer of the Rockwell Group mix up fruity combinations of rose gold fixtures, gramophone inspired speakers and calming blue clouds of colour. Part of the Marriott Autograph family, the 21-storey building designed by Chicago-based architect Jackie Koo fronts epic views across the Chicago skyline and at ground level hosts a double-height restaurant, the Albert, which has an ebullient open kitchen and a cosy mezzanine space for working and relaxing.

228 E Ontario St; tel: 1.312 915 0000; hotelmc2.com

Ace Hotel Chicago
In the speedily developing Fulton market area – an industrial meat-packing district in Chicago – the seven-storey Ace stretches across three blocks housing 159 rooms. The wide lobby space, which encourages co-working with its assortment of informal spaces, is decorated with American craft pieces and work by emerging contemporary designers commissioned from the local Volume gallery such as hanging textiles by Christy Matson or design work by Sun Jang, a long-time Ace collaborator. From the ground floor gallery space to the fifth floor terrace and sculpture garden, and up again to the seventh floor rooftop bar, there is a focus on social activity and public events.

311 N Morgan St; tel: 1.312 764 1919; acehotel.com/chicago

The Robey
This towering hipster haunt is a social hangout ideal for exploring Chicago’s finest neighbourhood lifestyle. The only high-rise for miles with views from Wicker Park to the Chicago skyline, the 12-storey art deco building was designed by Perkins, Chatten, & Hammond in 1929, and has now been renovated into a 69-room Grupo Habitas hotel. Interiors by Marc Merckx and Nicolas Schuybroek Architects bring softness, jewel colours and warm natural wood paneling to the stripped back concrete walls, smooth terazzo floors and architecturally unique outdoor spaces. The Robey shares a cool-blue triangular dipping pool with its sister property The Robey Hall.

2018 W North Ave; tel: 1.872 315 3050; therobey.com

The Robey Hall
Next door to The Robey, there’s a lower key Grupo Habitas outpost called The Robey Hall, positioned in the market as a hostel, it brings the same brand of cool to a lower-budget yet equally design-conscious crowd. Exposed interior materials of steel and birchwood and polished concrete floors trace the hostel’s identity back to its industrial beginning as a fireproof furniture warehouse built in 1905. With 20 mixed rooms from private to dorm sized and a communal bar and social space, the hostel is a social spot ideal for groups and community-minded visitors. Complimentary tokyobikes are available for all guests to hire out for a neighbourhood cruise.

2022 W North Ave; tel: 1 872 315 3080; therobeyhall.com

Chicago Athletic Association
On entering the grand Venetian Gothic-style Chicago Athletic Hotel, one steps back in time to the traditional members club that first opened in 1893. Full of original craftsmanship such as carved wooden panels, the hotel has been designed to reflect its origins. From leather lined booths and archival photographs in the ‘Cherry circle’ dining space to the vintage furnishings in the impressive vaulted glass and steel rooftop atrium at Cindy’s, the rooftop restaurant – nostalgia is never far away. Located on Michigan Avenue, this hotel is a stone’s throw from the Chicago Loop and Millennium Park.

2 Michigan Avenue; tel: 1 312-940-3552; chicagoathletichotel.com

The Viceroy Hotel
At street level, the terracotta and masonry architecture of the Viceroy blends with the traditional Chicago vernacular, yet look up, and you’ll see a soaring 18-storey glass tower designed by Goettsch Partners – fitted out with an outdoor pool and rooftop cocktail lounge. Exemplarily of Chicago’s contemporary hotel boom, its also maintains the essential character of the city. The modern interior design, which features plenty of white marble, a 30 ft art wall and elegant brass light fixtures, is fitted out by connoisseurs of the hospitality industry TAL Studio.

1118 N State St; tel: 1.312 586 2000; viceroyhotelsandresorts.com/en/chicago

Ambassador Chicago
The Ambassador Chicago is a smooth operator in the quiet Gold Coast area, a neighbourhood of tree-lined avenues and elegant mansions in proximity to Lake Michigan. The hotel stakes its claim as the city’s original boutique hotel, first opening in 1926 and garnering a reputation as a locus for Chicago’s Jazz Age and celebrity clientele. With 285 rooms named after icons such as Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, the hotel design pays close attention to art deco-inspired details, from the original crown mouldings to the ornate wrought iron-work and glass doorknobs. While celebrating its history, the palette of minimal and neutral-coloured furniture, brings the hotel up to date, along with the additional offerings of a 24-hour gym and two restaurants.

1301 N State Pkwy; tel: 1.312 787 3700; ambassadorchicago.com

The Freehand
Feel at home at the Chicago edition of the Freehand, where lively and comfortable communal spaces are adorned with regional craft pieces, vintage furniture and patterned textiles. The colourful, cool interiors designed by Roman and Williams celebrate the Midwestern spirit and create a lived-in atmosphere for weary travelers in search of a homespun hang out. Settle in for an evening at the in-house craft cocktail bar, the Broken Shaker, then wake up for your morning artisanal coffee at the Freehand’s own Café Integral. With shared and private rooms, the Freehand’s restored 1920s building is located in the downtown River North neighbourhood, in proximity to the buzz of the city and a short walk to the Chicago Riverwalk.

19 E Ohio St; tel: 1.312 940 3699; freehandhotels.com/chicago

The Kimpton Gray
Just take one step into the Kimpton Gray’s lobby to have a look at the ornate ‘Georgia Gray’ marble interiors that gave the hotel its name. The ornate stonework is certainly showstopping. Located within the historic New York Life Insurance Building – which dates back to 1894 – this hotel is a little piece of Chicago’s grand architectural history. Found in the Financial District amongst the skyscrapers, the hotel is primed for after-hours activity. Go for pre-theatre champagne and caviar at the Kimpton Gray’s lobby bar, Vol. 39 or take the elevator up to Boleo, the hotel’s bar and lounge (with a retractable roof) for a view across the city.

122 W Monroe St; tel: 1.312 750 9012; grayhotelchicago.com

The Thompson
Offering up loft-style living in the leafy up-scale Gold Coast neighbourhood, The Thompson’s sought after floor-to-ceiling windows cast views down Michigan Avenue and across the Magnificent Mile. British designer Tara Bernerd brought some warmth to the industrial interiors with dark American wood panels and rich velvety mid-century modern-style furniture pieces. With structured booths, exposed brick and high-ceilings the fine dining restaurant by Nico Osteria, which serves up modern Italian seafood dishes designed by Chef Wu-Bower, is a downtown hit with the locals, a good sign to guests looking for good food and atmosphere.

21 E Bellevue Pl; tel: 1.312 266 2100; thompsonhotels.com