Chicago Studio Compilation by Chelsea Kilburn

CHICAGO STUDIO SPRING 2013 VIRGINIA TECH CAUS

Contents Chicago Studio Spring 2013

Introduction

Uptown

Studio

Charettes

194

Internship

206

Professional Practice

240

Building, Texts, + Contexts

296

Photographs

306

Miscellaneous

Best of Chicago Sources Acknowledgements

328 330 332

and embracing a unified partnership that betters both the students and the profession. Andrew Balster Director, CHICAGO STUDIO Visiting Professor of Architecture School of Architecture + Design College of Architecture & Urban Studies 312 316 0523 | abalster@vt.edu Follow on Twitter @CS20XX Facebook/ChicagoStudioProgram From the Chicago Studio Manual

About the Program

spaces and private offices. The physical network of design firms, civic institutions and private organizations, share their facilities, resources, and expertise, and most importantly their time. Everyday, professionals with a broad range of expertise critically engage with the students in the design process and advance the expectations of conceptual and technical rigor. This builds design ability, confidence, and social skills that simply cannot be replicated in any other environment. The design projects are located in particularly challenging areas for the City of Chicago, teaching the students about the greater process and responsibility of architecture. In a city so rich with architectural legacy, the students often prompt new discussions with their creative ideas and discoveries, drawing eager participation from civic leaders, politicians, real-estate developers and industry professionals. Phil Enquist FAIA, and Partner of SOM said, “CHICAGO STUDIO has developed many innovative ideas for the City of Chicago, while at the same time, introduced this great city to many young designers. The program has created an effective bridge between the City, the Chicago practices and Virginia Tech students.” Today, there are over 200 professionals involved in the program Ñ many of whom are globally recognized leaders and a large number that are were trained at Virginia Tech themselves. This collective network is advancing the potential of this field by breaking down the common barriers between education and practice,

Introduction

CHICAGO STUDIO is an innovational learning environment for architecture and design that actively links education and practice. Students learn the art of building by personally witnessing the process and environment where architecture is created. It provides the opportunity to experience contemporary practice first-hand, with all of its complexity, beauty and inevitable shortcomings giving students the confidence, tools and inspiration to become future leaders in the profession. CHICAGO STUDIO should become a part of a greater movement in higher education that makes academic and professional methodology less divided and more aligned, which will create stronger fields collectively. Two entities that are inherently connected never benefit from a lack of dialogue or participation, and there is serious opportunity for the advancement of our profession through the creative exchange of ingenuity and experience. CHICAGO STUDIO provides this exchange in an extraordinary environment where students work next to innovative teams and visionary leaders. The model challenges the idea that learning only takes place in classrooms or on campus, and it exemplifies an effective partnership of the architectural profession and the academy. Virginia Tech does not have a campus in Chicago Ñ they do not own buildings or rent any offices or have a single dedicated facility (or have the associated overhead). The design studio, lecture halls and classrooms are located in public

(from MIT Greening East Campus)

In designing and constructing environments in which people live and work, architects and planners are necessarily involved in influencing human behaviour. While Sommer (1969, p.3) asserted that the architect “in his training and practice, learns to look at buildings without people in them,” it is clear that from, for example, Howard’s Garden Cities of To-morrow (1902), through Le Corbusier’s Ville Contemporaine and La Ville radieuse, to the Smithsons’ ‘Streets in the sky’, there has been a long-standing thread of recognition that the way people live their lives is directly linked to the designed environments in which they live. Whether the explicit intention to influence behaviour drives the design processÑa rchitectural determinism (Broady, 1966: see future blog post ‘POSIWID and determinism’)—or whether the behaviour consequences of design decisions are only revealed and considered as part of a post-occupancy evaluation (e.g. Zeisel, 2006) or by social scientists or psychologists studying the impact of a development, there are links between the design of the built environment and our behaviour, both individually and socially.

About the Project

use: take, hold, or deploy as a means of accomplishing or achieving something; employ: To prolong the period from cradle-tograve for a building by retaining all or most of the structural system and as much as possible of other elements, such as cladding, glass, and interior partitions.

Reuse, readaptation, reappropriation of existing or built structures has remote historical precedents. In antiquity, durable, sturdy structures of stone and masonry outlived empires and often changed program many times. In modernity, the desire to preserve historical buildings and neighborhoods emerged in many Western countries out of various romanticist, nationalistic, and historicist streams. Today, the imperative to extend the life cycle of a structure is related to various sustainability goals: sprawl minimization, preservation of virgin materials, and energy conservation. Also, many Western cities are changing dramatically as industrial operations more often than not move to the South and the East leaving massive, sturdy buildings vacant. Institutional nature is also changing with many old hospitals, sanatoriums, military buildings, and even office blocks becoming redundant. AR becomes a means to revitalize urban life and declining neighborhoods.

Introduction

In the current global economic crisis, developed countries in particular, face new challenges of dwindling resources for the construction of new buildings. This has increased the reuse of the existing building stock at unprecedented levels and has providing innovative design opportunities for the architect. Adaptive reuse also has a social and cultural impact on society by transforming “what was” into “what is” and “what it will be”. Buildings may no longer be identifiable based on form (ie. a church is always a church) but instead on programmatic repurposing (ie. a gas station is now a restaurant). This is an interesting paradigm in contemporary architecture, but one that has existed throughout history. In an architecturally sanitized society (AKA generic Amercia) it offers a compelling rebirth of the unexpected, the not-so-perfect and the a less-controlled and creation of space. Adaptive reuse is the process of adapting for purposes other than those initially intended. adapt: make suitable for a new use or purpose adapt: late Middle English: from French adapter, from Latin adaptare, from ad- ‘to’ + aptare (from aptus ‘fit’) reuse: the action of using again

From the Chicago Studio Manual

Introduction

8 9

Adpative Reuse: The Bedford + Damen St. Walgreens

UPTOWN Discovering a Neighborhood

Project Map

History

Project Map

Over the course of the semester, the group of seventeen students worked exclusively in the neighborhood of Uptown in Chicago. This area, which once thrived as the second center of the famous Second City, has since experienced both social and economic decline, partly from a relocation of several minority groups and a drain of resources. The aim of the studio was to work within the community and identify issues of concern to the local residents, and to address them architecturally. A huge building stock provided several very interesting opportunities for exploration, and each of the eight groups engaged with the sites in a sensitive and sensible way. All of the eight sites, save for one, existed in the bounds of Uptown and within a half-mile radius of each other. However, after speaking to the client, the group working on the Broadway Bank at 5960 N Broadway relocated the site to an old, closed fire house at #### Ridge Road, putting it just outside the bounds of Uptown and in the neighborhood of Lakeview. The funeral home at 1330 W Devon Avenue also falls outside of Uptown and is located in the neighborhood of Rogerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Park near the Loyola University campus.

History Growth of a Neighborhood

15 14

and early 30s to accommodate these tourists, including lavish resorts and hotels such as the Edgewater Beach Hotel, completed in 1924, and the Beach View Gardens, built in 1921, hosted a variety of guests, including regulars such as Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra. With the influx of people, the area was built up rapidly. A series of prominent structures came to dot the landscape, such as the Sheridan Trust and Savings Bank, built in 1924 by Marshall and Fox just north of the Uptown station. Other prominent buildings such as the Uptown Broadway Building of 1926 featured skillful use of glazed terra cotta, which was used extensively throughout the city. One of the most important structures was the Loren Miller department store (1915), which is credited with giving Uptown its name in order to “jazz up the area”. Previously the are was only known as the Wilson Avenue District. The site later housed a Borders bookstore in the historic triangular building. As the population continued to grow, so did the entertainment business. Uptown became a destination for nightlife, and was rivaling the Loop in terms of popularity. Jazz clubs were extremely popular, and the surviving Essanay Studios hosted Charlie Chaplin and a series of silent movie stars. Two noteworthy establishments were Balaban and Katz’s Uptown Theater (1925) and the Green Mill Lounge (1907 as Pop Morse’s Roadhouse). The Uptown Theater,

with its 4381 seats, served as the largest and most lavish movie house in the city. The Green Mill, which was a nod towards the Moulin Rogue of Paris (red mill), was a popular lounge, especially during Prohibition, and was a favorite of Capone and his gang.

Growth of a Neighborhood

in 1900 when the area really started to boom. The first Uptown el stop opened in 1900 at what is now the Wilson Red Line stop at the intersection of Wilson and Broadway. The station was the furthest stop north from the city. Few people lived in the area previously, and an influx of rich people from the inner city led to an accelerated population growth. The original station was designed by William Gibb in the Classical revival style, but was later overtaken by the Frank Lloyd Wright Stohr Arcade Building built in 1909. The station that partially exists today replaced the Stohr building in 1922 with a design by Arthur U. Gerber in the Classical Revival style of the Beaux Arts School. The completition of this new structure solidified Uptown’s presence. The community served as a beach and holiday destination from the dirty inner city. Uptown’s Wilson Avenue became the most prominent street, jutting out towards the lake just a few blocks from the Uptown station. A number of structures sprang up in the 1920s

History

The Chicago neighborhood of Uptown has well defined boundaries, with Foster on the north; Lake Michigan on the east; Montrose (Ravenswood to Clark), and Irving Park (Clark to Lake Michigan) on the south; Ravenswood (Foster to Montrose), and Clark (Montrose to Irving Park) on the west [3]. Uptown borders three community areas and Lake Michigan. To the north is Edgewater, to the west is Lincoln Square, and to the south is Lake View. The CTA Red and Purple el lines run through the middle of this area with stops at Sheridan, Wilson, Lawrence, and Argyle. Numerous buses also run through the area, and it is a 20 minute ride back to the Loop. It was the CTA that allowed Uptown to thrive and become an integral part of Chicago. What is today the CTA is actually an extension of an already exisiting series of networks that had been in the Uptown area since prehistory. After Lake Chicago dropped 20 feet about 5000 years ago and became Lake Michigan, the revealed high ground served as an Indian trail, and then as the Green Bay Trail, which was used by soldiers, traders, and mail carriers. Finally this trail became Clark Street, which creates one of the borders of Uptown. There was once a streetcar line through Clark Street that lasted until the late 1950s, but the Red Line is what held the community together. Around 1890, Uptown existed as a very rural area, and few homes were built this far from the city. Chicago annexed Uptown in 1889, but it was

The decline of Uptown was a result of various factors, but the Great Depression along with the extension of Lake Shore Drive were major pitfalls. Like the rest of the nation, the Great Depression led to a downturn in economic standing, and the once great entertainment district could no longer be supported, especially when competing with the Loop. The extension of Lake Shore Drive from Belmont to Foster in 1933 allowed for the circumvention of Uptown, and so local commercial areas began to loose business. The great depression weakened the housing market 17

stemming from a rennovation of the Wilson CTA stop, in the hopes of ushering in a new era, recapturing its former status as the second center of the city.

Growth of a Neighborhood

Yet another group of peole who flooded Uptown post World War II were the poor working class from Appalachia. Mechanized mining made it possible to mine three times as much coal with a quarter of the workers, so entire clans from West Virginia moved up north. At one point, Uptown was known as Hillbilly Heaven, but they were disliked because many other groups thought they lived in the poorest conditions and had the lowest moral standards. Media exposure drew an unlikely new group to Uptown in the 1960s:

the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). As part of an attempt to forge alliances between student political activists and urban working-class communities around the country, the SDS sent representatives to Uptown to organize the local population under the banner of JOIN (Jobs or Income Now).[3] Soon after its arrival in 1964, JOIN began to shift focus from unemployment to more pressing issues facing neighborhood residents, including housing conditions, abusive landlords, and police brutality. The block-by-block nature of JOIN organizing effectively developed local leadership, and the group had modest success with rent strikes against slumlords. Between the 1960s and the 1980s, Uptown saw an increase in gang activity, specifically by the Gaylords. Primarily Italian and Irish the Gaylords began as an organized softball team but quickly came to power in the neighborhood. A particularly traumatic period began in the 1970s when areas of the UptownĂ? Edgewater neighborhood experienced as many as 400 fires in a single year, resulting from physical neglect, vandalism, and documented cases of arson for profit. Beginning in the early 1960s, an influx of patients from state mental hospitals arrived in the neighborhood as the result of national legislation promoting deinstitutionalization. This group added to Uptownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s large transient population, finding refuge in run-down SROs and nursing homes or living on the streets. A new vision for the Uptown is

History

in Uptown and after World War II, Uptown became a destination for poorer immigrants. The once grand mansions were subdivided and rented out for little money, allowing large groups of Asian immigrants, along with Native Americans, to move in, leading to a diverse range of people in the area and the creation of various ethnic communities such as Little Vietnam. Most of the Uptown population has immigrated from Latin America and overseas, inluding groups from China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Bosnia, and Iraq.

Studio Project The Uptown Market

Introduction

Site Analysis

History

Photographs: Exisiting Conditions

Diagrams

Program: Eataly

Program: Market

104

Precedent

118

Design

122

Sketches

178

Photographs: Model

186

Introduction

The first portion of the semester consisted of a group study focused on a site in Uptown Chicago. Working in Uptown provided a variety of opportunities to interact with the community and existing buildings. This involvement engaged architecture on several levels, including the social and political arenas, in which the students had a fair amount of contact. The site at 1050 West Wilson Avenue, which included an existing building and the adjacent parking lot, was first used as a vaudeville theater in 1909, but was later converted into a bank in 1919, only ten years later. The bank passed through several branch owners before it was used by the TCF Bank, which, unfortunately, closed its doors in 2011, leaving the one-hundred-year-old building empty and strewn with debris.

Argyle Ñ

1908

Site Analysis

Uptown Boundaries + CTA “el” transit

Lawrence Ñ

Wilson Ñ

1923

1900

Sheridan Ñ

1900 25

Essanay Studios

Context Mapping

Borders Building

Site Analysis

Clarendon Field House

Ottenheimer Buildings

Theaters

Site Analysis

Typology Relationships

Banks

d roa

NB wa y

W Leland Ave

N Kennmore Ave

p Ave

inthro

Surrounding Uses

n lso e Wi d Lin Re

W Wilson Ave

Transit Commercial

Public Service Education

N Sheridan Rd

Site Analysis

Religious

Public Space

25' 75'

175'

N 31

Site Analysis

32 33

Brand Name Distribution

Site Analysis

34 35

Street Panorama

1050 W Wilson

55 Parking DWN

B3-2: community shopping district

2.5 cars per 1000 sq. ft. > 4000 sq. ft 5 handicapped spaces

FAR = 3

P S

DWN

Restaurant, limited Restaurant, general Small venues (0-149) Liquor sales, accessory Retail sales, general

105

Tavern Outdoor patio, rooftop Liquor sales, packaged

DWN

Site Analysis

Zoning + Allowances

DWN

Loading 70

1 loading space 10 x 25

50 feet maximum height

no side setback

Notes Parking: 17 parking spots @ 8’ x 18’ 2 handicapped parking spots @ 9’ x 18’

N Winthrop Avenue

Sidewalks: 20’ bordering N. Kenmore and W. Wilson 6’ bordering N. Winthrop

DWN

18 DWN

Roadways: 10’ each direction 7’ parking shoulder on each side 1 Elevator with access to first floor and basement

2 Potential exit (currently boarded up)

DWN

W Wilson Avenue

N Kennmore Avenue

Site Analysis

Zoning + Allowances

DWN

Notes 17 parking spots @ 8’ x 18’

Site Background

Trust and Savings Bank, the Bank of Chciago, and finally the TCF Bank. As the bank transitioned from company to company, the street front signage was correspondingly changed. In a few photographs from the 1950s, seen on lower left, a sign reading â&#x20AC;&#x153;BANKâ&#x20AC;? stands out clearly above the street, and would have been visible from the eL station just half a block away.

History

When the Wilson Avenue Theater was built in 1909, architect Henry Ottenheimer envirsioned a grand building at the heart of what had rapidly transformed into the second center of the city and the focus of a nightlife district. Along with the Uptown Theater, Riviera Theater, and the Aragon Theater, Uptown was a bustling playground for gangsters and young professionals alike. In his original renderings, seen here in the top image to the left, Ottenheimer proposed a hefty, limestone-clad brick structure in a Neoclassical style, replete with a pediment and articulated moulding. An expansive overhang sheltered the street over the wide entrance that would have served the upper class patrons. Two side entrances in the side towers would have been secondary for the lower class attendees, who could have attended one of the two nightly performances. The original render does not depict much signage, but as a theater in a relatively newly developed area, it would have had a presence on the street unparalleled to most other buildings. However, as the prevelance of film grew through the city, vaudevilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s audience dwindled and finally led to the close of the Wilson Avenue Theater. Following its close, the vaudeville theater reopened as a bank, which served the area for almost one hundred years. The bank switched hands a number of times, and functioned as the Fidelity Bank, the Uptown State Bank, the Federal

History Site Background

43 42

History

Timeline

1860

Variety shows popular as entertainment in frontier settlements

1871

Used in America with the formation of Sargent’s Great Vaudeville Company of Louisville, Kentucky

1882

First vaudeville theater opened in Chicago, the West Side Museum

1919

Orpheum circuit incorporated

1921

Opening of Chicago Theater

1932

Shift from vaudeville performances to movie screenings at New York’s most prestigious venue, the Palace Theater

“Don’t say “slob” or “son of a gun” or “hully gee” on the stage unless you want to be canceled peremptorily. Do not address anyone in the audience in any manner. If you do not have the ability to entertain Mr. Keith’s audience with risk of offending them, do the best you can. Lack of talent will be less open to censure than would be an insult to a patron. If you are in doubt as to the character of your act consult the local manager before you go on stage, for if you are guilty of uttering anything sacrilegious or even suggestive you will be immediately closed and will never again be allowed in a theatre where Mr. Keith is in authority.Ó 1

Vaudeville

‘Voix de Ville’ : Voice of the City

Vaudeville

History

Above: Iriquois Theater Below: Duluth Theater

Vaudeville theaters of this time would have featured a number of key features distinguishing them from other performing arts theaters. One key element of vaudeville theaters would have been the shallow stage and flattened area for performance. Unlike other theaters, vaudeville houses did not require elaborate scenery or extensive props, but rather featured simple staging and interaction with the audience members. Additionally, seating would have been arranged in a series of rows similar to what we know of theaters today, but these rows would have been uninterrupted by aisles, which appeared only on the sides. A balcony also provided seating on an upper level, accessed by stairs in the side towers. In total, the seating would have accompanied about 600 people on the floor, and another 300 on the upper balcony. Similar theaters had been built throughout Chicago, such as the Iriquois Theater, which once stood where the Oriental Theater now stands after the original structure burned down.

Architect

History

Henry Ottenheimer, the architect of the Wilson Avenue Theater, was born in Chicago in 1868, and found himself under the influence of the Chicago School when he worked in the offices of Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan. Ottenheimer’s small claim to fame outside of his architecture stems from his time at the office of Adler and Sullivan, who also famously hired a young Frank Lloyd Wright. As the story goes, Wright insulted Ottenheimer’s work, and a spat ensured. It ended in Ottenheimer stabbing Wright in the neck with a drafting blade after throwing a few punches. Besides his hot temper, Ottenheimer was known for his local built projects, which were a result of his time spent studying architecture in Paris. His firm, Ottenheimer, Stern, and Reichert, valued the Neoclassiccal ornamentation favored at the time, as well as heavy terra cotta finishes. Some of his buildings remain standing in Chicago, but have had programmatic alterations, just as the Wilson Avenue Theater experienced. One such building, the Swedish American Bank, stands on the corner of Clark and Balmoral, now a Hamburger Mary’s restaurant.

Artost

Robert Haas, the mural lends the building a sense of presence and has made it a landmark in Uptown. Despite its strange beauty, the mural presents a dilemma when designing; the parking lot to the east presents a significant opportunity for extension or an auxiallary building, but the mural’s presence does not easily allow for a connection between the adjacent lot and the interior of the building.

History

HomageÊt oÊ theÊCh icagoÊ SchoolÊ(1980)

On the east side of the theater, a vivid, fantastical mural covers the facade. Not only is the mural colorful, but it’s extremely odd; a depiction of the front facade is painted on the right portion of the mural in the same proportion and scale, but in this view there is an idyllic scene portrayed through what is, in reality, the doorway. The scene shows mythical architecture amid a grow of trees and a young man walking up a set of stairs with a small dog toward the fantasy buildings. The remaining portion of the mural is composed of a variety of architectural elements, perhaps a representation of the artist’s vision for the surrounding buildings. Everything is depicted in a trompe l’oeil style so that the paintined buildings appear in three dimensions with a fake perspective. This perspective can be corrected if one stands at the south corner opposite the parking lot and looks back at the mural. Originally, it was thought that the unsigned mural was attributed to Richard Haas, a world-reknowned muralist, who has work all over Midwest. His trompe l’oeil, large-scale murals often incorporate historical allusions and intricate detailing in a seemingly dimensioned alternate universe. However, after contacting Haas, it was determined that the mural here at 1050 West Wilson was not one of his pieces. Instead, he cited the mural at North LaSalle Street depicting elements of the Chicago School as one of his local works. Even without being associated with

Photographs

Existing Conditions

The Wilson Theater has a variety of faces when presenting itself to the exterior world. From the elevated platform of the Wilson red line stop, the building can be seen quite visibly, its west facade now covered in bright layers of graffiti. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mass is quite large when compared to the adjacent, lower buildings, such as the City Sports and a Family Dollar. As mentioned previously, the east facade projects a strange mural into a desolate parking lot. A small elevator enclosure appears as a bump on the side of the building, jutting out into the parking area and landscape. On the interior, heavy terra cotta ornament coats the atrium, creating a dark, enclosed interior against the double-height loftiness of the space. What had once been the proscenium staging area is now completely filled in with plaster, further dividing the space into the atrium and back of house. A barrel vault spans the ceiling, creating a sweeping feel. The basement space encloses an even darker, more secluded area. Accessed by two sets of stairs alongside the main entrance to the atrium, the basement features a series of small partitioned rooms in the front, and a fantastic bank vault, complete with safety deposit boxes, in the back.

Photographs

54 55

Existing Conditions

Photographs

56 57

Existing Conditions

Photographs

58 59

Existing Conditions

Photographs

Existing vs. Previous Conditions

From the research conducted at the beginning of this project, it became apparent that a balcony had once spanned the width of the interior of the atrium space, appearing to sit on top of the terra cotta ornament. On the exterior, as seen in the original renderings, there had been an overhang covering the entrance, as well as a series of entrances on either side of the main doors.

Diagrams

Wil so

Office Space 2358.00 ft²

Storage 1186.40 ft²

Wil so

nA ve

Stair Core 53.86 ft²

Wil so

nA ve

Basement Vault 964.00 ft²

Wil so

nA ve

Wil so

nA ve

Existing Conditions

Wil so

nA ve

Office/Stair Towers 1006.00 ft²

Diagrams Existing Conditions

65 64

Sections Existing Conditions- Longitudinal, Day

67 66

Sections Existing Conditions- Longitudinal, Night

69 68

Sections Existing Conditions- Transverse, Day

71 70

Sections Existing Conditions- Transverse, Night

73 72

Program

74 75

Eataly

Eataly- Analysis

Program

Originally, the program to be inserted into the theater was to be an Eataly, a marketplace/restaurant celebrating the Italian culture and food, as requested by Jay Michael, a young developer and owner of FLATS Chicago. Currently the only Eataly in the United States is in New York City, and features an expansive warehouselike space covering over 50,000 square feet. This branch of the now famous franchise mimics the original Eataly founded in Turin by the Italian businessman Oscar Farinetti in 2007. The New York location is partnered by celebrity chef Mario Botali, who heads one of the many restaurants. Eataly offers a unique dining and shopping experience where customers are immersed in an exotic world of European delights. All products feature Italian branding, and seven sit-down restaurants serve authentic Italian cuisine. What has made Eataly so successful, in part, stems from its ability to latch on the concept of the European marketplace and the bustle associated with groups of people rummaging through goods and produce. A labyrinthine arrangement of stalls and kiosks lends the huge space a more intimate feeling, and creates a wandering path for the customer to traverse as if on a foodfilled journey. The various food stands allow for a unique perception of the space because of their arrangement on the floor, creating a series of decentralized individual moments in a centralized experience.

There is something nostalgic about the marketplace setup, particularly to an American audience who may consider themselves of European descent. Eataly is essentially a foodieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s paradise where browsing for ingredients and sampling dishes are intertwined into one immersive experience.

Eataly- Analysis

Program

Centralization vs. Decentralization

Labyrinthine Movement

Program

80 81

Eataly- Analysis

Space + Program Ratios

Program

3.02

: 9.1 : 9.49

3.79

: 3.23 : 3.35

Dimensions Area

11 Ft x 18 Ft 200 SqFt/Floor 6 Floors

Alcohol Retail Books Cafe Circulation Housewares

Dimensions Area

Bathrooms Commercial Kitchen Cooking School Office Space Receiving Storage

20 Ft x 58 Ft 1197 SqFt/Floor 4 Floors

Dimensions Area

58 Ft x 90 Ft 3604 SqFt/Floor 1 Floor

Bar Bathrooms Restaurant Stage

Dimensions Area

55 Ft x 58 Ft 3172 SqFt/Floor 1 Floor

Food Service Goods Market Produce

Spatial Studies

Program

Plan of Exisiting Eataly in New York

Pink- Service Space Orange- Shelved Product Yellow- Seating Green- Food Services Purple- Support Space Blue- Shopping Carts/ Checkout

Spatial Studies

Program

Pink- Service Space Orange- Shelved Product Yellow- Seating Green- Food Services Purple- Support Space Blue- Shopping Carts/ Checkout

Program

88 89

Kitchen Schematic Plans

Spatial Studies

Program

Pink- Service Space Orange- Shelved Product Yellow- Seating Green- Food Services Purple- Support Space Blue- Shopping Carts/ Checkout

Program

Proposed Program Layout

B DWN DWN

Program Proposed Program Layout

DWN

1 DWN

DWN DWN

DWN

Program Proposed Program Layout

DWN

2 DWN DWN

Program Proposed Program Layout

DWN

3 DWN DWN

Use Through the Day

Program

100

Schedule

Cafe Grocery Market Kitchen Restaurant Bar

8am — 10pm 8am — 10pm 10am — 5pm 10am — 2am 4pm — 2am 4pm — 2am

101

Constructing the Community

Program

102

By studying the program requirements of Eataly in the existing New York store and those of a typical Whole Foods store, a group of programmatic pieces was derived. This included service/support spaces, seating, produce, shelved products, and registers/ egress. These elements were laid over the existing plans to create a basic layer of program blocking, and the second floor was treated as though the balcony had been reinstalled. Further diagrams were created to further explore the potential of the many spaces on each of the floors. Images representing different uses are arranged in an abstract plan to communicate the circulation and relationships that could potentially occur within a certain setup. Use through the day was another key factor in determining how to divide and arrange spaces within the market space. The want to have the restaurant/ bar in the basement occurred early on, and from there the atrium became a floor for display with the small tower offices being converted into more specialized retail areas, such as small stores selling Eataly cookbooks or aprions, etc.

103

Analysis: Market

In addition to the small constructed storefronts in the atrium, a series of spaces in the towers on either side of the main entrance would serve businesses looking for a small but more permanent space in close proximity to this collection of other storefronts. The balcony that had once been removed with the establishment of the bank would be reinstalled, thus connecting the two towers to each other and creating an additional area for customers to sit and look over the bustling atrium. In the expansive back of house, a permanent tenant was programmed to move in. This would serve as an anchor to the variety of more transient spaces, but would have little presence in the atrium. This collection of spaces derived from a visit to Heritage, a small bicycle and coffee shop off of Lincoln Avenue. The shop is unique in that it serves two completely different products, but it retains a loyal customer base because the frequenters enjoy both products. The owener of Heritage, Michael Salvatore, noted that he was intrigued by the Ă&#x2019; stoopĂ&#x201C; feelng that he experienced in New York where all of his neighbors would gather on the front steps of his apartment. Even though everyone came from

Program

104

As the project progressed and interaction with the client began, Jay Michael expressed his interest in using the building as a marketplace for goods rather than foods. The idea of creating a forum for local businesses was appealing, and the name Uptown Market took root. Instead of working directly from the studies done for the Eataly program, an investigation into various types of retail displays and pop up shops was made. Since 1050 W Wilson has such a divided floorplan, both from back to front and up and down, inserting program through new built constructs seemed the most feasible. The focus of the building was to be the atrium with its ornamentation and double-height. This space offered a connection to the street and potentially to the adjacent parking lot, but stuggled to have a relationship with the expansive basement below. A decision was made to make the separate spaces distinct by their use throughout the day; the market would occur in the atrium space during the day, and the restaurant would function in the basement duing the evenings. With these basic ideas in mind, the building developed into a modern day think tank of sorts, a small business incubator. The purpose of the atrium space was to allow a diverse set of businesses, perhpas those with a larger online presence, to share a common area and customers. These storefront would not be permanent, and could potentially be moved in accordance to the other constructs housing the other businesses.

105

Proposed Tenants

106

enclosed, initimate feel. To program the atrium, a series of smaller businesses were used as models. These included Warby Parker, a glasses and accessories company with a large online presence, and Creatures of the Wind, a Chicago-based designer clothing line. Both of these products would typically be found in a regular storefront, but in this scenario, their products occupy the entire construct. To better understand the spatial In the towers, the arrangement of the atrium and aforementioned Heritage,the surrounding spaces, a handful of Little Photo Studio, Beckâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s local businesses were selected as Book Store, and Glaze and infill. Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Infused would take be tenants. a company based out of Portland, The reintroduced balcony Oregon, was used as the anchor would allow for additional business in the back of house. Their seating for customers with offices, administration areas, roasting, coffee or donuts, and would, and storage facilities would be located as mentioned, connect the in the three above ground floors of the several businesses. space behind the proscenium, with a small coffee bar projecting out into the atrium in order to have a literal connection between the process and the product. Locating the coffee bar in the proscenium would hopefully attract in a variety of customers, and would draw them into the heart of the retail space. The Bedford, a bar in Wicker Park, was used as the precedent for the basement bar. The Bedford also occupies an old bank vault, and its use of the vault and its door has led to this trendy clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success. A similar feeling would be evoked in the basement of 1050 W Wilson with its

Program

different backgrounds and appreciated different aspects of the city, the stoop became a place for them to meet and share their common interests. Likewise, the atrium of 1050 W Wilson aims to provide a space where various businesses can come together and share a similar shopping experience. Further, this experience is meant to hearken back to the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s days as a vaudeville theater, where a series of acts would play out under the same roof, on the same, small stage.

107

Basement Plan

Program

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

3 4

Adapted Use

Square Footage

Mechanical/Storage Storage Vault Security Deposit Telling Break Room Office Office Office/Bathroom

Mechanical/Storage Kitchen Restaurant Women’s Restroom Standing Room Men’s Restroom Bar Sitting Room Sitting Room

748 448 1045 206 362 206 569 481 481 — 4546

7 8

Existing Use

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

T 108

1' 3'

15'

Existing Use

Adapted Use

Square Footage

Mechanical/Storage Storage Vault Security Deposit Telling Break Room Office Office Office/Bathroom

Mechanical/Storage Kitchen Restaurant Women’s Restroom Standing Room Men’s Restroom Bar Sitting Room Sitting Room

748 448 1045 206 362 206 569 481 481 — 4546

Basement Plan

109

Program

First Floor

1 3 7 4 110

6 1' 3'

15'

Existing Use

Adapted Use

Square Feet

Office

2 3

Break Room Telling

4 5 6

Office Lobby Office

Stumptown Roasting Cafe Receiving Atrium Clothing Books Wares Heritage Bikes Lobby Glazed and Infused

997 847 150 200 3172 200 150 100 198 178 198

Elevator Enclosure

Entrance & Connection

215 111

Program

Left

1 2 3 4

Existing Use

Adapted Use

Square Feet

Office Doesn’t Exist Office Office

Storage Balcony Seating Gallery Photo Studio

1593 — 198 198

Second and Third Floors

Right

2 3 112

1 2 3

1' 3'

Existing Use

Adapted Use

Square Feet

Office Storage Storage

Shared Office Shared Workspace Shared Workspace

1593 198

15'

198

3 113

Program

Basement Plan Basement Plan

Second Floor Plan

First Floor Plan First Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

Rendered Plans

6 7

3 4

1 1

4 5

11 9

114

10 115

Program Beginning Interventions

117 116

Precedent

118 119

Precedent

120

When working on this project, a variety of built projects, installations, and art pieces were used as precedent, including several pop-up shops and plywood constructions. These were used to generate the constructs that would later occupy the atrium. They were studied for their form and ease of construction, as well as how circulation and display could occur. The retails spaces began very simply as boxes with retractable openings, but this was soon determined to not be specific enough for each product’s needs. At the opposite spectrum, a series of Ò folliesÓ were sketches as the antitheseis of the boxes. However, these had no relation to the products and again were not appropriate. To resolve this issue, a study of the most commonly utilized retail display was conducted, and diagrams for each typology were produced to simplify the functions. These were then charted in accordance to the needs of each product (hangers for clothing, racks for shoes, etc.), and then recombined in a single, new display unit. The results of this study were a double-height construct for clothing, an elongted construct for accessories, and a mixed form construct for books and records.

121

Design

Sliding Top Storage

Swing Door Storage Spinning Clothing Rack

Sliding Top Storage

11.25

Swing Door Storage

Slidingand TopCounter Storage Cabinet

udy

Wall Shelves

chine

122

Ò CubbyÓ Shelves

Cabinet and Counter

Swing Door Storage Clothes Hanger

Cabinet and Counter

Table Cabinet and Counter

Clothes Hanger

Tab

Clothes Hanger

11.25

5.625

10.5

Swing Door Storage

Storefronts

g Clothing Rack

11.25

Typology Study Product Display

Cabinet and Counter Vending Machine

Typology Study Wall Shelves

Spinning Rack

Bookcase

Product Display

Vending Machine

Wall Shelves

ClothesSpinning Hanger Rack

Bookcase

Ò CubbyÓ ShelvesWall Shelves

Spinning Clothing Rack

Table Spinning Rack

Bookcase

Spinning Clothing Rack

Ò CubbyÓ Shelves

Bookcase Vending Machine

Sliding Top Storage

Display Case

Spinning Clothing Rack

Ò CubbyÓ Shelves

Sliding Top Storag

123

Design Clothing Display

‘Cubby’ Shelving

124

Clothing Rack

125

Design Accessories Display

Display Case ‘Cubby’ Shelving

126

127

Design CD/ Book Display

Rotating Display Typology Study

128

Product Display

Wall Shelves

Bookcase Bookcase

Ò CubbyÓ Shelves

129

Design Exploded + Schematic Diagrams

131 130

Design Circulation Diagram Between Floors + Between Constructs

133 132

Sightlines Along Main Axis to Ornamental Bays

Arrangement of Modules within Sightlines and Grid

Design

Derivation of Column Grid and Modules

Construct Layout

134

135

Rendered Sections

136

Design

With the program and the placement of said program determined to an extent, rendering became a useful tool in exploring the relationships between spaces. Key moments, such as at the intersection of the balcony and the existing storefronts, and the arrangement of the constructs in the atrium space, were better visualized and manipulated through rendering and the use of digital models. Cutting sections through the entire structure allowed for a complete view into what had previously existed simply in section or only in plan, but could now be infiled with ornamentation and structural details. Including scale figures also assisted in placing and producing the layout for the constructs; since the ornamentation corresponds to a human scale, but the structure of the atrium does not, the constructs needed to mediate this difference or stand clearly in the realm of one or the other.

137

138

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Heritage Bike Shop Photography Studio Gallery Space Balcony Atrium Forum Skywells Office Space Roaster Storage Roaster Bar Kitchens Restaurant Liquor Sales

Rendered Sections

Heritage Bike Shop Photography Studio Gallery Space Balcony Atrium Forum Skylights Office Space Roaster Storage Roaster Bar Kitchens Restaurant Liquor Sales

Design

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

139

Design Rendered Basement

141 140

Design Rendered Entrance

143 142

Design Rendered Atrium

145 144

Design Rendered Atrium

147 146

Design

148

Design Interventions

While the project grew to quite an interesting point, it was critical to determine when it was just a collection of Ă&#x2019; cool thingsĂ&#x201C; inside of an old building. This diagram was made very early on in the project to keep the goals of the project clear and distinct: the insertion of some type of openings or skylights to allow for light was imperative, as was the addition of the balcony for circulation. The final and perhaps the most challenging element of the project ended up being how to work with the eastern wall. The wall, covered in a fantasy mural, abutted a parking lot ripe with opportunity for community engagement, but cutting through the mural arbitrarily would have bee disaster as would have been paintng over portions of it.

149

Building Diagram

Design

150

As described, the challenge of working within the confines of the 1050 W Wilson building was the competition between several very distinct retail spaces and the axis created by the existing ornament. The terra cotta, which lines up with the line of sight through the atrium, runs the length of the space, lending it a back to front axis. The progression through the building would have similarly been front to back, so attempting to break this one-way path had to be done sensitively. A skylight was proposed to bring in light from an opening cut through the thin tin roof spannings the barrel vaulted ceiling. This would have created a stronger up and down axis, which would be reinforced by the division of the basement and the atrium spaces. However, a want for an additional opening to the parking lot was desired. Creating an entrance on the eastern facade would establish yet another axis, one that would counteract the linearity of the original front to back setup. Opening the side to the parking lot could allow for hte development of a park or recreational facility, an idea that was already being explored at this point in other diagrams and studies. The eastern wall quickly became one of the most important parts of the project; it acted as a filter of sorts between the outside proposed park and interior retail space. 151

152

Design

Elevator Building

Entrance

East Wall Diagram

Extension of

Area of Mural to Preserve

153

Design

154 155

East Wall Diagrams

Design

156 157

Garden Generation

Design

158 159

Iterations of East Wall

18â&#x20AC;?

160

Design

Garden Wall Diagram

48â&#x20AC;?

The park intends to be a connecting space between the street and the 1050 W Wilson building. It began as a divided space, planted with grass and terraced to provide seating for passersby. As it developed, however, the park morphed into more of a garden. A short retaining wall holds the packed earth together while addressing the street in a respectful manner. Inside of the wall, a series of folded ground planes create a dynamic planted surface, the apex of which is a tilted plane rising about ten feet above the street level. This charette began as a simple parti with three bars: one for parking, one of planted green space, and one hardscape surface for potential performances. The finessing of the planes led to a garden full of vibrancy and undulating surfaces. Ultimately the garden would unfold toward the east facade, where a series of openings would provide light to the dark interior. An additional entrance would further strengthen the side-to-side axis and allow for a flow of people from the garden to the interior retail space.

161

162

Design

Garden Diagram + Precednet

Program: Circulation Garden Parking

163

Design

164 165

Garden/ Wall Relationship

Design

166 167

Garden Charette

Design

168 169

Garden Charette

Design

170 171

Street Elevation

Design

172 173

Garden + Building Section

Design

174 175

Garden + Building Relationship

1 2

176

Design

Volume Diagrams

Building 1 2 3 4

Garden Atrium Back of House Basement Towers

5 6 7 8 9 10

Winter Garden + Elevator Enclosure Atrium Entrance Basement Entrance Artifical Hill Kenmore Street Entrance Wilson Avenue Entrance

177

Sketches

179 178

Sketches

181 180

Sketches

Throughout the time spent in the Chicago Studio, sketching and modeling were essential to understanding the basic concept we were trying to communicate. Although many of the sketches represented fanastical ideas, they generated a number of interesting scenarios regarding the interior and exterior spaces. Here a collection of diagrams and sketches are shown to illustrate this process, but the sheets of trace used to study various details and moments is seemingly endless.

182

183

Sketches

185 184

Photography

186 187

Model

Photography

188 189

Model

Photography

190 191

Model

192

193

CHARETTES Updating Uptown

194

Wilson Yards

196

Uptown Update

202

195

196

Wilson Yards

The abandoned section of rail west of the existing L tracks is extended and connected to Challenger Park, providing better pedestrian access to the station from W Montrose Ave. A path from Truman College to Broadway is paved, providing quicker access to Broadway for Truman students. Gates along the path in conjunction with the paving indicate the route as the main thoroughfare to Broadway from the Wilson Yards. The Wilson Yards L auxiliary exit becomes a point along these two axes and passengers are emptied into a plaza along a garden path â&#x20AC;&#x201D; instead of on to an island in a sea of parking.

Charette

Point and Path

197

Charette Wilson Yards

199 198

Charette Wilson Yards- Precedent

201 200

Guerilla gradening would be beneficial to the now barren landscape of Uptown; small planted installations lend the area a sense of whimsy and playfulness. Moments of green could begin to arise on the street-- for instance, planting sign posts or mail boxes add a distinct texture that would cover an otherwise industrial and cold surface. The walls surrounding the eL stations could be planted as well, perhaps with a pattern significant to the community or simply with a variety of climbing plants. Although these planted pieces do not exactly constitute a park space, they do add to the feeling of the wild seeping into the gritty urban areas of Uptown.

202

Charette

Uptown Update

In an attempt to revitalize Uptown, an overview of the available green space should be made. Although there are several vacant lots, hardly any park space seeps into the heart of Uptown from the lush, and very close by, lakefront park system. Small-scale plantings could be implemented as a way to continue this stretch of park into the inner streets in order to brighten what is now abandoned and unused space. These interventions would have to begin simply, with just seeded plots of grass and a few trees or shrubs, but the action of planting and the following upkeep could lend the residents of Uptown a sense of pride and responsibility.

203

Charette

204 205

Uptown Update

Internship von Weise Associates

206

Cottage 52

208

Drawings

210

Model

238

207

Cottage 52

Internship

208

After an intense ten-week period of working on our own studio projects and sitting in an office, the Chicago Studio group transitioned into the internship portion of the semester. This involved working even more closely with the team at a firm and completing drawings, documents, renderings, models, etc. for the firm and their clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s use. I spent the five week period sitting in at the von Weise Associates office, and the amount of work done was incredible. I was put onto a team of three other people to work on the Cottage 52 project, a summer vacation home of a multi-generation family on the northern shore of Lake Michigan. The house currently exists as a Modernist masterpiece, built from the legacy of Eero Saarinen. The family, however, wants to add several spaces, including additional bedrooms and several multi-leveled decks overlooking the lake. In a way this project continues the thinking associated with adaptive reuse we had explored earlier this semester, but it allowed us to gain an insight into the inner workings of Chipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office. His hand drawings and the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collaborative diagrams produced a rich and textured series of images that have thus far been extemely valuable in communicating ideas to the client.

209

Cottage 52

H 311 west superior street | suite 216

von Weise associates

J H G

J G

SCALE: 1/16” = 1’-0”

E D C B

Internship 5

210

SITE PLAN- EXISTING

E D C B A

211

EXISTING EXISTING ELEVATIONS ELEVATIONS

SCALE: SCALE: 1/8” =1/8” 1’-0” = 1’-0”

Cottage 52

von Weise associates 311 west superior street | suite 216 chicago, illinois 60654 von Weise associates

J J H H G G F F

G E

1 1

Cottage 52 2

H E

Internship 3

H D

J D

J C

WEST WEST ELEVATION ELEVATION

SOUTH SOUTH ELEVATION ELEVATION

213

L’Arbre Croche, Bear Creek Township, Michigan

A 4

A 3

B 2

B 1

B B A

212 5

NORTH NORTH ELEVATION ELEVATION

4 311 west superior street | suite 216 chicago, illinois 60654 voice +1 312 337 5511

von Weise associates

J H G

H G E D C B A

215

Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Arbre Croche, Bear Creek Township, Michigan

E D C B

2013.05.06

NOT TO SCALE

Cottage 52

Cottage 52 4

Internship 5

214

EXISTING CONDITIONS

Cottage 52

H 311 west superior street | suite 216

von Weise associates

J H G

J G

E D C B

Internship 5

216

CONCEPT DIAGRAM

E D C B A

217

Cottage 52

4 311 west superior street | suite 216 chicago, illinois 60654 voice +1 312 337 5511

von Weise associates

J H

F E D C B A

219

L’Arbre Croche, Bear Creek Township, Michigan

F E D C B

2013.05.06

SCALE: 1/16” = 1’-0”

Cottage 52 4

Internship 5

218

SITE PLAN - NEW

2 1

Internship

Cottage 52

220

LOWER LEVEL PLAN SCALE: 3/32” = 1’-0”

221

SCALE: 3/32” = 1’-0”

H 2

4 311 west superior street | suite 216 chicago, illinois 60654

von Weise associates

F E D C B A

Cottage 52

J H

Cottage 52

Internship

222

MAIN LEVEL PLAN

F E D C B A

223

Internship

Cottage 52

224

UPPER LEVEL PLAN SCALE: 3/32” = 1’-0”

225

J 5 4 1

Internship

Cottage 52

226

BUILDING SECTION SCALE: 1/8” = 1’-0”

227

Cottage 52

Internship

228 J

BUILDING SECTION SCALE: 1/8” = 1’-0”

229

Cottage 52

von Weise associates

J H

SCALE: 1/8” = 1’-0”

F E D C B

Cottage 52

Internship

230

WEST ELEVATION

F E D C B A

231

Cottage 52

von Weise associates

J H

SCALE: 1/8” = 1’-0”

F E D C B

Cottage 52

Internship

232

SOUTH ELEVATION

F E D C B A

233

Cottage 52

von Weise associates

J H

1 J H

SCALE: 1/8” = 1’-0”

F E D C B

Cottage 52

Internship

234

EAST ELEVATION

F E D C B A

235

J 5

4 2

Cottage 52

Internship

236

NORTH ELEVATION SCALE: 1/8” = 1’-0”

237

Internship

238 239

Cottage 52

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE Lecture Notes + Interviews Lecture Notes Charles Chambers: Gensler

242

Brett Taylor: S.O.M

244

Carl Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Silva: Jahn Architects

246, 256

Sarah Malin + Ashley Marsh: CannonDesign

248

Drew Ranieri: S.C.B

250

Randy Guillot: CannonDesign

252

Chip von Weise: von Weise Assoicates

254

Laura Fisher: IPM Consulting Adam Whipple: Newcastle Limited

240

256

Brian Lee: S.O.M

260

Iker Gil: MAS Studio

262

John Syvertsen: CannonDesign

264

Sketches

266

Interviews Drew Ranieri: S.C.B

268

Andrew Balster: Chicago Studio

270

Jimenez Lai: Bureau Spectacular

272

Aya Hirose: von Weise

274

Natalie Pastor: von Weise

276

Katherine Darnstadt: LatentDesign

278

Kris Huisinga: von Weise

288

Project Management

294

with Poyer Conforte

241

Value vs. Trajectory

vs.

Meaning vs. Expectations

Charles Chambers Senior Designer

Gensler

13 February 2013

242

As a young person preparing to enter the professional workplace, I have experienced a growing anxiety as to where I belong in the field and how I plan on furthering my still-tobe-acquired career. Rather, it’s not so much an anxiety as it is a nervous energy. I want to do big things. I want to make a significant contribution to the world with my life. I want to be remembered. Obviously. I can safely say these self-centered desires are inherent to almost every adolescent as they look out onto the expanse that is to be their professional life, but what I am interested in is the translation of these wishes into tangible results that affect others for the better, in a genuine, intelligent way. I am completely aware of the competitive nature of our profession and the value we should put in the serious pursuit of furthered design, yet the series of prescribed steps which seem to structure the advancement of a young architect’s understanding seems a bit amiss. The resume-advancing mindset that begins even before college admissions is breeding a generation of, yes, innovative and ambitious people, but people who are oriented towards the betterment of a generic system. Students should not be tricked into adhering to a schedule involving participating in every “lifechanging experience”, taking control of all opportunities, and heading every movement. Cultivate interests instead! I am being facetious to a large extent in this response, but I am disappointed in the homogeneity of thought in the field as I am about

to enter it. Here I mean homogeneity in the sense that there is an oversaturation of excellence and achievement, and a lack of conviction and commitment. There needs to be more room in the field for those who are prepared to take risks and be curious in a direct way. Architects seem to not be as innately resourceful as they once were, and the present generation is to blame. A lack of organicism in the field has led to a stifling of it. Let’s allow for a proliferation of ideals! I don’t want to be expected to do a series of things in order to be called a creative person; this approach is inverted. Of course, experience in a working environment leads to a richer understanding of the profession, yet when every young designer is having the same experience, the atmosphere becomes stale. My wish is for young people to be passionate and constantly interested without concern for a resume or grade. Be interested in what you do! Be bold.

243

Project Management

SOM’s practice completely astounds me. After sneaking glimpses into the studio culture through visits to Matt’s desk or trips to the library, it’s obvious that a strong intraoffice communication and a strong competitive environment allows for the practice to thrive. However, it’s quite easy as a student to turn a blind eye to the realities of the profession, and, as I’ve explored in my previous response, I am curious as to how the “real world” functions outside of school, not only in a pedagogical way, but from a technical standpoint as well. For a few years we have been encountering the jargon accompanying the business aspect of architecture and have been hesitant to really understand any of it. Although I was familiar with the RFP process, gaining insight as to how a project is executed fully was actually quite interesting. The finesse required to balance budgetary concerns and design matters is quite surprising. Brett, who had previously worked in construction before coming to SOM, led the studio through the basic concerns of a project manager. Briefly, the steps we discussed included:

RFPs -Simple description of the project, including program, square footage, etc. -This phase is usually quite vague, and involves having the client articulate his/her wants -Understanding of the scope of work and time commitment Fee Analysis -About 6.5% construction fee -Midpoint usually occurrs around Design Development -Fees based on time, position, etc. -Multiplier or timecard factor used to calculate relationship of overhead to fee and worker salary Building Schedule Contracts Proposal is put together -History of the firm, expertise explained -Examples of work provided -Description of how the office would approach the project and who would be needed -Usually use AIA contracts

Brett Taylor

Project Manager

SOM

20 February 2013

244

245

Construction

Carl Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Silva

Vice President/Design Principal

Jahn Architects 6 March 2013

246

The Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, is a feat of steel, glass, and concrete. As the fourth largest single-building airport in the world, Suvarnabhumi proved to be a challenging project, according to Carl, not only to engineer, but also to manage. After winning a competition for its design in 1994, Murphy/Jahn took to designing from 1995 until 1999, with bidding occupying most of 2000 and 2001. Construction finally began in the fall of 2001, but with the overthrowing of the prime minister by a military coup, the airportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grand opening was put on hold until September 2006. This strange chain of events led to a complication in communication between the owner, architect, project manager and contractor, which Carl described as a triangular relationship centering on the project manager. Despite the difficulty in exchange of information, the project speaks an eloquent design language. Carl described the three levels intersected by a roadway: a service terminal, arrivals, and departures. These spaces were situated so as to have as much flexibility as possible for future expansion. The main wings of the terminals intersect again at the airside center, which contains a series of retail and dining spaces, making circulation radial from this point. A specific comfort model was also developed to accommodate for what was basically conceived of as a large glass box in an extremely hot and humid climate. In order to minimize

the amount of energy entering the building, a series of low emittance coatings and shadings were applied to the openings. Additionally, only the floors were conditioned by a radient floor system, since the upper air areas are not occupied. Sophisticated glass coatings and frittings allowed for additional heat dispelling. The outer glass was coated with a 75% double fritting with white-on-black dots, which would allow for visibility though the black dots and reflection from the white dots. In terms of structure, Carl most extensively disussed the steel superstructure which served as the grandest feature of the building. A series of eight trusses, measuring 210 feet from tip to tip, along with sixteen super columns, 81 meters center to center, formed the impressive structure. This framework, which was installed with a series of lifting cranes, supported a fabric roof assembly, which is tethered by tensioning. This fabric membrane is composed of layers, including the outside teflon-coated closed glass fiber material, and an inner open weave with a silver finish and aluminum low-e coating. A grid network of cables allowed for a grid network of cables with polycarbonate panels in between to create a bubble or pillow effect to allow for a thinner application of materials.

247

Social Responsibility

Sarah Malin + Ashley Marsh Senior Associates

CannonDesign 6 March 2013

248

Ashley and Sarah’s discussion of social responsibility in regards to architecture showcased a very strong aspect of Cannon’s core of values, and demonstrated that giving back to the community can be rewarding without being contrived. Ashley, who is currently involved with the Open Hand Studio, began by asking how a project’s success is measured. She posited a few questions: is the project on budget? How many people are impacted? Were all of the schedules met on time? The list can go on, but ultimately she asked what if global citizenship was the primary driver of a firm’s reputation? This idea of “design for good” has shifted from meaning the design of literal goods of quality to the idea of designing for social change. However, when designing for social change, how ethical is it for “corporate” designers to implement an engineered modification into an existing situation? Surely there are examples of this method that are beneficial to a community, especially when the change is implemented slowly and through an organization located in the area needing an intervention, but the idea of being able to provide change to a group of people through design often comes off as artificial. Ashley’s point of working locally to implement this change is definitely important and allows for this model to be successful. She noted a number of goals, including gaining a deeper understanding of the environment in which both the client and affected community lives and works,

heightening awareness of the value and breadth of design services, all while strengthening the impact of non-profit design. The ethics of such a design process continues to be at the forefront of discussion, and Ashley provided a number of resources online, such as SEED and Public Architecture’s 1% Program, as guidelines when dealing with compensation-free projects. Sarah, on the other hand, focused her lecture on Cannon’s Third Teacher + group. This program attempts to provide educators a better understanding of how design can be implemented to improve the learning environment. Cannon’s partnership with several other design firms and Bruce Mao allowed for the publication of their research, which gained the program to national recognition. Although trained as an anthropologist, Sarah’s contribution to the Third Teacher has be astonishing; she provides the firm with research information by meeting with administrators and students, visiting the existing conditions, surveying sites, and observing day-to-day activities in schools. She successfully navigates educators’ wants and needs and articulates them to the design team, which is often the most challenging part of a design process.

249

Contracts

Drew Ranieri

Design Principal

SCB

20 March 2013

250

Although the idea of contracts seems quite dull, Drewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presentation of contracts in relation to the architectural profession was filled with enough great anecdotes and advice that the Pro Practice meeting was very enjoyable and enlightening. He began the conversation with a reflection on the idea of perfection and how this notion is, clearly, unattainable. As someone who is ultimately responsible for shaping a built environment, Drew urged the group to strive for perfection through design but with the help of a work agreement that allows for tolerances in that aim. A brief description of some of the many aspects of contracts was provided, including information on risk and responsibility/ liability, scope of work, schedule, fees, and work product, all of which should be agreed to by the owner, architect, and client. Listed below are some of the most relevant and interesting points of the lecture in relation to each of the five main components of a typical contract. Liability -clauses put in place to protect the client and architect -covers local and national code such as ADA, etc. -the architect is not responsible for means and methods, but just how the finished building performs

determine what is beyond the preagreed upon work and therefore worth monetary compensation Schedule -important to always meet specified deadlines because architect is often the first in a long chain of people/organizations included in the completion of a project -in the conceptual design phase, schedule can be based on time and materials before determining what the scope of the project is Fees -an estimated fee can be used to project costs in a project where the scope has not yet been determined design, construction documents, and construction observation/ administration each constitute about one third of the fee -fee should be inflated to account for the cost of overhead, and is usually determined by a multiplier of 2.75 to 3.5 -fees should also appear to match the level of quality, i.e. a higher fee seems to suggest better work Work Product -any work given to the client, such as renderings, drawings, etc. -agreed upon in the scope of work

Scope -exact work to be executed and when it is to be completed; affects both the client and the architect -should be very detailed so as to 251

Becoming a Design Principal

Randy Guillot

Design Principal

CannonDesign 03 April 2013

252

Randy’s enthusiasm for architecture was apparent from the first day the Chicago Studio stepped into Cannon’s offices. Not only is Randy energetic and animated, but he’s extremely critical and knowledgeable. When listening to his Pro Practice lecture about how he came to be one of the seven design leaders at Cannon, I found myself rapt in his story and completely inspired. He started with some very reassuring stories, noting how he felt that his time at Pratt gave him the opportunity to become familiar with the tools he would eventually use in the work place, but that he felt incompetent in relation to a lot of his peers. He noted that school should primarily serve as a foundation on which your learning and relationships grow. These relationships, he said, are what can land you a job once school is finished, and it is imperative to follow up on these connections. Randy did just that after graduating, and found himself with a job through a professor’s connection. After being in the workplace for quite some time, Randy had come up with a series of tenants that are sure to shape one’s career. Along with the importance of keeping up both analytically and emotionally with various relationships, Randy stressed the importance of having a broad range of influences and mentors, espeically people who work outside of the field and may not be in your immediate circle. The next pieces of advice was to accept that pretty much everyone is awful at time management and that a rigorous

process should be developed to keep things on track. Next, it is important to know that your client is also your design partner and that they influence the design as much as the actual designer. It is necessary not to expect an outcome, but to keep yourself open for discovery, as there is always more than one right answer; it just depends on if you promote your strengths accurately or not. Additionally, Randy noted to ‘listen to me and ignore me,’ meaning that it is necessary to do what is asked to imperative to be bringing new ideas along with the required task. Be sure to build on the work of those around you, and to be willing to learn from others. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Randy noted with this very blunt but very knowing statement: Don’t be an asshole. Architects have the stigma of being arrogant and unreceptive, but that image can easily change. On top of that, Randy closed with be kind, do things for others, and be open to what you’re receiving. Surely accepting opportunities with kindness and gratitude is the most important of all of these tenants.

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Starting a Firm

Chip von Weise Principal von Weise Associates 17 April 2013

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As one of the interns at von Weise, Chip is a kind of omniscent presence. He’s always in and out of the office, occasionally glancing over our shoulders. Although he spends a majority of his time managing client relationships, his true passion definitely lies in design, especially in drawing. This passion stems from his study of painting and drawing along with art history at Amherst College. During our conversations Chip always notes that he fell into architecture after dabbling in advertising, and had the opportunity to rennovate an old loft space in Bucktown. Thankfully the rennovation really piqued his interest, and the decision to apply to the Harvard Graduate School of Design allowed him to fully develop his already strong drawing talents into an even greater understanding of space. While talking about how he established von Weise Associates, Chip spoke about a few key moments in his career, including working at Booth-Hansen. He noted his time there was rewarding, but after bringing in a majority of the clients, he and a few other employees, including John Ronan and Matt Petrie, decided to moonlight out of Chip’s basement. Eventually the group split from their parent firm, and started a separate office, still out of Chip’s house and partaking in smaller residential or corporate interiors. However, after the projects and reputation of the firm grew, a schism began to form between John Ronan and Chip’s asthetics. Another split was made, and von Weise Assoicates was established as its own entity.

Chip obviously takes great pride in von Weise Associates, and notes that the firm is based on a series of specialized components focused on client-firm relationships, namely collaboration, an attitude toward natural materials, a tendancy to ignore styles, and engaging in rigorous dialogue. These key factors have been and continue to be extremely attractive towards clients, and allow for healthy office growth. Another insightful point derived from these points that Chip pointed out was the need to select clients who will help the office advance in the direction desired. He stressed how important it is to spend time around friends and accquaintances who are not architects, and to foster relationships with people in business. Above all he stressed the importance of hard work and perseverance, with a dash of good luck.

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Glass 101

Carl Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Silva Vice President Jahn Architects 25 April 2013

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Carlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lecture on glass was like a throwback to one of the Building Assembly classes the studio took in our third year, but this time, instead of having an entire semester to explain the manufacturing and properties of glass, Carl covered it all in about an hour. He began at the beginning of the glass making process, explaining the composition of glass and the earliest techniques used to make it. This seemingly magical material, which has been known since the second century BCE, is composed of a mixture of silica, sand, soda ash, limestone, and a variety of other chemical and mineral compounds. When producing glass hundreds of years ago, there were two main processes most frequently used. Crown glass was produced from blown glass that was then spun into sheets, while cylinder glass was made from blow glass that was spun on a tube. However, as of 1963 glass production was to change forever with the advent of float glass manufacturing, and subsequently the introduction of low-e glass in 1983. The categories of glass produced today include annealed, heatstrengthened, and tempered float glass, each with their own strength and valuable properties. Annealed glass is regular, simple glass, while anything that is cooled in a specific way adds strength. Heat-strengthened glass is heated slowly so that tension is created in the middle of the glass, making it about twice as strong as annealed glass. It is not safety

specified, unlike tempered glass, which is. Tempered glass is also about four times as strong as regular annealed glass, and can resist up from 3500- 7500 psi surface compression. A variety of coatings are also used to ensure glass can respond to the elements. Coatings can reduce heat gain, minimize heat loss, allow for privacy, and change the color of the glass. Low-e coatings (for lowemissivity) are especially valuable for their solar control. This coating is used in insulated glass units, and prevents the intrusion of unwanted solar heat. Glass can also be used as laminated sheets, where two lites are bonded together with an interlayer of PVB or resin. This glass type is used for safety glazing, also known as security glass because when the glass breaks, it stays together because of the plastic interlayer. However, lamination does not increase the strength of the glass. Carl obviously displays a breadth of knowledge that comes only from years of experience in the field and from working closely with such a delicate and particular material. His previous lecture on the airport completed in Thailand was a great precursor to this one, as it was interesting to see how a study of raw materials and processes can be translated into an equally complex and beautiful built structure.

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Architectural Tangents

Laura Fisher IPM Consulting Adam Whipple Newcastle, Ltd. AIA Chicago 01 May 2013 258

Laura and Adam’s presentations were quite unlike any we had previously had during Chicago Studio. Even though both speakers are trained and licensed as architects, their careers have developed because of a variety of professional interests. Laura, a Virginia Tech graduate, has situated herself in the world of consulting, while Adam’s urban planning background has flourished while partnered with a love for project development. Laura began the two-part lecture with a brief overview of her education and work experience, starting with Virginia Tech, and her time at SOM as an intern during her fourth year. After graduation, Laura found herself working in a Chicago office where she was unhappy with the environment, so she took a job working with a local bank and attending business school during the evenings. A couple of years paid off, for she is now the owner of IPM Consulting, a private firm that she uses to continue exploring the various aspects of architecture with. As an architectural consultant, Laura works closely with clients on a variety of scales, from outfitting multi-floor offices with new furniture and layouts, to organizing the opening of a new charter school. She also plays a role in the design and management of corporate real estate, and her previous employers include McDonalds, Deustche Bank, and various law offices in Chicago. She also enjoys working with community organizations, and urged everyone to spend time volunteering in order to get to know both potential clients

and certain areas of the city more intimately. Adam, on the other hand, has had an equally intriguing career. He first studied architecture as an undergraduate at the ChampagneUrbana campus, and went on to get his masters in urban planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. His love for large-scale planning led him to a job at SCB, and then to SOM, where he worked on a team heading the master plan for the country of Bahrain. After a brief time on their urban planning team, Adam left the office to pursue a career in architectural development with Newcastle, Ltd., where he worked as the only architect in the office. Adam claims his foray into development led to a deeper understanding of the field, and a want to comprehend the full process associated with building. He provided a few interesting charts during his lecture, showing the fields in which architecture is a valuable, if not underestimated, asset. Many companies could benefit from working with someone who understands spatial arrangements and floor plans, especially when they are involved with furniture or inventory counts. Perhaps what was most important to take away from these two lectures was the fact that as students and young professionals we have the power to change the field to be more diverse and to be more accepting of non-traditional careers. As Don Draper once said on the television show Mad Men, “If you don’t like what’s being said, then change the conversation.”

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Passion

Brian Lee Senior Design Partner SOM 03 May 2013

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Most of the Pro Practice lectures arranged in the Chicago Studio program involve a speaker giving a lecture about a specific topic most closely related to their field of study or work. Brian Lee, however, knows an amazing amount of information about one of the most prestigious American firms, so he spoke about what he considered to be most important: passion. His converstation began with a brief explanation of his daily routine, which involves paying attention to about 400 employees and making sure everything is running smoothly in relation to design. He claims that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just a partner in the firm, but that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s simply an architect trying to do a good job, a very humble claim indeed. He made a beautiful analogy out of the relationship of his work to that of the office, saying that running a firm is like tending a garden; some things need to be trimmed or pruned, while others need watering or a bit of fertilizer. He lives by the notion that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dangerous to take yourself too seriously, and that to be a good architect you must also be a balanced person both emotionally and culturally as well as practically. Brian seems to embody the wisdom of a zen master, with his soft-spoken manner and careful words. He warned us to be wary of trends in architecture, noting that they eventually all fade away into obsurity and meaninglessness. Instead, he offered, try to find out what is timeless and keep a coherent ethos instead of a constant style. SOM has prospered because they refuse to adhere to a

particular style, but instead try to work within a framework that adheres to a set of values, those being cultural connections, tectonics (in the sense of building systems), and craft. Staying true to these values allows for a stronger conviction in design and a lack of conformity, whereas other offices may find themselves squared away in a specific programmatic or structural box. One might have imagined the face of SOM Chicago to be a bit more bold when speaking to a group of about-to-be-graduated young students, but Brian was very calm and reassuring in all of his advice. Having a conversation with him was extremely enlightening, for, from his anecdotes, there is a way for navigate all of the corporatism and seemingly bleak aspects of professional officebased architecture. He spoke with an ease and gentleness that indicated not only a deep understanding of architecture and how a designer should respond and work with clients, but also a sensitivity to the needs of a society. These needs, he claimed, can often be studied and then resolved with some aspect of architecture, but there needs to be a relationship between building and society that is accessible to the public. Culture may be contantly changing and evolving, but architects must find a way to navigate that change and solidify the most beautiful moments. Finally, Brian talked a bit about the need to take time and meditate upon work. As someone about to embark on a year-long thesis project, hearing this was a wonderful reminder of the need to let ideas germinate and grow.

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Think Tank

Iker Gil Design Principal MAS Studio 06 May 2013

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Like Adam and Laura before him, Iker has explored the possibilities of architectural tangents in his career, which have led him to an interest in publishing and editing a variety of written media. Iker, who is the mind behind both the architectural studio MAS Studio and the quarterly publication MAS Context, aims to explore the collective with his work and to strengthen the architectural community through discourse. Iker began his lecture by noting how important it has been for him to pay attention to everything around him. He cites moments from his childhood and early adulthood, claiming that things that may have at one time seemed banal or weird when he was younger now stand out and have profoundly influenced his thinking and, subsequently, his work. Born in Bilbao, Spain, Iker has seen a tremendous amount of change and growth in his life. After seeing an exhibition with his father on Arne Jacobsen, he set his sights on training to become an architect. He was apparently very successful, because he found himself attending architecture school and then was awarded a scholarship to study abroad in Chicago at IIT. After completing his studies, Iker worked for a time in Spain and then decided to pursue his masters in architecture at the University of Chicago, followed by spending some time working for SOM Chicago. However, after working in an office under the influence of other designers, Iker found himself looking for another venue in which to express

his concerns about the social situation in the Chicago architecture scene. Thus, MAS Studio and MAS Context were born, and a desire to investigate the needs of the local community was brought to the surface. Iker has since worked on a variety of projects that engage the community on a very personal level and dare the people to take ownership of their neighborhoods. These projects include redesigns of abandoned lots and the Chicago pedway system, the design of small parks, and commissions for temporary installations, one of which will stand in Millenium Park until October 2013. Alongside his interest in serving the local public, Iker has also spent time in China determining what factors are influencing the boom in Shanghai. His book Shanghai Transforming, cites a variety of instances in which architecture and daily life interact or intersect, leaving behind a dense trail of information. His other forays into publication and exhibition include a study of the residents of Marina City on the Chicago River. This photo essay examines the lives of a variety of people, from individuals to families, including both the old and the young. The photos document the types of living conditions found within iconic walls of Marina City, and celebrates the diversity of them. Iker ended his lecture by answering a question, oddly, about his income. He forthrightly said that his journal and studio do not generate a lot of income, but thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not what is important about his work. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There will always be an office to go back toâ&#x20AC;?, he says, but for him this is the time to experiment, learn, and grow.

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Leadership

John Syversten Senior Design Principal CannonDesign 10 May 2013

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As a group about to enter our final fifth year, many of us are filled with a growing sense of anxiety concerning our thesis project. John’s lecture began very reassuringly by noting that he felt the same way when entering the job field when he was in his early twenties. Passion, he claims, is what can drive you through any doubts or anxiousness, and now is your time to determine where you want to go. He urged us to not be afraid of failing or doing stupid things, because those risks are the ones that drive projects and thinking forward. After thirty-five years as an architect, John reflected on the three aspects of his work that he finds the most enjoyment of because they continuously lead him to new thinking and offer a variety of leadership roles. These three things included a love for the public interest, education, and cities, all of which are addressed by CannonDesign’s practice. The public interest is a main focus of the office’s design, but the Open Hand Studio is perhaps the best focus of this time and energy. John, who is a co-founder of the program, remembers how Ashley Marsh challenged him to be proactive and to strive for a greater percentage of local pro bono work that wouldn’t just fall into the “department of good” in the office. He looks at the literal translation of pro bono not as “for free” but as “for good”, but in a deep and complicated sense. This desire to do good become intertwined with the other two of his three interests, education and cities very easily in the Third Teacher program and Peter

Ellis’ New Cities, two CannonDesign integrated groups. By working with all three of these groups, John notes that the firm can help poise cities for the right thing to do for their communities or for their specific issues. He cited the small city of Augusta, Georgia, as a potential area for this type of launch. After meeting with the mayor of Augusta, Deke Copenhaver, John was taken by his ambition and want to transform the city’s fizzled out industry and racial tensions into a positive with a potential for growth. His idea of invigorating the city with a new plan was inspiring to John, and the two built a team around a common goal that would launch the city into a new era. John talked at length about the need to find people like Mayor Copenhaven who are looking to connect leaders in various places and situations in order to create a strong network base in an almost think-tank kind of way. The key to making projects like this actually work is to recognize relationships, bring those relationships together, and then realize the common goals. If we sit and try to solve each problem individually without a knowledge base or a united group, the work is harder and may be fruitless. Designers and planners shouldn’t be scared to make mistakes, as mentioned before, and a common set of goals should be established for those who wish to attain large-scale goals and learn more about the world we live in.

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Interview with Drew Ranieri Design Principal, SCB When organizing my series of interviews, I attempted to focus on the educational aspect of architecture, specifically in regards to the Chicago Studio and the pedagogy of Virginia Tech. Drew, an alumus of the Virginia Tech graduate school, is a large presence in the experience of Chicago Studio, and his input and feedback are beyond valueable; his sharp advice and sometimes rambling antecdotes make Drew one of the most personable and respected critics, so I wanted to get to know him a bit better. This transcript loosely records a conversation over BLTs at BrettÕ s Kitchen on 24 March 2013.

C: So, obviously you are a Tech alumnus. Could you talk a bit about your education leading up to your time in Cowgill and perhaps why architecture interested you?

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D: IÕ m from New York but started my professional education at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. My time there wasnÕ t really too great... We would have very few meetings with our professor, and when we did we had to line up alphabetically and show him our work. My last name, being near the end of the alphabet, would always land me towards the back of the line, where I would have to wait to present my project. The problem was that after seeing fifteen of the same project, my professor would have little patience and would point out what was wrong with my project immediately and send me away. When I asked him

if my name had started with an A or B would I have been told to do the assignment again, he said, no, probably not. So my time there wasnÕ t very normal, but I had made an acquaintance with a lady who had studied with Olivio Ferrari at Tech. She put me in touch with him, and about six days before the grad programÕ s semester started, I got a phone call asking me to send my portfolio to Blacksburg. So I did, and then found myself on the way to study under Ferrari. Again I had an unusual education because he would ask me to sign up for courses but then I wouldnÕ t go to them but just work under him. Then he would give me the grades based on the conversations we had, which were never really about architecture. Somehow I ended up not talking about architecture while I was there and coming out a much better architect than I had been going in. C: IÕ ve also heard you mention time in Switzerland. Could you elaborate on that? D: Again, I had an amazing opportunity. At this point in time, the Riva program was not established, but we had contact in Zurich. So I went over there and found myself working with Mario Botta, whom I had admired for a long time. IÕ m a big fan of the old-school architects-- Aalto, Scarpa, Botta. I wish I would have stayed in Switzerland for longer, but I was only there for a year. I had the opportunity to stay for three years, and I should have because now three years seems like nothing.

Heidi and I wanted to move somewhere new after that, so we decided to try Chicago. I guess it was a good fit because IÕ ve been here for thirty-something years now.

C: What do you think of the relationship of Chicago Studio to SCB?

D: DonÕ t think thesis is the be-all-andend-all. Try to imagine it as a vehicle for your future and your career, because in the scale of things itÕ s not as big of a deal as it will seem over the next year. Obviously itÕ s important to learn as much as you can, but you need to try and apply what you learn to taking the next step in your life. Thesis helps you determine who you could see yourself working with, and I hope it gets rid of this Ô hero architectÕ idea and lets students develop a voice. Your project will allow for you to step back and really figure out how you have developed a way of seeing things on your own. Most of all itÕ s imporant to be interested and passionate. You need to have a spirit and fire in your work.

D: ItÕ s nice to have a relationship with the students because it exposes you to a range of professionals. We constantly have an intern or interns in the office, and it allows for a dialogue between these two worlds. ItÕ s also nice because the connection to the school allows for further research. At SCB we are always conducting some type of research, usually with interns. Right now we are focusing on small unit prototyping, kind of like what the group from SOM is investigating. But I think itÕ s great that we have students being exposed to the realities of the workplace. You donÕ t get to see a lot of that in school, and itÕ s important to know what it takes to get something actually made. C: What advice do you have for a group of students about to enter thesis year? 269

Interview with Andrew Balster Director, Chicago Studio When organizing my series of interviews, I attempted to focus on the educational aspect of architecture, specifically in regards to the Chicago Studio and the pedagogy of Virginia Tech. Andrew was the most immediate and obvious professional to interview; his range of experience in the traditional field of architecture is quite astounding, but his leadership in the Chicago Studio remains even more compelling. This transcript is based loosely off of a conversation in the Mariott lobby on 21 March, 2013. C: So I guess what IÕ m most interested in is how you got involved with the Chicago Studio because it started with Katherine Albright, right?

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A: Yeah it started with Katherine in late 2000? Maybe 1998. I had students from the Chicago Studio in my studio at Skidmore, so thatÕ s how I became aware of it. I had no connection to Tech, had never been to Virginia. So I was at Skidmore for two years, but during that time Katherine had stopped running the program. We had since we become good friends because we have a lot of mutual contacts here, so I went to Blacksburg because I just needed a break from practice. I anticipated going there for nine months, but soon found out my wife was pregnant, so thatÕ s why I stuck around for another year. It was during that time that I saw the opportunity to turn Chicago Studio into a year-long residency program. So I pitched the idea and spent

the year designing the program. Then I took over KatherineÕ s network, which included a lot of alumni, and I had a good relationship with firms like Skidmore, Perkins and Will. So I pitched it and then worked on getting funding and talking to the firms, and that’s how it really started. C: So it seems like some firms are more receptive to the program? A: Well it all boils down to having a good relationship with the leadership. Some of the firms are amazing, but the relationship is just so strong wih some others, like GREC and Cannon. So thatÕ s essentially how I took over the program. There were times in the first semester that I was sure I would only run the program for a year or two, but in that first semester I saw the power of what the program could really be. ItÕ s jsut grown from there.

C: So would you see yourself doing this for a while, or would you pass the program off at some point? A: Chicago Studio is a brand, but itÕ s really about the exchange of intellectual

and professional practice, and thatÕ s what IÕ m really interersted in. I see myself doing this for a while, but I want to build it up so I can bring other people in to really build up the urban mapping and classes like that. I mean, the program is run by really my friends now, so I want to continue getting into better workshops and working closer with the city. I want to intentionally get closer to the city and affect the area we are in. I guess I could see myself handing off the program at some point and just running overall operations. C: What do you do outside of Chicago Studio? Like, how do you fit in the field of architecture. A: Here, IÕ ll give you some background. I went to the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis and went for architecture, but I was really interested in the ancillary things, like web design. I was interested in architectural training, so I went to work at BluDot with these two architects and a sculptor and basically did everything that you could do from prototype development to mopping the floors. I learned a lot from their leadership, and took a year and a half off to work with them. Then I worked for Ralph Rapson who trained under Aalto and was the Midwest Modernist. I used to answer the phone and Philip Johnson would be on the other end and he introduced me to Cesar Pelli... it was amazing. Then I decided I wanted to go to the Bartlett or the AA, and went over there, got in, got no money, but just didnÕ t really like it. I went over to Edinburgh, and it was ridiculously solid and so

philosophical and awesome. They could slice you in two. It was just the right people at the right time, and everyone was just phenomenal. I was then working for a new shoot-off, which was run by the right-hand man of Foster, and it was really my first exposure to big, corporate architecture, and I loved it. Then we spent a couple months in China, and then we had to get back to the Midwest to see my wifeÕ s family. So I sent my resume to Skidmore and Perkins, and got a job interview from SOM and went there, and moved to Chicago. So my first few weeks at SOM were just... it wasnÕ t me at all, but after I found the right group it was great. I got slated to be the senior designer on the Houston City Music Hall, and it was amazing. I got to work really closely with Brian Lee, and thatÕ s when everything shifted. He put me on board with competitions in China, and he loved people with extreme passion and extreme work ethics. I had both, so it worked out. C: What advice do you have for young architects entering the workplace? As someone coming out of school, what are the big things to consider? A: I would say make yourself an interesting person. Like, really knowing that your skills are valuable, not just as an architect, but having the confidence to do anything you want to do is the most important part. You have to have passion in life.

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Interview with Jimenez Lai Design Principal, Bureau Spectacular When organizing my series of interviews, I attempted to focus on the educational aspect of architecture, specifically in regards to the Chicago Studio and the pedagogy of Virginia Tech. However, the intersection of professional work and education in the profession creates a complex and intriguing office atmosphere, as seen in the office of Jimenez Lai, an associate professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology. His work falls somewhere in between architecture and graphics, with a bit of industrial design tendancies thrown in, making him a designer rather than the typical architect. This transcript is based loosely off of a conversation at the Bureau Spectacular office on 2 April 2013.

C: Could you tell me a bit about your education and how Bureau Spectacular came to be?

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J: Well, I studied architecture at the University of Toronto in Canada and completed my masters there. Then I studied at Taliesen for about eight months, which was amazing. Eventually I found myself kind of like a lot of my friends just trying to figure out what I wanted to do after school, so I applied to all of the big groups like MVRDV and BIG because I knew I had a certain almost playful asthetic. I had worked at MOS Architects while still in school, but then I got an offer from OMA and went

to go work in Rotterdam. It was weird, though, because I made a connection through work and ended up getting a position to teach at Ohio State, and I took it even though I had never been to Ohio. It was great, though, because I still got to be involved with academics but examine my own design at the same time. Again, I made another connection and got hired as an associate professor at IIT, so I came to Chicago. Bureau Spectacular is a manifestation of my thoughts and explorations from teaching and traveling and meeting new people. C: The Bureau obviously got a lot of recognition with the publication of your graphic novel Citizens of No Place, which I have only read samples of, but have really enjoyed thus far. It seems to convey such a strong story through an equally bold technique. What influenced you to create novels or, rather, storyboards in this format, and, in turn, what does this format do for you and your work? J: Yeah so the book is what you are describing-- a cartoon in a way. I enjoy telling stories, but I aim for this particular media to communicate a narrative thatÕ s about people or characters, but also about architecture. It allows me to exaggerate the fake and the real, to make things that really are sillly even more cartoonish, and to make things that are maybe dark more easily seen. The appeal of Ò paper architectureÓ has to do with it too, I

think. ItÕ s a way of capturing someoneÕ s attention and bringing them into another, exaggerated world where, yes, maybe you read these panels one by one to create a larger picture, but I appreciate the part to whole effect it produces. Growing up I was greatly influenced by the illustrations in Japanese manga, particularly stories about the future. ItÕ s a great way of communicating something because there is a tension and a real anticipation, but often there is a lack of resolution that allows for the reader to fill in the hole, and I think architecture sometimes should read that way as well. Q: How does your representative technique react to the other means of representation used today? A: Do you mean renders? Q: Yes, primarily. A: I personally think the fixed render is dead. Like, the fixed perspective is so common and so over-used that itÕ s dead now. My graphic representation is liberating to me, and it allows for a real narrative to occur. I canÕ t imagine a godÕ s eye perspective, and I donÕ t think that view would really communicate that much anyways. ThatÕ s why the profile or horizontal projection is much more interesting. You canÕ t easily have a narrative come across from a static image thatÕ s set up and composed to be the Ò money shotÓ . Then again I do use the computer for a lot of representation, and I think itÕ s a good tool. Sometimes making a little graphic can be the clearest thing, but I just prefer to draw

by hand and to create these boards with a character or a theme that can be followed quite litterally. This style too doesnÕ t have a lot of constraints because you can break the frames, but it does provide a somewhat rigid framework in which to work. I guess thereÕ s a lot of potential. Q: When reading about your office, I came across the term Ò calibrated superficiality”. What does this mean in the context of your work? A: I think itÕ s my way of dealing with all of the stuff that is flying around us all of the time.... the internet, television, all of that. ItÕ s like that drug that you take when you have ADD or whatever, you know? Adderall or Riddalin I guess. Everything is super image-able, and it all comes so quick like you donÕ t have a minute to not be super stimulated. So calibrated superficicality is a way of viewing the world as this frenzy but as a controlled frenzy where maybe, yes, everything is fake and flying by you, but those things can be picked through to create and shape a story that maybe tells more about the culture instead of just being stuff everywhere.

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Interview with Aya Hirose Architectural Intern, von Weise Associates

Q: Could you talk a little bit about your thesis since itÕ s about the education of an architect?

practice. I enjoy being somewhat caught between the two spheres.

When organizing my series of interviews, I attempted to focus on the educational aspect of architecture, specifically in regards to the Chicago Studio and the pedagogy of Virginia Tech. Aya successfully has transitioned from the world of academia into the working world, but her passion for drawing and learning has remained strong. This transcript is based loosely off of a conversation at the von Weise conference table on 22 April 2013.

A: Yeah, so going through school I was always interested in how an architect thought or how he or she came to make something, rather than how architecture just comes to be. I was experimenting on myself, so it was very subjective, and I was calling myself a student of architecture rather than studying other buildings. It was more about how to continue to develop, and not so much about how to put a finish or completiton to my education, but how to discover this point. It was more of a beginning for me, sort of to know whatÕ s out there in practice and to put that into suspension. It was nice to do what I enjoyed from reading instead of thinking exactly about how a build was made.

Q: Now that youÕ re back working, what are your responsibilities at von Weise?

Q: Since you are very fresh coming out of school and entering the field, we were particularly interested in you. I guess the first question would be why did you become an architect?

thinking while designing something. I started off as an education major, and then went to arts, then back to special education, and then into architecture. I went to University of Missouri for four years. IÕ d always been interested in education, but the design field was also something IÕ d been interested in. Also, I thought architecture would be a good way to learn more than practicing because I wasnÕ t thinking about practicing. After I graduated I practiced under an architecture for two years in Charleston, and that was a really good experience, but the more that I worked, the more that I thought I needed to go back to school because I needed to get the basic design tools and more about how I should be thinking while designing something. Q: So what was your time studying at Virginia Tech like?

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A: Oh, IÕ m not sure if I could tell you why... there was a lot of inspiration along the way. ItÕ s kind of like asking why are the leaves green. ThereÕ s not a right answer. I switched majors a lot as an undergrad, and I kind of stumbled into interior design/ architectural studies. So it was a little bit like process of elimination.

A: My graduate program was a three year program. I was mostly drawn in by the ranking, honestly, so that and also my family lives in Virginia, so thatÕ s kind of how I looked into it, but the way I chose it was intuitive. I visited and had a really good feeling about the school. It was cool to see the work people were doing and the work that was actually out on the desks. And the professors. After talking to some of the professors I was pretty set on going there.

Q: So how did going out into the working world and then coming back from grad school affect your education? A: I would probably recommend practicing before going into school again. It was a really good experience for me. I practiced in Charleston, like I said, and then in Virginia Beach for a year as a draftsperson. I talked about process of elimination, so it was learning about what I donÕ t like, and the things I wasnÕ t aware of and what I lacked. Being concious of that and going into school was really helpful because it kept me focused, because you can learn in a lot of ways, but I really focused on what I wanted to learn. I would recommend working just so you know the difference between school and

A: My responsibilities are primarily to support the project managers with their main projects, as well as continuing education. IÕ m learning so much as IÕ m doing all of these tasks. A lot of things are new to me, so a lot of my responsibility is to learn-- not just how to do things but how to talk to people and how to communicate, which has been a challenge for me. IÕ m taking in a small project for myself right now, so IÕ m a little bit scared since this is the first time, but, yeah. Q: Do you plan on having your own firm? A: I mean, IÕ d love to some day. ItÕ s really nice to see what Chip is doing and how he goes about things and how he runs the business. I donÕ t have much to compare it to, but itÕ s nice to see how he defines his responsibilities. It’s important to step back and say whatÕ s important for me to do for this project. Your role as an architect can change frequently and can be completely different things nowadays. ThatÕ s another difference about being in school and the working world. In the profession you have to define your own responsibility, where in school you are learning about what that responsibility is, or even your tendencies or interests.

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Interview with Natalie Pastor Office Manager, von Weise Associates When organizing my series of interviews, I attempted to focus on the educational aspect of architecture, specifically in regards to the Chicago Studio and the pedagogy of Virginia Tech. Natalie, however, doesnÕ t exactly fit into this category, but she presents an interesting view on what architecture is to someone outside of the field who remains in direct contact with it. This transcript is based loosely off of a conversation with Natalie and James Heard around the von Weise conference table on 9 May 2013.

C: What are your responsibilities within the firm? N: Well the biggest thing is day-to-day making sure the office is running and then when little things come up, itÕ s my responsibility to interact with Al, the IT guy, and to wowk with the plotter and little things like that. So, itÕ s basically to make sure everything is going well and smoothly and that everyone can get their work done. I manage things, like when AutoCad crashes and the Adobe Suite dies. Other than that, the other things that Chip wants me to do are working with the online face of the firm, like the website and the Pinterest so that people can access and see things easily. ItÕ s great because itÕ s more creative. And then I do things like update the webpages and edit photos for projects. Those are the two major things I do during the day. And then I do 276

some of the financial things like keeping track of things so we have enough money to pay everyone. Some clients are really great and pay you right away, but some really take their time. Oh, and I keep the coffee coming. If I didnÕ t this place wouldnÕ t run. C: So how much do you interact with the clients? N: Actually very rarely. When they come in to the office, I interact with them obviously, but I donÕ t see them often. ItÕ s interesting to be on the phone with someone all of the time but not see them in person until they come into the office. C: You went to school for creative writing, right? N: Yeah, I studied English and Political Science. The plan was to study and then go to law school, but that was a bad decision. It didnÕ t work out very well. So when IÕ m not here I write a lot. C: What do you write? N: I write little fiction stories, but I don’t really want to talk about them because theyÕ re just for fun, but I also write things that are more true to life, just from things I hear about. TheyÕ re usually short stories, no more than about eight or nine pages. I usually find myself getting bored with

something after that. C: When you started working for an architect, what did you think about it? N: Well, I actually didnÕ t know what to think. IÕ m from Oak Park, so thereÕ s obviouslly this huge Frank Lloyd Wright influence. I’ve always been aware of architecture, but I didnÕ t have any friends who were architecture students, so I didnÕ t really know much about it. This job appealed to me because there is a creative flow, and my job is not just paperwork but is creatively influenced. So thatÕ s all I knew about architecture. That and that George Costanza had an alter-ego who was an architect. ItÕ s always been a positive thing in my mimd. Architecture definitely has more accountability to clients that I imagined, though. ItÕ s like they hire you because they have an idea in mind and want you to execute it for them because they donÕ t have the ability to do it themselves. They need you to be their medium. I feel the office would be a lot more calm if architects were allowed to just do what they want to do, but itÕ s always importatnt to please the client, of course. I donÕ t know how Chip does it, because itÕ s so much work.

the blockiness of it, but I never know who the architects are. Also I think any kind of architecture that brings people outside and that people enjoy is good. C: Do you have a favourite building in Chicago? N: Oh I do, but I donÕ t know what itÕ s called... If youÕ re out by the Adler Planetarium looking back towards the city, thereÕ s a big, blocky red brick building. ItÕ s pretty old, but I donÕ t know what itÕ s called. If you saw it IÕ m sure you would recognize it as well. I call myself a Chicagoan, but donÕ t know what anything is! I also like older museum buildings with the grand columns, even though they look a lot like other museum campuses. Another thing I like is that the city kind of makes buildings more beautiful. Like, everything works together even though the buildings are all different. If each building stood by itself with nothing around it, I donÕ t think it would look as nice. It looks better when everything is mixed up together!

J: So do you have a favourite architect now after working in an architecture office for a while? N: Oh, I donÕ t even know that much about famous architects! I mean, I like Frank Lloyd Wright. I really like stuff from the 1920s, like Art Deco style. I like

(This is NatalieÕ s favourite building in Chicago, the Blackstone at 636 S Michigan Avenue.) 277

that function like that, so could you talk about the actual publishing process?

Interview with Iker Gil Editor, MAS Context When organizing my series of interviews, I attempted to focus on the educational aspect of architecture, specifically in regards to the Chicago Studio and the pedagogy of Virginia Tech. Iker plays a bit of a different but very interesting role in regards to education, as he works both out of his own studio, MAS Studio, and publishes a quarterly journal for continuing architectural education, MAS Context. This transcript is based loosely off of a conversation with Iker, James Heard, and Matthew Ridgeway at CannonDesign on 06 May 2013.

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from there it just gets harder and maybe pushed back more and more. You need to be disciplined because otherwise it wonÕ t be done on time and people wonÕ t have respect for your work. G: So how do you manage everything in that three month period?

I: Well, we put out a call for submissions a week before we release a journal, but that goes towards the next one. We also always have a pool of people we contact in the hopes that they will write something. We contact, like, forty people for each issue, but only a few will actually have the time to write and Group: So we are wanting to begin a journal at Virginia Tech since there submit. We have a few regular writers isnÕ t one already for some reason. We as well, but, you know, sometimes fall have also taken on the responsibility of through. So yeah. We give out the call, publishing and editing the Chicago Studio and then we get a bunch of things back. ThatÕ s when we all get together and read body of work, and are interested in how all of the submissions, and determine you became involved and continute to stay involved with self publishing. Could what we want to put into the next issue. ItÕ s a lot of work contacting the writer and you start by telling us a little about the timeline you work with when assembling asking for more information or another a publication? edit or something like that because people take their time getting back to Iker: Well we publish an issue of MAS you and itÕ s time consuming to contact Context every three months, which I think everyone. After thatÕ s done we basically is very important. It doesnÕ t give you put everything into our template and much turnaround time as the editor, but it spend two weeks editing and formatting is good for your audience base. They have everything. Then we send it out and have to know you are dedicated and in for the it set up with the publisher. long haul. Some people, they start on the first issue and are really proud and don’t get any recognition. Then they find it G: So MAS Context is available online more difficult to make the next issue, and for free. I donÕ t know many publications

I: Yes, itÕ s free for download as a PDF from the website, but you can buy a copy thatÕ s sent to the publisher, like a lulu copy. Then they print it and send it to you. I donÕ t really have any involvement with that other than the percentage of the money that goes to us. But thatÕ s never very much at all. I donÕ t think we could really find a way to do this for a profit, and I’m ok with it being free. This is for education and for everyone; we have readers from a bunch of different countries, and having it be accessible is key. The only problem with having it available like this is that it kind of devalues the content. People think Ò Oh, itÕ s free, therefore the quality and content are not as goodÓ when actually itÕ s of a very high quality. We have a pretty varied range of topics we cover, but we make sure that we always engage critical thinking and strive for the highest quality possible. G: So how do you decide what to put in your journal? It seems to be more of a topic-by-topic commentary on activism rather than academics.

architectural journals. That group is very small, but they will always be there because they seek out something very specific. But I want MAS Context to reach people who are interested in design in general, or who just want to see interesting things happing in the world. If we can retain those readers, then the publication will continue to spread and continue to grow. You just have to identify what it is that you want to focus on and then run with it. If you want to make an academic journal, do it. It will be a great environment at Virginia Tech, and you have a lot of students to draw information from. If you take it away from school just keep in mind that you will need to reach a certain audience.

I: I do try to make sure content relavent to social issues appears in the journal. Obviously acadmeic journals are important too, but a lot of time they exist as a form of self-verification. People like to see themselves published. However, they forget that the information needs to be accessible to a wide range of people, because there will always be a small group of designers who will buy 279

Interview with Katherine Darnstadt Principal, Latent Design When organizing my series of interviews, I attempted to focus on the educational aspect of architecture, specifically in regards to the Chicago Studio and the pedagogy of Virginia Tech. Katherine, who the girls of Chicago Studio were lucky to hear lecture at a luncheon, displays immense determination in continuing her education for herslef and for young architects. This transcript is based loosely off of a Skype interview on 10 May 2013. Group: Could you start off by telling us a little bit about your background and how you got to where you are now?

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K: So Latent Design, I started with that about three years ago. That I started because I was laid off. I had this period of about eight months where I was promoted, licensed, laid off, got married and got pregnant. From that, it was started out of an opportunity and a need to create some sort of income for my future family, but then also, I had this stark decision on, this is a total crossroads in my life right now to be unemployed, and at this point. So, do I either want to be an architect or do I not, you know, so I kind of thought very cut and dry in that way. I made that decision to move forward and try and pursue a career of architecture not knowing where it was going to take me. Before then, I worked on a variety of projects at a firm that had work in affordable housing, predominantly. I worked on affordable housing projects

here in Chicago. From there, I went to another firm that did more development. I saw more of the architectural side and the development side of that - I wanted to learn more of those front end pieces of how the buildings actually come to be, before we even get to design the building in the projects. It was from that position that I was laid off. My interest in affordable housing started in school. I studied abroad in both Paris and Copenhagen and the way that they treat affordable housing in Copenhagen is widely different in the psychology of housing and also in the design of housing than we do here in US. So when I came back to the US, I wanted to start to find out why we don’t have the same design standard and the broad base belief that affordable housing can be for a variety of people, not necessarily only for the poor minorities, here in Chicago, and in the US across the board. In Copenhagen, five or six years ago when I was studying there, they were looking at it as, itÕ s temporary, itÕ s a stepping-stone, itÕ s for young adults, young families, individuals, sure that are at the lower socioeconomic pyramid, but itÕ s for a much broader audience. And also in terms of design, they use the design as an equalizer. They wanted affordable housing to be just as well designed as any other type of housing and some say itÕ s a mixed income model. It was designed for the person who was getting it at the market rate, not at the affordable housing rate. That is definitely a one-eighty of how we viewed affordable housing in Chicago at that time and itÕ s starting to change. And

itÕ s changing because the client face for affordable housing has shifted. There are more individuals that are coming out who do qualify within that income bracket and then the client base for some of the non for profit organizations who deal in this, from either the Chicago Housing Authority and even the non for profit developers, they are seeing that we need not only folks who live in the communities, but we want to retain the existing housing stock and retain existing community members. But we also need new individuals to our communities or else we are going to keep continuing to experience population decline. So they have to change their perception of it or else they are going to always have more houses. Then, you are going to consistently have this vacancy issue, and you are not going to start to chip away at it. G: WeÕ re all working on projects in Uptown, so itÕ s pretty interesting to see just from the four months that we have been here, the push towards gentrification that has been happening and so the population that does live there and how theyÕ ve been pushed from all these other areas into basically into the corner thatÕ s Uptown. Are you from Chicago originally? K: I was born in Chicago. I grew up about a half-hour outside the city limits, so from the downtown area. Then I came back to Chicago, I studied first at Depaul University. I was studying English and Philosophy. And then there I went over into the Architecture at IIT. And so I switched sides of the city too.

So what made you switch, why did you want to become an architect? I wish I had a good answer for that. I think there were a few pieces that caused me to switch. I always blame that was my existential crisis because I was studying philosophy at that time and felt that there was really few opportunities for me to make a career out of philosophy or out of English. But then when you are starting to look at, you know how do you shape yourself and how do you shape the context of the world around you. There was this idea, well maybe I need to get in a career that does do that, and then at the same time I was also referencing back my father who is an engineer, and so there was all this confluence of what I grew up around, job sites. I grew up in the back of a shop and went up in truck and so I had the built environment as part of this passive learning experience, just from growing up. Looking at those two pieces together, if I want to have an impact on the world and shape an environment, I knew one way to shape an environment is through architecture, engineering and construction. So thatÕ s where it came from. It was kind of that cut and dry Ò IÕ m going to be an architect.Ó I chose IIT because it had a five-year program; having that professional bachelors degree made sense to me. And then also, I liked the materials-based program and craftbased program, from how I understood it. Then going there and seeing the building and the space and everything going on in the neighborhood, I liked at that time the neighborhood was at the cusp of this transition. Now, you see the back end of it and itÕ s still on the upward swing of gentrification. It was dirty, it was gritty and it was totally unsafe and youÕ re 281

like, this is exactly where I want to be, because it was 180-degrees different from Lincoln Park. Rich poor has that top in the early 2000s so it was widely different from Lincoln Park and it was, yes that is where I want to be. How does this neighborhood go from one to the other and back again. I was really there and lucky to be on that transition especially as they took down all the affordable housing to the south of the school. ThatÕ s what really started to shape that because you have this massive urban planning project and whole city transformation happening literally a block away from your school and we are not having any conversations about it, at our school. So there was this enormous gap. That is when I studied abroad and really started looking at affordable housing because I wasnÕ t getting that education- whatÕ s going on in my own neighborhood. When I was at school, thatÕ s where I started to shape where I wanted to take my career.

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and the technical aspects of going into building was something that was very much lacking in the undergraduate experience and I think that is something that is almost across the board. We walk out of there ready to work on buildings, but we donÕ t know how to do that. So we essentially set up this entire three-year internship program where we learn everything again. And you are lucky if you are able to merge your studio learning and your professional learning together. It depends on the type of the place where you work. Most of the time they end up being two completely separate paths and thatÕ s unfortunate. We need to integrate them together and have a more comprehensive learning environment that actually replicates what we actually experience as practitioners. G: Could you speak about what you are doing now compared to when you were working in a firm and what that transition was like?

G: Moving from education to the work force, was there any big surprises that you had making that transition? K: What I am doing now is creating a firm. I think it is very similar to the work K: You are never going to spend the that we were doing in other firms, in the amount of time and love towards a project practical sense of things. We are still that you did in studio. So just to be able to writing out contracts, weÕ re still going start to make very rapid and accurate dethrough concept design phases. What is cisions of using those to continue to pivot different is the process that IÕ ve develon and move forward was something that oped over the past three years because I had to get used to it. I definitely had to IÕ ve been able to develop the process that get used to the speed of the office versus that is very much like the process that I the speed of studio. And the level of how was trying to develop in studio and now do you start to do authentic research and IÕ m starting to apply that out in practice. context finding more quickly and in an For developing projects in studio, it wants upfront matter, rather than letting it slow- to have certain aspects that we donÕ t get ly build throughout a semester. Definitely to replicate in practice- why is that. Not the office environment

only is it a time piece but sometimes itÕ s a collaboration piece. ItÕ s a freedom to collaborate and a freedom to use two different pieces of information as your design trajectory and so how I started to frame the context and the constraints that are going to drive the project, which has definitely been different. Since we also look at a participatory-based approach on developing all the projects and how we integrate our clients or their constituents on project that is very different also. I came from work environments where clients and designers were very separate. The client isnÕ t an expert in any sort of sense. And thatÕ s kind of the point in that we are the designers. We tell them what they are going to get rather than working with them to develop something that might be different than what we originally came and were contracted for. So thatÕ s a huge piece that is very different. WhatÕ s your favourite part of your job and your least favourite part of your job currently? Well, my favourite parts are the project and going out and constantly finding new sources of information in those projects and refining our approach and out practice overall because itÕ s constantly new and I feel that IÕ m always learning. I enjoy the continual learning cycle that comes with that. The downside of that is that you put yourself up for the potential for a lot of mistakes and a lot of failure that is a big risk and it’s difficult because when youÕ re a start up entrepreneur you have to learn how to mitigate that risk and manage other things around that. Some of the things that I see are that we

live in a culture where you have to manage your brand. ItÕ s something that I both love and hate, because how do you manage the brand of Latent Design, but then how do you manage your own persona, and I live in a 100% digital environment where things begin to merge together. Now that I’m in a field where everything is merged together itÕ s hard to separate my passions and my everyday life, so IÕ m learning how to compartmentalize some pieces and discover what they share. G: On a day-to-day basis, what is the schedule that you follow, if you have one? Because I have a young family and IÕ m trying to spend as much time as possible with them, what will happen is that the work day begins around 7. ThereÕ s usually this weird gap between 7 and 8 where IÕ m at home or getting the family ready to go and IÕ m still checking or answering emails on my phone and then thereÕ s the full work day. By 6.30 I have to get my son, and then we have our block of family titme together and if thereÕ s anything still outstanding for the day, around 9.30 or 10 I start work again and work from home until about midnight. So I still put in a 10 hour work day, but itÕ s broken up in a 24 hour cycle. I try to take two days out of the week out in the field with client meetings or other meetings I need to attend to. My teaching schedule corresponds to this as well, so these two days allow me to be out of the office and get new work, etc. The other three days allow me to produce, to do work, to be in the studio, essentially. I had to come up with a rigid schedule very 283

quickly after my son was born. Before we had additional staff, I had to do everyhting from meeting with contractors to doing redlines. You have to give yourself flexible hours. Do you want to talk about some of the more interesting projects youÕ re working on now just to give us an idea of what youÕ re currently working on?

right now on a community center down in Roseland in the far south side of Chicago, as well as a co-op style grocery store thatÕ s new construction.Hopefully weÕ ll be working on an academy for music in the Woodlawn neighborhood, and then we have a variety of residences. So we have a mix of private and public projects, and when we started we were closely partnered with Architecture for Humanity, and probably 75% of our clients were public, but now itÕ s shifting as the firm is more established.

profession. ThereÕ s a professional giveback, and people want to share information. So try and shadow someone and figure out what you want to learn and how to meet the goals you set for yourself. A firm needs to give you the benefits of an experience you set out to gain, and professionals need to provide both knowledge and work. You will then be able to be valuable in a variety of ways.

What advice do you have for students moving into the profession?

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What am I doing? Well right now weÕ re working on finishing up conceptual design for the Fisk Power Plant, which was one of the two coal-fired power plants that just closed down here in Chicago last year. The design will be in an upcoming Chicago Architecture Foundation exhibit. We worked with one of the community groups in Pilsent o develop this design that was launched last year with their communityÕ s nonnegociables and what they want to see as an overarching theme. Because the power plant is on the river, they want to have an enhanced river front and green space that connects the community directly to the river that is more recreational rather than industrial. ItÕ s tenatively called the Pilsen Pier. So we just wrapped that up about a week or so ago. WeÕ re also working

I think thereÕ s a wonderful opportunity for students to intern with firms that are directly parallel to architecture but still influence the built environment, like seeing what a contractor actually does and trying to be on site with them, or with the planning department or with the city and seeing how those pieces influence what youÕ ll be working on as an architect. It will give you such an amazing insight to their process and where you fit in as an architect. When you look at the entire timeline of a project, architects occupy a slim piece of the whole things, where we go through our concept to construction, but itÕ s very narrow. You ahve to understand the influencing factors. When I was laid off I looked at how to partner up with developers and contractors and to just see what they were doing. A lot of that involved voluneteering and pushing the project relationships and teams. I think one of the great things you have is the idea of a mentor. Go in and look for someone in an office who will help you understand all you can about the 285

Response to Interviews with Design Professionals

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I find myself often having a difficult time beginning conversations, and I had an equally difficult time beginning this set of interviews, especially with people I had not previously met. Despite my anxieties, this process has been perhaps the most enlightening and exciting portion of the Chicago Studio experience. Because I was having difficulties getting into the flow of interviews, I attempted to put an angle on my conversations so that they were focused on the education of an archiect, either out in practice or while still in school. The number of professionals with comments about continuing education was fantastic, and the collection of anecdotes and advice I have gathered is invaluable. I find that reaching out to practicioners outside of the Chicago Studio was most beneficial, because after being trapped in the intense bubble that is the studio, it’s always nice to hear an outside take on a topics that seem to be rehashed again and again within the group of regular jurors and mentors. Meeting with people whose work I really admire was almost surreal, and now I have the confidence to pick up the phone and contact someone I would truly enjoy having a conversation with. Another aspect of the interviews that was particularly enjoyable was the actual conversation that would stem from the basic interview questions. Because I was attempting to address

a certain topic during the interviews, I often prepared a set of questions for the professional to answer, but most of the time we would just end up talking about things we both enjoyed and how they related back to architecture and practice. The interviews that made the most impact on my view of Chicago were the ones coming from architects of curious backgrounds; Jimenez Lai’s career as a graphic design immediately piqued my interest, and Katherine Darnstadt’s involvement with the Chicago Women in Architecture Foundation and Architecture for Humanity were inspiring. I purposefully also tried to adhere to the set types of architects we were supposed to interview (intern, junior, senior, etc.), but strayed a bit in favour of more interesting career paths or interests. It seems that everyone involved in this series of interviews tries to continue their education in some way, either through formal continuing education classes, through engagement in lecture series, or by holding a position at IIT or UIC as a professor of some standing. All professionals undoubtably agree that being active in continuing learning about the field and about culture in general is key to success as an architect in the present day.

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Interview with Kris Huisinga Senior Designer, von Weise Associates Ethics and Architecture When determining who to conduct the ethics interview with, James and I turned to one of vWA’s own, Kris Huisinga. Kris has recently worked on the corporate headquarters for the Saddle and Cycle Club, as well as the Stowell and Friedman offices. He frequently interacts with clients, yet works closely with Chip on design. This transcript is based loosely off of a conversation at the von Weise offices on 9 May 2013. C: When you’re submitting things for pemit and you draw something in the plans that might not exactly be used for that specific function, how do you deal with that?

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K: At the end of the day you’re responsible for what you draw, so the biggest thing is that you don’t want to do anything that will harm the safety or the welfare of the people in the building. As an architect that should be your chief goal in building. Beyond that, there’s a lot of things that get kind of squirrley, because in the code there are a lot of arbitrary cut offs for things. If something kicks in a code at 2000 square feet and it’ll cost twice as much because you need twice as many toilets, then why wouldn’t you make it 1999 feet, you know? I don’t really have any specific examples, but my position is that following the intent is more important a lot of times that following the letter. You need to ensure the saftey and health of all.

J: So in relation to the obligations to the client, I was surprised by what Natalie said when we were interviewing her when she commented that most clients hire an architect to draw what’s in their head, so I was interested in how your own impression of culture can influence what you create and when it’s ok to tell a client no. K: I mean, you have every right to tell them no, but it might not always be the best idea. The architectural community isn’t a huge one, and people tend to talk. If you piss off client A, client talks to friend B, who won’t become client B. And I guess there’s some contractual obligation. Like, in this office we create different documents all the way through and bill to a certain point, but if you were to walk away from a project you would, obviously, not get paid for that portion of the project, and you won’t have a good reputation following that. What you can do, though, is work on educating the client. I think that’s where architects have the most leverage because, as you said, people know what they want but they don’t know how to do it. But maybe what they want is wrong, or it won’t be the best thing. They don’t know that some of these other things are even out there. Like, someone might say they want a lawn, but in reality they want to live in the city and have a roof garden. They’re different things. And

you can educate a client in many ways, from how to layout a room to what materials do you use, or how to site a project. It also goes into getting to know who your clients are as people and their ambitions in getting out the project, because if what they really want is something else, you might not be able to correct them. And sometimes we have clients like that, and you can work for a while to make that happen, but it’s hard to make everyone happy. Some projects don’t make it in the porfolio, and that’s totally fine. C: What about when you choose your clients? How do you go about doing that? K: You usually get a read from people before you take on a project. Especially for house projects. You want to try to get really into those projects, becaues they’re extremely personal. There is a certain business practice to it. You don’t want to choose someone who’s going to lowball you or in it to screw you over. You’ve got to pick carefully because it’s a relationship you want to build. A personal relationship, not just a business one. And as an architect, if you don’t get along with your client it’s going to be so hard to get things done, and neither one of you are going to be happy, and you’ll taint the entire process. You might have to say this is not the project for me, or recommend another group or person. C: What about when working with

contractor bids? Because I know sometimes they try to bid really low and then charge really high. As an architect, do you have more say than the client?

K: I mean, the client looks to you to be their guide through the process, but they have the ultimate decision since they’re paying for the work. If you tell them a contractor is shady and he tends to cut corners, and there are contractors who work like that, then you should try to cut the cord and not work with them again because it’s the same reputation kind of thing. Then there are others who work really hard, and sometimes they’re chepear, and often times they’re not. When contractors do an early-on proposal, they won’t actually go out all of the time and get the actual numbers. Like, if you’re doing a kitchen they’re say, oh, yeah, we’ve done kitchens, and then just throw out a similar number. What they don’t realize is the amount of custom detail that sometimes goes into various projects, and you have to convince your client to pay a lot more than was originally proposed. Typically, I would guess, contractors tend to bid a little bit higher to cover any unexpected costs like that. So at the beginning 289

the initial bid may be a lot lower than the bid that the contractor does for the subs after the first set of drawings, and then the client wonders where all of the extra money came from because they didn’t add anything to the project, but it just has more detail that the contractor finally saw. And to counteract that, we do what Chip basically calls a “design contingency”, meaning a buffer in uor budget number that will account for the budget getting bigger as the project gets more real. The number you see at the beginning is not the real number, so the contingency fund goes away because it’s picked up everywhere else, but at lease you can prepare for it. C: Could you talk a little bit about how value engineering influences or competes with your original design intent? How do you decide what should go or what should stay in a project?

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K: Everyone does the value engineering, so good contractors can do it really well. They usually make a list where it shows what costs what amount of money, and then you can go in and reduce something or replace something with a cheaper alternative. If value engineering is done properly, you can get the same experience for a lot less money. It really is about maximizing value. At it’s most cynical, it’s can be thought of as sucking the soul out of a project and ripping it apart. But if you’re good at it, that’s not at all what it turns out

to be like. J: Does a project ever not go through value engineering, or does that only happen when yo go over budget? K: It really depends. We’re working on Saddle and Cycle, and there are two locker rooms for kids. It’s a pretty quick project, and they wanted to spend about $30,000 per room, so $60,000 total. The budget for our design came back around $200,000, because we designed what they thought they really wanted to show them how much that would have really cost. Then if we needed to we could design back to the budget, but first we wanted to do this exercise. And they took it. They said it was fine, and they thought it looked great. So, without cutting a thing, or, actually, we cut about $5,000, so we cut a small part of it. We didn’t really have to value engineer anything there.

when they were clearing the rest of those lots, and it was weird because it was kind of a poor neighborhood, and an expensive, posh Target was coming in. But now people think it’s wonderful and there’s a lot of development happening there now.

C: What do you think about the urban renewal that’s happening in Uptown? K: Well the history of urban renewal is pretty interesting because it was very clearly meant to disrupt minority neighborhoods. So I think given the history of wholesale changing of neighborhoods it has shifted so the design of these things is much more sensitive and, in a way, apologetic so that things will hopefully be resolved, and people try really hard to reinstate public space and make it green, etc. You see it in Uptown with the Target going up. I was living in the area 291

Response to Ethics Interview with Kris Huisinga

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Although we didn’t focus on a single tenant of the AIA code when discussing architectural ethics with Kris, James and I learned a great deal about the intricacy of client relationships and the accountability we have as designers to them. Kris, who has been with von Weise Associates for a number of years, has experienced the many challenges of working on a team and with a variety of clients. I feel, although perhaps I don’t yet have the experience to justify this feeling, that architects suffer from the pace of the world today. Things are sometimes built and destroyed in a span of a year, and, at times, nothing seems to be of lasting value. Sometimes I attribute this discomfort to the whims and needs of different clients, and, because they do control an architect’s funds, they have the ultimate say in a project’s fate. But when someone with disposable income and the same mindset towards architecture controls the building culture of the time, I find it can be dangerous. Again, I may not have had the proper experience to make any call on the state of building, and I admire the ambitions of many clients. However, when Tod Williams and Billy Tsien’s Folk Art Museum in New York City is seen as disposable, the culture around this destruction must be changed. That’s why I was so impressed by Kris’ insight after

speaking with him about the role of the architect and the role of the client. He noted that everyone at von Weise makes a concerted effort to educate clients, even though some people come into the office with a definite image and no will to budge from said idea. Working as a medium for the client is what is most important to a lot of projects’ success, and helping translate what someone wants into something tangible and doable is often frustrating for both parties. By taking the time to develop a strong personal relationship with the client, Kris believes this disonance can be resolved to an extent, and I agree with him. Projects will always be constrained by clients’ preferances and budgets, and that is why I feel architects should be allowed a bit more freedom in determining what can, and should, be “value engineered” away. As Kris mentioned, it’s a good exercise to design something as it would ideally be created and then scale back from that initial cost, but then visions become blurred and the project will surely not meet the expectations of either party. It seems to be extremely difficult for clients to select and then stay with one scheme or design that meets all of their needs and ideals, but that may be over their initial budget. Taking away bits and pieces of what could be a wonderful thing is not beneficial to the client, nor is it to the architect’s vision. Money is, but shouldn’t be, the determining factor of what services can be provided by a building. As Kris mentioned, if this “value engineering” is done properly,

then the same atmosphere or effect can be achieved for a fraction of the intial cost, but why sacrifice the time and money neede to fuel the first design if the client is not trusting in the architect’s initial concepts? Of course, it is key to have a steady conversation between the two groups about what the goal of the project is to be, but clients should not walk in to a project with more than they can handle on their dream-project plate. Currently a respect and appreciation for design seems to be trendy, and if this trend develops into a true care, then I believe the field of architecture will experience a second genesis. We need clients who are interseted in supporting people with visions that can be executed through design and building, not those who have weak ambitions. The people interested in design tend to be those who are already involved in design, and probably the biggest piece of advice I have taken away from this semester is that it is dangerous to make friends exclusively with other designers (because architects do not commission other architects). As the future of this field, though, we must figure out the best methods with which to educate the general public about design. How do you convince a corporate CEO that a beautifully designed office build out is essential to their career? I beleive that people are inherently interested in beautiful things, but it’s making them responsible for the created product that is probably most difficult. As designers, we should be making resultant projects that are so

good that a client can not separate themself from it. And by good I mean not only beautiful, but fulfilling and suiting to the client’s need and those needs they did not even realize were apparent. That is the real social architecture we should be striving for. It’s also become trendy to be ethical for the sake of being cool, and that in and of itself should be considered an unethical state of mind. Architects and designers should focus on the creation of sustainable, long-lasting buildings that will adpat to various needs and will be suitable for the client, not some vague group of people that are perceived as needing assistance. Designers should feel empowered, not restrained! We need to be respectful of each other, appreciative of our clients, and helpful to communities. Architecture is not an accessory to modern life, but a neccessity, and we need to ensure that by acting responsibly and reasonably that the field will continue to grow and flourish.

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SCHEMATIC DESIGN Meshing of materials +systems. Engineered systems will be finalized. Drawings are compiled + issued for pricing

CONCEPT DESIGN Development of architectural concept in relation to client’s needs + expression

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Punch List Punch List

Completition of drawings for construction + issuing for permits

CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS

Subcontactor Subcontactor Submittals Submittals

Establishes the goals + objectives of the project. Analyzes controls + regulations while presenting information as a series of sketches + diagrams. Complete with adoption of a single design concept, estimated budget, + schedule.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

Site Site Visits Visits

Elevations Elevations

Construction Construction Drawings Drawings

Permit Permit Submission Submission

Building Building Sections Sections

Sections Sections

Wall Wall Sections Sections

Scheduling to Scheduling to General General Contractor Contractor

Reflected Reflected Ceiling Ceiling Plans Plans

Plans Plans

20% 20% 2-3 weeks 2-3 weeks

Detailing Detailing Designs Designs

Site Site Surveying Surveying

Client Client Presentations Presentations

Connection to Connection to Engineers Engineers

Connection to Connection to Owner’s Owner’s Rep Rep

Code Research

Consultant Consultant Sekection Selection

Basic Plans Basic Plans

Basic Basic Programming Programming

Existing Site Existing Site Visits Visits

Concept Concept Presentations Presentations

Massing Massing

CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS

Revision Revision + + Clarification Clarification

Roof Roof Plans Plans

Switching Switching Plans Plans

Basic Basic Details Details

CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION

Final Final Bidding Bidding Submission Submission

Client Client Meetings Meetings

Preliminary Preliminary Bidding Bidding

2-3 weeks 2-3 weeks 15% 15%

2-3 weeks 2-3 weeks 5% 5%

CONCEPT DESIGN CONCEPT DESIGN

SCHEMATIC DESIGN SCHEMATIC DESIGN

Interview Interview

Elevations Elevations

Client Client Meetings Meetings

Final Bidding Value Submission Engineering

Plans Plans

Landlord Landlord Review Review

Sections Sections

Drawing Drawing Coordination Coordination

Selecting Selecting Finishes Finishes

Modeling Modeling

Basic Basic Concept Concept

Confirm Confirm Job Job

Project Project Schedule Schedule

Clarification Clarification Meeting Meeting

Programming Programming

Cartoon Cartoon CD CD Set Set

Basic Wall + Building Sections

Budgeting Budgeting

Scheduling Scheduling

60% 60% 3-4 weeks 3-4 weeks

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

INFORMATION GATHERING INFORMATION GATHERING

Meet Meet client client

Final revisions before transferring the project to the general contractor and owner

CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION

BUILDING, TEXTS, + CONTEXT Examining the city through analysis

Pecha Kucha Fragmented Sullivan

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Pecha Kucha Building + Flight

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Merz 231 Miss Blanche, 1923

Cliches Should be Used Sparingly, 1930

Collage with Playing Card, 1940

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Collaged Analysis

Fragmented Sullivan

Untitled (with Early Self-Portrait), 1937-8

The present-dayÕ s relationship to architecture of the past is often one of misremebering or projection; destroyed buildings are remembered through glorious images, and various projects have changed program with such frequency that the use no longer reflects the intial intent of the architect. Louis Sullivan, who, with H.H. Richardson and Frank Lloyd Wright, forms the trinity of American architects, belongs primarily to nostalgic and romaticized era, as many of his works have been demolished and now exist only in images. However, what does remain of his architecture, both built and on paper, has lost a great deal of context. Not only have SullivanÕ s surviving buildings lost their once grand scale and presence, but many of them have become symbols-- pieces representing an earlier time of architectural innovation. Now, strangely, Sullivan survives in piles of debris or carefully cropped photographs of delicate ornamentation; in fact, when searching online one can barely find an image of a complete structure, but rather comes across ornament, patterning, and filigree. In Chicago, where Sullivan’s legacy remains the strongest, the tourism of architecture is particularly robust, yet the collective memory of Sullivan is just as fragmented as his buildings. From the recreated Stock and Exchange Building room at the Art Institute to a mural depicting the Transporation Building on LaSalle Street, Sullivan appears throughout the city in scattered remnants. This work of collage attempts to address the distribution of SullivanÕ s legacy through modern perception by literally fragmenting a variety of images relevant to his life and career and then modeling a new image

in which the pieces engage in a somewhat chaotic dialogue. The stylized representation of Kurt Schwitters, a European contemporary of Sullivan, is employed to execute the collage. A pioneer in abstraction, Schwitters is said to have created his works from bits of scraps and garbage which quite litteraly represented fragments of the surrounding German culture. Likewise, this collage incorporates several disposed-of elements, in an effort to exaggerate the throw-away nature of architecture today. Utilizing the technique of collage was key in recreating this particular image of Sullivan. Instead of working two-dimensionally, it was necessary to construct the piece as an assemblage of items in the round. This allows the work to function not only as an image but as a type of model, again suggesting the architectural roots of the concept.

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Collaged Analysis Fragmented Sullivan

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Collaged Analysis

Fragmented Sullivan

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Letter Frank Lloyd Wright Fragment Price Sticker Poppies Richard Nickel Photograph Target Logo Pattern Elevator Pattern Architectural Artifacts Modeling Material

1 Destitute and forgotten by the public, an elderly Sullivan wrote his former student, Frank Lloyd Wright, a very humbling letter. He wrote, Ò If you have any money to spare, now is the the right time to let me have some... I can verily say that I am in a very serious situation, indeed it is now a sheer matter of food

and shelterÓ , clearly a serious cry for help. In the collage, this letter, which was pilfered from the office recycling, not only seeks to represent the letter marking SullivanÕ s decline, but it is also clearly marked with a Chicago address and an American flag stamp, alluding to the fact that Sullivan was and remains to be one of the finest architects associated not only with the immediate area of Chicago, but with the entire United States. 2 Previously a student and draftsman under Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright went on to have a brilliantly successful career which ultimately outshone that of his former masterÕ s. Here WrightÕ s iconic portrait is meant to be obscured yet recognizable, just as his talents would have been while working in SullivanÕ s studio. 3 This study for the painted decoration of the Sinai Temple appears now only as a beautiful but ghostly fragment. 4 A bright orange price tag, also taken from the office garbage, is placed on the fragmented drawing. This move is meant to speak to the thriving architectural artifact business often present online. These Ò artifactsÓ are often bought and sold in unsavory ways, and although many pieces do find a 303

way into a curated collection or museum, most of the fragments are taken completely removed from their original context and fetishized for their connection to the past. 5 Although based on unfounded speculation, the illustrated poppies represent opium production and the possibility of Sullivan using the drug recreationally. Opium, which was popular among transcendentalists writers and bohemians artists, had a foothold in America. Charles Atwood, another architect of reknown and Daniel BurnhamÕ s collaborator, is said to have died of complications related to opium addiction. Some of the many effects of opium use are a change in sensation, including visual hallucinations which are often described as organic and faceted, characteristics similar to the designs

controversy surrounding their move into the historic Sullivan building with what has generally been regarded as respect and grace. A great stir was aroused in reaction to TargetÕ s usually prominent advertising, but at their new State Street location, the logo takes a backseat and appears in the top partition of the elegant filigreed ironwork around the iconic facade of the the building.

assembling it was mentioned as being paramount to the making process. Likewise, the incorporation of scraps from around the office added another dimension. These smaller pieces of waste are used to support the more descriptive images, but the variety in textures adds an element of depth to the collage as well as the air of an architectural studio or projrct.

8 SullivanÕ s patterning, which appears in various works, acknowledges the work of European artists and craftsmen of the Art Modern and Art Nouveau movements, along with those of the revived Arts and Crafts school. Textile artisans, such as Robert Morris, and print makers like Aubrey Beardsley, seem to share in the same nature-derived asthetic as Sullivan, lending him a fresh and modern sensibility in what had previously been a rather found in much of SullivanÕ s. ornamentation austere American building tradition. 6 A destroyed room full of debris is all that remains of the Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room where the young photographer Richard Nickel was killed in 1972. This photograph was an attempt by Nickel to capture the final moments of one of SullivanÕ s buildings, but his willingness to be on site led to his untimely death. The remaining archway of the Stock Exchange can be found outside of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a recreation of the trading floor can be found inside the museum.

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7 On July 25 of last year, the former Carson Pirie Scott building on State Street reopened as a City Target. The typically big-box corporation, known for their graphic target logo, dealt with the

9 A beautiful pattern onced enclosed an elevator in the Chicago Stock and Exchange building, providing an example of where design is applied to a mundane everyday object. 10 Again architectural artifacts make an appearance in an advertisement for a gala held at an artifacts and antique dealerÕ s business. Although the idea of turning architectural fragments into trendy collectors items does seem like an act of flagrancy, positive effects include an increase in the value of such pieces as well as a raised awarness about the work of an earlier time. 11. Previously the importance of constructing the collage rather than 305

PHOTOGRAPHS

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Bookstores

1. Myopic Books: 1564 N Milwaukee Ave Chicago 2. Fagin Books: 917 N Ashland 3. Quimby’s: 1854 W North Ave

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Best of Chicago

Winter/Spring

Bars

1. Danny’s: 1951 W Dickens Ave 2. Headquarters: 950 W Wolfram St 3. The Boiler Room: 1210 N California Ave

Neighborhoods 1. Wicker Park 2. Ukranian Village 3. Chinatown

Coffee Shops

1. Intelligensia: 53 E Randolph St 2. Wormhole: 1462 N Milwaukee Ave 3. Coffee Studio: 5628 N Clark St 4. Heritage Bikes: 2959 N Lincoln Ave 5. Julius Meinl: 4363 N Lincoln Ave

Shops

1. MCA Store: 220 E Chicago Ave 2. The Boring Store: 1331 N Milwaukee Ave 3. Urban Outfitters Surplus: 2352 N Clark St

Deep Dish

1. UNOs: 29 E Ohio St 2. Pizano’s: 61 E Madison St 3. Lou Malnatie’s: 439 N Wells St

Activities

1. Music Box Theater: 3733 N Southport Ave 2. The Vic Theater: 3145 N Sheffield Ave 3. Chicago Symphony Orchestra: 220 S Michigan Ave

Restaurants

1. Shan Foods: 5060 N Sheridan Rd 2. Lao Sze Chuan: 2172 S Archer Ave 3. Podhalanka: 1549 W Division St 4. Star of Siam: 11 E Illinois St 5. Bel 50: 738 N Clark St

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Works Cited- Building, Texts, and Contexts: Pecha Kucha

Works Cited: Building, Texts, and Contexts: Collaged Analysis

Bunge, Eric. Ò Jealousy: Modern Architecture and Flight.Ó CABINET. Cabinet Mag -azine, 2003. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. Ò Ó Burj Khalifa 2011Ó Ó Chromasia. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2013. Ò Chapter 18 GardnerÕ s Art Through The Ages 12th Edition.Ó ART HISTORY : OR ZCO. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. <http://www.studyblue.com/notes note/n/chapter-18-gardners-art-through-the-ages-12th-edition deck/1545525>. Darley, Gillian. Ò Flight of Fancy: How Aviation Changed Art for Ever.Ó The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 17 Aug. 2012. Web. 02 Mar. 2013. Ò Entre El Olimpo Y El Ida: The Temple of Athena Nike.Ó The Temple of Athena Nike. Entre El Olimpo Y El Ida, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. Ò Flying Machine.Ó Leonardo Da VinciÕ s Invention. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. Ò Hanze Architectuur Reizen.Ó Hanze Architectuur Reizen. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. <http://hanzearchitectuurreizen.com/category/uncategorized/>. Ò Home Insurance Building.Ó PBS. PBS, 2001. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. <http://www.pbs org/wgbh/buildingbig/wonder/structure/home_insurance.html>. Ò Le Corbusier.Ó Untitled Document. Shihua Wang Architecture, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. Ò Megaestructuras En Ciudades Futuristas.Ó Tecnologiacom. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. <http://tec.nologia.com/2009/05/13/megaestructuras-en-ciudades futuristas/>. Ò My Telegraph.Ó Tower of Babel. Telegraph, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. Ò Newly Minted PontiacMunicipal Airport Hangar, circa 1930.Ó Oakland / Pontiac Airports 75th Anniversary. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2013. <http://www.em tionreports.com/ptkairport/ptkairport.htm>. Old City Beneath the New City. Digital image. Flickr. N.p., 23 Oct. 2011. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/mister_mushroom/6333005057/>. Ontario College of Art and Design. Digital image. A Graduate Show Worth Exploring. ArtClub, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. Price, Scott. Ò The Indispensable Men.Ó : USLSS At Kitty Hawk, December, 1903. USCG, 26 Jan. 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. Ò TwistedSifter.Ó TwistedSifter. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2013. Ò Veduta Di Venezia, La Descrizione DellÕ opera Veduta Di Venezia Di ( ). Vedi Tutte Le Foto DellÕ opera Veduta Di Venezia, Leggi Tutte Le Informazioni E Le Notizie SullÕ opera, Le Mostre DÕ arte in Programma, Vedi La Mappa E La Guida Della CittÌ E Scopri Come Raggiungere I Musei.Ó Veduta Di Venezia Di. N.p.n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2013. Ò Yona Friedman.Ó Megastructures Reloaded. Megastructures Reloaded, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.

Abernathy, Samantha. Ò Downtown Target Opens In Carson Pirie Scott Building.Ó Chicagoist. Chicagoist, 25 July 2012. Web. 01 May 2013. <http://chicagoist com/2012/07/25 downtown_target_opens_in_carson_pir.php>. Daniel H. Burnham, Ò Charles Bowler Atwood.Ó The Inland Architect and New Record, Vol. XXVI, no. 6. January, 1896. 56. Letter to Wright. 2010. Photograph. Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago. Ò Louis Sullivan.Ó How to Become an Architect. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2013. <http:/ howtobecomeanarchitect.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/louis-sullivan/>. Ò Opium Throughout History.Ó PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013. <http://www.pbs org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/heroinetc/history.html>. Ozanich, David. Ò Richard NickelÕ s Photography Documents Legacy of Great Architect - JPG News.Ó Richard NickelÕ s Photography Documents Legacy of Great Architect - JPG News. N.p., 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 02 May 2013. <http://jgmag com/news/2011/02/richard-nickels-photographydocuments-legacy-of-great architect.html>. Wickersham, Jay. Ò Learning from Burnham: The Origins of Modern Architectural Practice.Ó Nobel Wickersham. Harvard Design Magazine, 2010. Web. 28 Apr. 2013. <http://www.noblewickersham.com/pdf/WickershamLearning%2 from%20Burnham.pdf>.

Works Cited: Vaudeville History Kenrick, John. Ò A History of the Musical- Vaudeville.Ó Musicals101. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan 2013. <http://www.musicals101.com/vaude1.htm>. Ò Vaudeville.Ó American Masters. PBS, 08 OCT 1999. Web. 29 Jan 2013. <http://www. pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/vaudeville/about-vaudeville/721/>. Gomery, Douglas. Ò Vaudeville.Ó Historical Sources. Encyclopedia of Chicago, n.d. Web. 29 Jan 2013. <http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1299.html>.

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Thank you to everyone below for your talents and guidance during the semester. It has been a wonderful experience, and I have grown immensely both as a designer and as an individual. Drew Ranieri Adam Whipple Laura Fisher Carl Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Silva Randy Guillot John Styverston Rachel Dewane David Dewane Iker Gil Brian Lee Sarah Malin Ashley Marsh Brett Taylor Charles Chambers Bridgett Baker-Thomas Don Copper

Architecture Students Wendy Wong Melanie Kwon Kelly McFadden Matt Vibberts Danielle Hoge Adam Compton Peter Burns Greg Catron

Joanna Cofer John Knuteson Chelsea Kilburn James Heard Shelton Whitley Matthew Ridgeway Daniel Murrow Oswaldo Gonzâ&#x20AC;Ą lez

Visiting Professors Rachel Dewane David Dewane

Director

Andrew Balster

Host Firms von Weise Associates CannonDesign Skidmore, Owings, + Merrill G.R.E.C. Architects

Program

10 week academic project 5 week internship Building, Texts, + Context Urban Mapping

... and everyone else involved with the students. A huge thank you to everyone at von Weise Associates: Aya Hirose John Janda Poyer Conforte Karla Hunt Kris Huisinga Natalie Pastor Chip von Weise And to Andrew Balster: thank you very much for all of your time, patience, and hard work. You have been a wonderful guide through this whole process! In Collaboration with: Gensler, Jahn Architects, Chicago AIA, Chicago Architecture Foundation, Perkins + Will, DeWitt Place Apartments, The Museum of Contemporary Art, IIT College of Architecture Lecture Series, UIC School of Architecture Lecture Series

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