rahm emanuel – DesignApplause

apple & nike drawn to chicago river.

Dec 7, 2015

above> looking east towards lake michigan, orleans street bridge in foreground

last january 2014, mayor rahm emanuel gave notice that he envisions big plans for the chicago river. the news included continued development on the chicago river walk project and evening lighting concepts along the walk and the bridges.

below > rendering of mayor rahm emanuel’s proposed city lights competition in chicago | looking west, dearborn street bridge in foreground | city of chicago

below> june 2015, two new sections of the riverwalk opened to the public: the river theater between clark and lasalle streets | loop spy jennifer

october 2015, emanuel unveiled plans (the jetty) for the final six blocks of development along the chicago river’s main branch, from state street to lake street. this project, developed for the chicago department of transportation by sasaki in collaboration with ross barney architects and benesch engineers.

below > rendering of the jetty between wells and orleans streets | city of chicago

above> new apple flagship in the works on michigan avenue | renderings courtesy of chicago department of planning and development

november and december 2015 several big names feel drawn to the river – were they following river development the past 23 months? in november, apple announced a new flagship store, a glass pavilion with a michigan avenue street-level steps that spill down to the chicago river’s riverwalk. the architect for this project is london-based foster + partners. [ details ]

above> nike turned a barge on the chicago river into a floating gym

december 2015, nike, nearing the culmination of its month-long #GetOutHere social media campaign urging followers to exercise outdoors during the winter, turned a barge on the chicago river into a floating gym. it’s important to keep in mind, this is a first, a major brand, heck any brand, using a barge ON the river, if only for a week, for the purpose of promoting their business.

worth mentioning, nike started planning a single national #getouthere event more than six months ago. chicago was selected as the location for this december event, per jim beeman, a nike vice president. “we always hold that chicago has some of the hardiest athletes in the world when it comes to battling the elements,” he said.

sadly, a very smart man, robert boudreau didn’t take into account that docking up on the river requires the usual red tape one might imagine. going back to september 2015, when the chicago architecture biennial was launching, boudreau, in 1974, wanting to build a 200 foot floating ‘outdoor concert hall’, was smart enough to hire esteemed philadelphia architect louis kahn to design it. he also was smart enough to ask the city of chicago if he could host concerts on the river walk in front of the steps of the river theatre during the opening week of the biennial. he asked the city just several days notice. a real shame it didn’t happen. [ details ]

anyway, floating a pop-up on the river is a no-brainer. please allow for the red tape.

below> point counterpoint ii | louis kahn

2015 chicago architecture biennial opening days public schedule.

Sep 30, 2015

the first chicago architecture biennial is the largest architecture and design festival ever to be held in north america | courtesy iwan baan

Chicago is billing the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) as North America’s biggest survey of international contemporary architecture, but the event is not alone. Besides Venice, whose architecture biennial began in 1980, cities worldwide hold biennial exhibitions of art, design and architecture year-round.

The first biennial, which has secured a $2.5 million lead grant from British oil and gas giant BP, is planned for 3 October 2015, through 3 January 2016. Mayor Rahm Emanuel personally solicited the lead, $2.5 million donation for the biennial from BP. The city’s biennial will present scale models, photographs and more unconventional displays hosted at the Chicago Cultural Center.

The event organizers have Chicago holding its architecture biennial in odd-numbered years with Venice historically presenting even-numbered years. The experts say this is a 10-year, five in Chicago, trial run. DesignApplause is optimistic.

The event will be “the Davos of architecture,” said the co-artistic director of the Chicago biennial, Sarah Herda, referring to the Swiss city that hosts global business and political leaders at its World Economic Forum. Herda is the executive director of the Chicago-based Graham Foundation, a grant-making architecture organization that has partnered with the city to host the biennial. Joseph Grima is the other co-artistic director, an architect and writer who co-curated the 2012 Istanbul design biennial.

There will be no admission charge for the Chicago biennial. The Venice event two-day ticket price is 30 euros ($41). The target audience will be architects and designers, cultural mavens, students and tourists.

Below is a schedule of public events. Some events will require an RSVP. [ chicago architecture biennial ] [ graham foundation ]

[ wednesday 30 september ]

4:30–6 PM Panel: Death and Afterlife of the Post-Industrial City
Location> The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, SAIC Ballroom, 112 South Michigan Avenue

Presented by the Department of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the SAIC in collaboration with the Department of Architecture and Design at MoMA, New York and the Elkones Institute (Basel), with additional support from the Shapiro Center for Research and Collaboration and the Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects.
Free and open to the public

5:30 PM UIC School of Architecture, Fall 2015 Lecture Series: Tatiana Bilbao Principal, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, Mexico City, Mexico
Location> 1100 Architecture + Design Studios, 845 West Harrison Street
Free and open to the public

6:30 PM Chicago Architectural Club: Burnham Prize & Currencies of Architecture Exhibition Opening
Location> Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 South Michigan Avenue
Free and open to the public

[ thursday 1 october ]

2-5 PM House Housing + We, Next Door exhibit
Location> 1322 West Taylor Street

Presented by the National Public Housing Museum and Columbia University
Free and open to the public

2:30 PM Screening of Infinite Happiness
Location> AMC River East 21, 322 East Illinois Street

4–6PM Outside Design Exhibit Artist Talk and Reception with, David Benjamin, Eric Ellingsen David Hays, Joyce Hwang, and Emmanuel Pratt
Location> The Art Institute of Chicago, 112 South Michigan Avenue
Hosted by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Free and open to the public

5-7:30 PM James Wines: SITE Specific - Architectural Drawings 1979 to 2012 | Opening Reception
Location> Rhona Hoffman Gallery, 118 North Peoria Street
Free and open to the public

5:30-8 PM International Perspectives | Chicago and the Future of Urban Change
Location> The Art Institute of Chicago’s Rubloff Auditorium, 111 S Michigan Avenue

Presented by Van Alen Institute and the Architecture & Design Society of the Art Institute of Chicago
Free and open to the public

5–8 PM Barbara Kasten: Stages Opening Reception
5PM Opening Remarks by Barbara Kasten and ICA curator Alex Klein
Location> The Graham Foundation, 4 West Burton Place
Free and open to the public

[ friday 2 october ]

1-2:15 PM Biennial Participant Roundtable Moderated by Beatrice Galilee and José Esparza
Location> Claudia Cassidy Theater at the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 East Randolph Street
Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

2:30-4 PM Biennial Participant Roundtable Moderated by Emiliano Gandolfi and Awarding of the Curry Stone Design Prize
Location> Claudia Cassidy Theater at the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph Street
Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

4:30 PM Theatre: Performance by Santiago Borja
Location> Carr Chapel, IIT, 65 East 32nd Street
Free and open to the public

4:30 PM Superpowers of Ten: Performance by Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation
Location> The Tank, Chicago Athletic Association, 12 South Michigan Avenue
Free and open to public. Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

6 & 6:15PM We Know How to Order: Performance by Bryony Roberts and South Shore Drill Team
Location> Federal Plaza, Chicago
Free and open to the public. Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

6:30 – 10PM New Horizon_architecture from Ireland at the Chicago Design Museum
Location> Chicago Design Museum, Block Thirty Seven, 108 North State Street, 3rd Floor
Irish Design 2015 in partnership with the Chicago Design Museum
RSVP to rsvp@chidm.com

8 PM Superpowers of Ten: Performance by Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation
Location> The Tank, Chicago Athletic Association, 12 South Michigan Avenue
Free and open to public. Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

8 PM Theatre: Performance by Santiago Borja
Location> Carr Chapel, IIT, 65 East 32nd Street
Free and open to public

lekker architects’ proposal was a finalist in the [ lakefront kiosk competition ] | courtesy lekker architects

[ saturday 3 october ]

12:30 PM We Know How to Order: Performance by Bryony Roberts and South Shore Drill Team
Location> Federal Plaza, 219 South Dearborn Street
Free and open to the public

1 PM We Know How to Order: Performance by Bryony Roberts and South Shore Drill Team
Location> Federal Plaza, 219 South Dearborn Street
Free and open to the public

12:30-2 PM Metropolis Preserving Postmodernism Panel: postmodernist architecture: preservation’s new frontier
Location> Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph Street
Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

4:30 PM Superpowers of Ten: Performance by Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation
Location> The Tank, Chicago Athletic Association, 12 South Michigan Avenue
Free and open to the public. Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

5-8 PM Night of Illumination: Opening Celebration at Stony Island Arts Bank
Location> 6760 South Stony Island Avenue
Online RSVP via https://night-of-illumination.eventbrite.com

[ sunday 4 October ]

7 AM Amanda Williams’ Color(ed) Theory House Painting: Flamin’ Red Hots
Location> 5703 South Lafayette
The event is free but requires RSVP. Inquire at www.awgallery.com

2–3:30PM Thinking into the Future: A Conversation with John Ronan
Location> Preston Bradley Hall in the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 East Randolph Street
Presented in Collaboration with the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust
Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

mad architects unveil design concept for lucas museum of narrative art.

Nov 4, 2014

the eagerly awaited design concept of the new lucas museum on chicago’s lakefront presents a taller than expected, futuristic and organic shapliness that makes an eloquent counterpoint to nearby man-made chicago architecture.

here’s what the 39-year-old architect, ma yansong of beijing says on mad’s website:

the architectural concept for the lucas museum of narrative art explores the relationship between nature and the urban environment. inspired by the work of frank lloyd wright and mies van der rohe, the design integrates the natural beauty of the park and lake michigan with the powerful man-made architecture of chicago. the design furthers the museum’s mission to be a place of education, culture, and inspiration.

the lucas museum design is both futuristic and timeless. its continuous undulating organic surface blurs the line between structure and landscape. as the harbor rises up to the land, it merges with stone surfaces that reach up to the sky and ultimately crescendos into a “floating” disc. the museum is not an isolated object, but a spatial experience that is defined by the people who occupy and interact with it. its uninterrupted stone surfaces are as primitive as it is futuristic, evoking the great achievements of architectural history. it is a place to discover and explore, to communicate and contemplate. more than a building, it is an urban vista for social interaction, bringing people closer to each other and to nature.

the seven-level, 110-foot-tall, 400,000-square-foot museum will occupy the southern half of a 17-acre site offered to lucas by mayor rahm emanuel. emanuel depicts the museum as a fitting statement to complete chicago’s museum campus, an array of three natural history museums: the adler planetarium, the field museum and the shedd aquarium.

[ main elements of the proposal] > visitors could park in an existing nearby waldron parking deck. a new pedestrian bridge would bring visitors to the museum’s main entrance facing lake michigan.
> that entrance, outdoor plazas and an amphitheater occupies the museum’s second level. the design includes a goodly addition of green space to the museum campus. “the whole idea of the building is to be part of nature, part of (the) landscape,” the architect said.
>the lucas team will work hard to accommodate bears fans at nearby soldier field.
>the building is comprised of three levels of exhibition space organized in continual loops. the white conical mass is topped by an elevated disc at the peak, which is to contain an observation deck offering 360º views toward the city and adjacent lake michigan.

1> field museum
2> shedd aquarium
3> adler planetarium
4> northerly island
5> lucas museum of narrative art

it comes as no surprise in chicago that the project has its detractors for building on the lakefront. the chicago plan commission will be among the city bodies reviewing the lucas museum’s plans. there’s a 1973 lakefront protection ordinance to contend with, which calls for chicago to protect the shoreline’s open character.

[ mad architects ] ma has won international recognition for his undulating museums in china and the shapely “marilyn monroe” residential towers near toronto. mad architects is joined by local firms studio gang and voa associates. for more details on the museum and its project team, see designapplause’s previous article.

[ lucas museum of narrative art ]

trump tower chicago’s new provocative signage is now national news unfortunately.

Jun 24, 2014

above> alex garcia tribune photo

Donald Trump is a lightning rod. Now Trump has made Adrian Smith‘s, architect at Chicago’s SOM, emblematic Trump Tower Chicago a lighting rod. The issue went public three weeks ago when Chicago Tribune architecture critic, Blair Kamin, architecture critic of the Chicago Tribune, jumped all over evidence of new signage in-the-making. Trump responds and it went back and forth prompting mayor, Rahm Emanuel to weigh in, “a tastelss sign”. Trump finds a need to say, ‘I love chicago…and my sign ‘. These happenings now national news, Jon Stewart can’t contain his get-real sentiment either.

above> about the time kamin went public

Let me weigh in from my own experience with this building and two others regarding signage. In 2002, when Trump was looking for marketing proposals I was asked to create a concept for @Properties. The concept: Create two books, a graphic coffee table piece and one with strategies and numbers. @Properties was wildly successful though a very new company. A humongous building in their portfolio would not be a bad thing. The thrust of the concept was jumping into the future, as if @Properties had already won the Trump Tower job. @Properties deftly pitched it but didn’t get the job. Solace was achieved by Trump’s marketing team loving the creativity and boldness of the pitch, it was one of the best. We walked feeling we won and thinking Trump hired a great architect and they would not mess up.

above> trump tower from river walk | image courtesy som / click to enlarge all images on this post

An uh oh moment occurred at the time Santiago Calatrava‘s brilliant and ambitious Spire was looking like it might happen. Under construction at this time, Trump’s building was looking good too. Also at this time, The Spire began placing beautiful marketing signs along both north and south Michigan Avenue. Really understated, as elegant as the building. But then, more signs popped up, freshly mounted in the sidewalks. 10 large bullet-points… Trump Tower is coming.

above> trump tower sw/nw elevations | image courtesy som

above> trump tower ground plan | image courtesy som

above> trump tower abstract rendering | image courtesy som

Trump Tower’s new signage comes as no surprise, though very disappointing that someone, didn’t feel the collaboration between Trump and Smith created a magnum opus capable of saying all the right things on its own. The building’s design calls out for more than all cap fatso letters that seem slapped on the facade. Recently faced with the dilemma of marketing their new State Street store and respect Louis Sullivan‘s building Target figured it out by placing all messaging inside the structure and not on it.

Not many know this story about the John Hancock Center. In 1969, three years prior to my arrival as a designer at The Design Partnership‘s signage partner Mabrey/Kaiser, Bud Mabrey with the help of SOM’s Bruce Graham, the designer of JHC, persuaded John Hancock Insurance to eschew any signage, that a brightly lit observation deck would be all the identity that this building needed. [ interesting jhc tidbits ]

above> bruce graham’s john hancock center | 1969

In 1973, again Bud Mabrey and again with the help of the architect, Graham Anderson Probst and White, enticed CNA Financial Corporation to paint their building red. The concept, the red design was used to depict the sun setting over the ocean as illustrated by the red imagery to the west of Lake Michigan. And again, no building identification signage except on the plaza. A sign was eventually added more than 20 years later.

Now the CNA building really has no business being in this conversation, too short, a non-existent brand image, but it does belong with the Hancock Center in the big concept arena. Big concepts don’t mean success and huge concepts go so unnoticed because they may be very open to interpretation. It may take someone next to you to set you straight. But you gotta love their conception, the pitch and execution. I would have praised Trump if he had topped the building with a ‘big concept’ oversized toupée instead.

above> developer’s proposal for 300 north michigan avenue

Times Square. The above image surfaced late last year for 300 north Michigan avenue, which is SOUTH of the river and not the Mag Mile. This stretch is becoming known as the Millennium Mile. Yes, a Times Square style will make its way to Chicago. Only if it’s very profitable for the city though. Guessing State Street not Mag Mile suits this format best. Mag Mile is our Madison Avenue. Confident Rahm Emanuel will support the right thing [ Chicago places ads on really public spaces ]

Michael Bierut, Pentagram partner and DesignObserver co-founder said this, “What’s interesting about Times Square is that there are special signage regulations that ensure that every new building has to have big signs on it. They were put in place in the late 80s when there were proposals to replace the older buildings with new (and boring) corporate buildings. Now there are a lot of new skyscrapers there but they are covered with flashing signs. Trivia point: Tibor Kalman helped develop the standards, working with architect Robert A.M. Stern.”

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