archiprose

Volunteer Opps for the Farnsworth House Tour Season

2011-03-27T05:57:00.001-05:00

Mies van der Rohe’s modern masterpiece, the Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois, is in need of volunteers for the upcoming 2011 tourism season (April through the November 23). Volunteers will be trained as docents to relate the history and relevance of this international icon of modern architecture to visiting architects, designers, students and the general public – a unique, hands-on opportunity for students and professors.

In addition, volunteers for the 2011 season will have a unique opportunity to participate in various roles surrounding the Farnsworth House’s special exhibition featuring Virginia Tech’s LUMENHAUS – the International Solar Decathlon Competition winner. Inspired by the Farnsworth House, LUMENHAUS is an innovative house integrating architecture and technology to make a well-designed, energy independent, mobile structure. This exhibition will be on display April through July 2011.

Volunteers receive the benefit of discounts in the Farnsworth House Shop, access to exclusive art and architecture-related conferences, free or discounted tours of other historic sites, and a membership to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in addition to unprecedented access to the Farnsworth House.

Open Tuesday through Sunday, April 1 through November 23, the house museum’s annual visitation is over 8,500 individuals from more than 60 countries. Volunteers can contribute their time at the level they’re comfortable with while enjoying conversations with fascinating people in a serene and meditative atmosphere.

The Farnsworth House is a National Historic Landmark owned and operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a house museum. It is open to the public and available for private events.

For more information about the docent program, call 630.552.0052 or visit www.FarnsworthHouse.org.

Achieving Design Excellence in Affordable Housing

2011-03-22T17:46:00.000-05:00

This weekend's SFI Conference will be preceded by a special session by Enterprise Community Partners:

On Friday, March 25, Enterprise Community Partners will be hosting a one-day symposium on Achieving Design Excellence in Affordable Housing at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, IL.

Local Chicago leaders will join national innovators for a day of panel discussions that will explore new approaches and opportunities in affordable housing design, addressing topics ranging from asset management to foreclosure response, and from community engagement to designing for the most vulnerable. The day-long symposium will conclude with a keynote address by architects Patrick Tighe, AIA and Ric. Abramson, AIA. Tighe is the principal and lead designer at Patrick Tighe Architecture and was recently awarded a 2011 AIA Honor Award in Interior Architecture. Abramson is the founder of Workplays studio*architecture and is on the Board of Directors at West Hollywood Community Housing Corporation (WHCHC). Together, they will discuss WHCHC’s Sierra Bonita Apartments, a 42-unit apartment building designed by Tighe for low-income, physically disabled residents. This keynote will conclude our day long symposium, and kick off Design Corp’s Structures for Inclusion Conference.

The conference is free and open to the public, but does require registration. To register for the Enterprise conference only, go to: http://www.designcorps.org/sfi-conference/registration and selected “Enterprise Attendee” as the registration type.

Structures for Inclusion 10 + 1 this Weekend

2011-03-21T05:36:00.001-05:00

This year's annual conference takes place right here in Chicago at the School of the Art Institute over three days, March 25-27 (that's this weekend so hurry up and register). The Press Release:

Structures for Inclusion 10 + 1 (SFI) is the eleventh conference in an annual series featuring architects as change agents addressing the most pressing social, economic and environmental challenges of the world today. SFI enlarges the scope of the green design movement to consider the broader social and economic well-being and sustainability of communities and cities.

SFI 10 + 1 will bring together design professionals and students, community activists and nonprofit organizations alike. The three-day conference will cover topics such as: making change, learning from community, working in interdisciplinary environments, and innovation. It will include a wide variety of keynotes, panels, hands-on workshops, tours, and opportunities for informal conversation and networking. SFI 10 + 1 will challenge participants to take action in their own schools, practices, and community, and invite them to share ideas and brainstorm about different approaches to community-based design.

SFI 10 + 1 will feature winners of the Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) Award, chosen through an international competition in January. The winning projects showcase sustainability through interdisciplinary collaboration, ecological innovation, and community engagement, illustrating high impact work accomplished through an economy of means. Each highlights the important role design can perform in the public’s interest and speaks to a renewed concern in the architectural and design community for making a contribution to promote social change. The six SEED Award Winners are: Café 524 in Pittsburgh, PA; Congo Street Initiative in Dallas, TX; Studio H in Bertie County, NC; Growing Home in Chicago, IL; Inspiration Kitchens East Garfield Park in Chicago, IL; St. Joseph Rebuild Center in New Orleans, LA. These projects demonstrate how design is playing a role in addressing the most critical issues around the globe today: job creation, hunger, education, health, disaster relief, and the environment.

In addition to the designers and community partners involved in the awarded SEED Competition projects, the conferences keynotes, panels, and workshops will include the participation of:

Opening Keynote: Patrick Tighe, Tighe Architects
Tom Fisher, Dean, College of Design, University of Minnesota
Andrew Freear, Director, Rural Studio
Christine Gaspar, Executive Director, Center for Urban Pedagogy
Trung Le, CANNON Design, Co-author, The Third Teacher
Liz Ogbu, Associate Director, Public Architecture
Sergio Palleroni, Co-founder and Director, BaSiC Initiative
Quilian Riano, DSGN AGNC
Michael Zaretsky, Co-author, New Directions in Sustainable Design

SFI 10 +1 will be a dynamic array of nationally known speakers and innovators and feature several emerging local designers. From big-picture discussions to hands-on workshops, the SFI conference will be a storm of ideas.

SFI 10+1 will be preceded by a session with a focus on affordable housing, co-presented by the Enterprise Community Partners and Structures for Inclusion. Various panels and discussions with national and local housing non-profit developers and designers will be featured during the day on Friday March, 25. The main SFI conference will start Friday night with a reception and a keynote.

The SEED Competition is organized by the Social Economic Environmental Design Network and Design Corps.

Location: SAIC Ballroom, School of the Art Institute, 112 South Michigan Ave., Chicago

More info.

Big Events this Week

2011-03-20T15:45:00.001-05:00

LOTS going on this week beginning with our friends at Enterprise Community Partners and culminating with the Structures for Inclusion conference.

Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellows 6x10
Monday, March 21, 6:00 pm-7:30 pm.

Ten-minute presentations by six recipients of the Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship, including Daniel Splaingard, a Rose Fellow currently working at Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation in Chicago. You will have the opportunity to learn about community design projects all over the country - and about applying to this three-year fellowship program.
The Rose Fellowship fosters a unique partnership among a fellow, a host organization, and Enterprise to carry out a three-year fellowship plan. The fellow contributes his or her time and energy to work as part of the host organization’s staff, building capacity and bringing fresh experience and ideas to the organization. The host provides mentorship and guidance, supporting the development of the fellow’s career by providing meaningful experiences in design, development, financing, construction management, resident engagement—and in some cases—community planning. Enterprise provides an annual stipend, coaching, training and opportunities for sharing and learning among the fellows. Applications for 2012 Rose Fellowships will be accepted beginning May 1, 2011.

Refreshments will be served.
This event is sponsored by Community Interface Committee
Learning units: 1 LU
Location: AIA Chicago, 35 East Wacker Drive, #250
More info.

Structures for Inclusion 10 + 1 Press Release

2011-01-26T10:45:00.000-06:00

SFI 10 + 1 Conference
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, JANUARY 24, 2011

CONTACTS: Bryan Bell, bryan@designcorps.org
                  Emily Axtman, emily@designcorps.org

WEBSITES: http://www.designcorps.org/sfi-conference
                  http://www.designcorps.org/sfi/winners
                  www.seednetwork.org

SEED Awards demonstrate that new Public Interest Design field has emerged to be presented at conference in Chicago, March 25-27, 2011 School of the Art Institute of Chicago

The Social Economic Environmental Design Competition (SEED) Design Awards, an international competition focusing on Public Interest Design, were announced today. Six projects were selected and will be presented at the Structures for Inclusion conference in Chicago, Friday through Sunday, March 25, 26 and 27. The three regional projects and three international projects highlight the important role design can perform in the public’s interest, and show that a renewed interest in contributing through architecture has reached a critical mass.

The six SEED Award Winners are: Café 524 in Pittsburgh, PA; Congo Street Initiative in Dallas, TX; Studio H in Bertie County, NC; Growing Home in Chicago, IL; Inspiration Kitchen East Garfield Park in Chicago, IL; St. Joseph Rebuild Center in New Orleans, LA.

These projects demonstrate how design is playing a role in addressing the most critical issues around the globe today: job creation, hunger, education, disaster relief, and the environment.

Jurors were very impressed with the rigor and level of community engagement displayed by the submissions, and decided to recognize an additional six Honorable Mentions. Juror Monica Chadha said:

We truly enjoyed the high caliber of entries. The winning submissions showcase not only how to work collaboratively but also how to create sustaining work by engaging all of the constituents. These projects are having high impact with an economy of means: much more is being done with much less. The projects show that the community/designer teams are aligned with the SEED vision to create a socially, economically and environmentally healthy community for all.

The Honorable Mention recipients are: Butaro District Hospital in Butaro, Rwanda; Girubuntu Primary School in Butaro, Rwanda; Lydia Street Alley Flat in Austin, TX; Rehabilitation of Bhaldi Village in Bhuj India; Roche Health Center in Roche, Tanzania; Student Organic Farm in Clemson, SC.

Each project had to go through the critical SEED application to ensure that the community was involved in setting the goals for the project and in developing the design solution.

Structures for Inclusion Conference
Structures for Inclusion (SFI) is the eleventh conference in an annual series covering the role of architects as a change agent in overcoming the most pressing social, economic and environmental challenges of the world today. SFI goes beyond the green design movement to include the social and economic impacts of design.

SFI 10 + 1 will bring together design professionals and students, community activists and nonprofit organizations alike. The three day conference will cover questions such as: How do we make positive change happen through design? SFI 10 + 1 will challenge participants to take action in their own school, practice and community to be agents of change.

The Competition is being organized by the Social Economic Environmental Design Network and Design Corps.

Sponsored by:
The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The Enterprise Foundation and the SFI 10+1 Committee.

For more information, go to http://www.designcorps.org/sfi-conference or contact:

Bryan Bell, Executive Director    Emily Axtman
Design Corps                             Design Corps
919-637-2804 919-641-1368
2243 The Circle 2243 The Circle
Raleigh, NC 27608                      Raleigh, NC 27608

Volunteer Opportunity This Saturday

2011-01-12T10:20:00.000-06:00

Calling all architects, students of architecture and architects-at-heart to volunteer at Young Architect's Day at Wonder Works. They are a small non-profit children's museum. They have an event coming up on January 15, 2011 from 10am - 5pm where they will be showing young children how to build with legos, kapla blocks, lincoln logs and various other blocks and materials. For more information:

Jessica Taylor
Education Coordinator
Wonder Works, A Children's Museum in Oak Park
6445 W North Avenue
Oak Park, IL 60302
ph. 708.383.4815
fx. 708.383.5730
jtaylor@wonder-works.org

SEED Competition Deadline Approaching

2010-12-30T08:44:00.002-06:00

Hopefully my last post got you intrigued enough to start poking around the web to find out what it was all about. If you don't know what I'm talking about it's probably because SEED is relatively new. SEED, Social Economic and Environmental Design, can be thought of as the social equivalent to LEED – get it? (my analogy). SEED is the brain-child of Bryan Bell, yes, THAT Bryan Bell of Design Corps. It was launched a few years ago and he is now developing it further as part of his research as a Loeb Fellow at Harvard. The inaugural SEED competition was launched this fall and the results will be announced at this year's SFI right here in Chicago. This is an incredible opportunity to be part of this exciting new program. If that isn't enough to get you going, here is a personal invitation from the indefatigable Monica Chadha:

On behalf of SEED and the SFI Steering Committee I would like to invite you to submit a community based project for the SEED Chicago Competition. SEED stands for Social Economic and Environmental Design and has been developed as a tool to allow community based projects a method to evaluate their impact, successes and lessons learned. The basic goals of SEED are to build a national network of resources; to provide a means to measure, evaluate and certify great community-based projects; and to celebrate the successes of these projects. While there are a number of evaluatory tools out there, SEED has been developed for the type of work you and your organization support.

SEED evaluation and certification will allow all of us to better promote our work, to apply for further funding opportunities and to share from each other’s experiences. SEED is aimed at providing recognition for all of the critical criteria in community based projects beyond sustainability. By nationally recognizing and certifying projects based in the community it is possible to convey the importance of this work to a wider audience. SEED is intended for all types or projects, whether a community initiative, a local planning project or a built structure to name a few.

In the Spring, Chicago will be hosting the national Structures for Inclusion Conference [SFI 10+1], a conference that celebrates community based projects and provides a place to discuss, learn, develop and share both the successes and challenges of this work. In advance of the conference, the Driehaus Foundation, among others, is supporting the chance to promote Chicago and Midwest projects; this is a perfect opportunity for projects like those you work on to be a model for others and find some recognition in the larger community based design field.

There are two parts to the applications process, which is explained in more detail on the website. The $25 competition entry fee will also count toward conference registration for one community partner. All projects entered that reflect SEED goals will be promoted nationally. The three winning projects of the Chicago Competition will receive a $1,000 honorarium and the opportunity to present at the SFI conference in March. All projects submitted will be showcased nationally on the website and through publication.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions or to send any competition questions to Emily Axtman, Design Corps Fellow at emily@designcorps.org. The competition website can be found here: http://www.designcorps.org/sfi/

Sincerely,

Monica Chadha

SFI 10+1 Steering Committee
SEED Evaluator

2010-12-19T15:23:00.000-06:00

Pecha Kucha Night This Tuesday

2010-12-06T07:02:00.001-06:00

Poster by Aya Yamasaki.

Join Peter Exley and the gang for the final Pecha Kucha of the year (there won't be another until March).
The 16th installment of Pecha Kucha Night Chicago is this Tuesday, December 7th at Martyrs. Tickets are $10 at the door or online.

Networking Event for Students and Young Professionals

2010-11-14T17:40:00.001-06:00

In case you've been living under a rock lately, which would explain my recent proclivity for scattered posting, the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo is in Chicago this week. In association with the conference is the following networking opportunity in which our old friend Daniel Splaingard, Enterprise Rose Fellow for Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation, will be presenting:

USGBC and Enterprise Community Partners cordially invite you to Take 5, a special event for students and young professionals.

Take 5 introduces a new and innovative style of presenting. Each speaker will have five minutes (300 seconds) to present, no more, no less. After all individuals have given their presentations, the audience will have five minutes to ask presenters any outstanding questions.

Attendees will have the opportunity to network with others both before, and after, presentations; you’ll also have the chance to give feedback to presenters.

This event includes an open bar and heavy hors d’ oeuvres.

You had me at open bar.

If there are any young prefessionals left out there spread the word.
Tuesday, November 16th
6 PM until 9 PM
Greenbuild International Conference and Expo
Room W196-B in McCormick Place
2301 South Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, Illinois
Please RSVP

Ladies and Gentlemen, Meet Mike Nourse

2010-11-07T18:06:00.000-06:00

Saturdays in the Studios is upon us which means it's time to decide on the programs for which you will be volunteering. This is also an excellent opportunity for me to introduce "the new Krisann". Krisann Rhebein is still with the Chicago Architecture Foundation but has been promoted to a new position, Manager of Community Partnerships.

Mike Nourse is a Chicago-based visual artist, educator, and program manager. Originally from Montreal, Mike moved to Chicago to complete his BA in Communication from DePaul University, and then his MFA in Visual Communication from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). As a fine artist his video and transfer art have been shown locally, nationally, and internationally. As an educator he has worked formally with high school to graduate level students at Marwen Foundation, DePaul, and SAIC. As a program manager he has overseen studio and exhibition programs for Marwen and Digital Media Academy (at University of Chicago), concentrating on innovative approaches for 21st century learning. In 2003 Mike also co-founded an arts lab called “Chicago Art Department”, which leads informal explorations in studio, exhibition, and learning practices for new and emerging artists in Chicago. At CAF Mike concentrates on teen program management, online development, and strategic partnerships.

It would be hard to find a replacement for Krisann but as CAF President and CEO Lynn Osmond will attest Canada is a good place to start. To Mike's credit I only vaguely caught his accents on his "abouts" which need a little polishing. This is due to my rigorous training as a Minuteman on the northern border. As further proof that this town is even smaller than we think I have had Mike's CAD group on my radar for some time now.

Now that Mike has settled in and the honeymoon is over it's time to get to work. The first workshop will occur on Saturday, Nov. 20th. There is a planning session this Monday, Nov. 8th that there isn't much time for you to RSVP for so you should probably just show up. See you there.

Community Engagement Panel Discussion Next Week

2010-10-28T10:05:00.000-05:00

As part of the AIA Illinois Annual Conference, a panle discussion on community engagement in architecture and why they do it. The press release:

This Community Engagement panel discussion will explore the practice of community based projects by Architects. The panel is composed of a diverse group of professionals with practical experience in pro-bono, reduced fee, and community based work, who use their skills to contribute meaningfully to improve their communities. The panelist include: Susan King, Principal at Harley Ellis Devereaux; Patricia Saldaña Natke, Founding Partner and President of UrbanWorks; Mike Newman, founder of SHED Studio; and William Sindelar from Ragnar Benson Construction and Chair of and AIA NEI Community Outreach Committee. Matt Dumich from Valerio Dewalt Train and the AIA Chicago Community Interface Committee will moderate this session. The panel will discuss the value of community engagement and how and why they are involved in this community-based work. They will review best practices for working with community groups and non-profit organizations.
Attendees will learn how to evaluate a community group or non-profit organization to work with, how to structure projects and determine fees. They will also understand contractual and potential liability issues involved.

The Community Interface Committee is dedicated to increasing the visibility and participation of architects within community groups and non-profit organizations. The Committee acts as a network and forum for exchange of knowledge related to public interest work; a point of contact for community groups and nonprofit groups that seek design solutions; a liaison between the AIA and established pro-bono design groups; and support for architects’ involvement in civic activities.

Community Engagement: Design, Practice and Outreach panel discussion
November 05, 2010, 2:45pm at iHotel, 1900 South First Street, Champaign, IL
More information and register online.

Haiti Update

2010-10-14T08:47:00.000-05:00

If you haven't heard much about Haiti lately here's why: nothing is happening so there is technically no news to report. From a friend:

I am sad to inform you that not much has changed since the earthquake. I've traveled through parts of Port-au-Prince and most of the collapsed homes have not been touched, meaning that there are still corpses buried under the rubble. The hospital is still in ruins; the people are housed in tents still. the German professionals who are staying with my mother went there expressly to rebuild the local hospital but [redacted] did not give them permission to do so. I'm sure you are probably asking who is running the country.

No, I'm pretty clear on that.

I am happy to say that little Architecture for Humanity Chicago competition win I was part of still has momentum. AFHCC meets every third Tuesday of the Month (that's this Tuesday!) at 6:30 at Brehon Pub, 730 N. Wells.

City Farm Fundraiser

2010-09-10T07:54:00.001-05:00

From Resource Center:

Saturday, October 9, 4:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Please join your friends at City Farm and Resource Center for an outdoor fall celebration. We’ll start with fun activities for the kids and follow with music for the adults. Light food and beverages will be served, courtesy of Resource Center partners.

City Farm is at the corner of Division and Clybourn, on the #70 bus line and just 4 blocks west of the Clark and Division Red line stop. Parking is available.

Schedule:
4:00 p.m. Children’s Activities Begin
6:00 p.m. Music and Night Lights for Adults

Registration Fee:
Adults (19 and Over) - $35
Youth (12-18) - $10
Children - Free!

To Register:
http://cityfarmurbanharvest2010.eventbrite.com/

Architecture for Change Summit a Stone's Throw Away

2010-08-22T11:56:00.001-05:00

The speaker list has been expanded and scholarships are available to attend. More informatiopn on their website.

Back-to-School Volunteering

2010-08-09T05:57:00.001-05:00

AIA Chicago Chapter's Community Interface Committee is taking up AIA Illinois Chapter President Mike Rogers' challenge for every architect to visit a local school to talk to children about what architects do. CIC's initiative is well-timed given that school starts up again in a couple of weeks. And, given an architects' predisposition to talk about both themselves and their profession, this doesn't sound much like a challenge at all. Last spring I was invited to talk about architecture at Coliss High School as part of their "Focus on Careers Day" and had a lot of fun. From AIA Chicago:

Working in Schools - Session 1
Mon., August 23, 6:00 to 7:30 pm, Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan Ave.
Sponsor: Community Interface Committee

What buildings, ideas, people, or activities first made you excited about architecture as a kid? AIA Illinois president Mike Rogers has challenged every member visit a school during 2010 in order to help students discover architecture and better understand the profession. We are partnering with CAF for a series of “Architects in the Schools” visits. Workshop Session 1 covers what to expect at the school, how to work with various age groups, and introduces the classroom-ready lessons.

Working in Schools - Session 2
Mon., September 13, 6:00 to 7:30 pm, Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan Ave.
Sponsor: Community Interface Committee

See August 23. Session 2 includes hands-on training in specific activities requested by local teachers to help integrate architecture into their math, science, history, and art lessons.

Archeworks' Mobile Food Collective has 14 Days to Raise $7000

2010-08-03T09:30:00.001-05:00

Archeworks MFC Video for the Venice biennale from thirst/a design collaborative on Vimeo.

From Archeworks:

Developed through a collaborative process in the Archeworks design program, the MFC [Mobile Food Collective] has designed a fleet of mobile structures intended to act as a traveling cultural center, to encourage a return to heritage, ownership, exchange, and connection-in essence, to make food personal again. The MFC is many things: an education/exchange platform for planting, growing and cooking; demonstrations and distribution of seeds, soil, compost, and produce; a space activator within a community event; or the centerpiece of a harvest dinner. The MFC is also designed to facilitate a variety of educational programs, ranging from design thinking exercises to farm and gardening activities with youth and community members in urban neighborhoods.

Click here to learn more about the project.

Our team has had amazing response and support so far, including the opportunity to exhibit the Mobile Food Collective in the U.S. Pavilion at the 2010 Venice Biennale for Architecture. We are reaching out to ask for your support of our idea and to promote awareness of our movement. We are in need of further publicity and funding to assist in completing fabrication, building a food heritage archive, and hosting cultural exchange/design workshops during our time in Italy.

And in a strange coincidence, they have the same mission as my grandmother, the eating part anyways:
The Mobile Food Collective's mission is to bring people together around food, and to inspire a new food culture around growing, cooking, sharing and eating!

Note to Archeworks: if you need any help in Italy I've been practicing my Italian by talking with my hands more.

Help support our local team at the Biennale.

Chicago ACE Mentor Program Fourth Annual Summer Fundraiser

2010-07-28T13:02:00.000-05:00

Join the ACE Associate Board and ACE Mentors for a little summer cocktailing and a good cause.

The ACE Mentor Program serves Chicago area high school youth who are exploring careers in Architecture, Construction or Engineering. The mentors are professionals from leading design and construction firms who volunteer their time and energy. The program is designed to engage, inform and challenge youth.

Join us and make a difference by supporting our efforts to provide scholarships to these students. Many of the students are the first in their family to attend college, and explore the career of their dreams.

For more information on the ACE Program, please visit our website at www.acementor.org/chicago

Date: Wednesday, August 11
Time: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Place: Hub 51: Lower Level - Sub 51 51 W. Hubbard Street, Chicago
Admission:
$30 each in advance
$40 each at the door
includes two drink tickets and appetizers

purchase online at www.signmeup.com/71230
or
make checks payable to ACE Mentor Chicago and mail to:

Whitney Lang @ HOK
60 E. Van Buren, 14th Floor
Chicago, IL 60605

Come for the drinks - stay for the raffle! Including great prizes such as event tickets, restaurant gift certificates, art work, furniture pieces and more. If you are unable to attend, but would still like to make a donation, please visit www.signmeup.com/71230

Winning Entry: École Saint Joseph, Petit Goâve, Haiti

2010-07-21T11:39:00.000-05:00

Architecture for Humanity Chicago facilitated a charette and competition in May to design a school to replace one that had collapsed during the earthquake in Petit Goâve, Haiti. École Saint Joseph was a not-for-profit school that provided free education to all. Team members of this winning entry include the talents of Marissa Brown, Marlon Giron, Steven Pantazis and Dena Wangberg.

Last Chance for Utopía Posible at the Graham

2010-07-13T14:03:00.000-05:00

The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts' current exhibit, Utopía Posible, closes this Saturday, July 17th. This Thursday, July 15th, also marks their last extended gallery hours of the season. Need another reason? Free wine.

Jewels in July Next Wednesday

2010-07-13T11:06:00.001-05:00

Get your tickets for this year's Jewels in July fundraiser event to support Archi-treasures, whose efforts have been featured on this blog on numerous occasions. There are some photos of the event held last year on Flickr.

Photos by visualizedconcepts.

Archi-treasures
Jewels in July
Wednesday,July 21st, 2010
6-10p
Room & Board
55 E Ohio St.
Chicago

Architreasures Call for Volunteers

2010-06-15T14:59:00.000-05:00

From Architreasures:
One opportunity involves helping us make mosaics (it could be a fun night or two with friends) at one or many community workshops, and the other would be assisting with one or more community events, including a scrap-booking & photography workshop, carnival, community dinner, and a "Talent Show."

For more information, go to: http://www.architreasures.org/volunteer.htm.

We could really use hands right now, so if you or anyone you know is interested, please let us know!

Open Hand Studio Meet and Match

2010-06-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

From OWPP|Cannon Design's Open Hand Studio:
Join Open Hand Studio and our partners at Meet and Match, a celebration of community-based design. Meet and Match provides an opportunity for Chicago designers and non-profit, community-based organizations to meet face-to-face and match design needs with design services.

Register
To register for the 2010 Open Hand Studio Meet and Match, please complete the registration form.

June 29th, 2010
Daytime Event (1pm – 5pm)
We invite you to join us for a networking and resource fair featuring community organizations, pro-bono design organizations including architects, interior designers, product and organizational designers, graphic designers and art groups.

The daytime event will provide opportunities for community groups to meet with design organizations, to discuss potential projects and get more informed about what resources are available in the pro-bono design world. Attendees can meet organizations at their own pace and are welcome to arrive after the event commences.

Evening Event (5:30pm -8pm)
The evening event will start off with quick and compelling presentations on successful partnerships between non-profit groups and design firms and organizations. After the presentations, attendees are invited to enjoy refreshments and “Meet and Match,” meet someone new and match skills with needs!

Open Hand Studio Meet and Match
Tuesday, June 29th
Hyde Park Art Center
5020 S. Cornell Avenue
Chicago, IL 60615

UrbanFAB [Workshops]

2010-05-31T00:00:00.025-05:00

I wanted to share a really interesting project that I will be collaborating on this summer as a facilitator. There are still a few student slots available.

UrbanBuddy[workshops] and the Live architecture Network are collaborating to organize a series of cost-effective design workshops for participants and other interested parties, held in locations around the globe each year. Participants in urbanFAB [workshop] 2010 will travel to either, Barcelona, Chicago, or New York City to simultaneously research and explore our unique definition of urban fabrication. The UrbanFAB [workshop] will reveal global urban systems while fully exploring the local phenomena that are distinctly Spanish and American.

[question]
Urban systems are being redefined by new digital design and fabrication tools; how do our cities, and their dynamic and informal character, inform these new models of design? The urbanFAB [workshop] will focus on the complex urban systems that support the everyday life of millions of residents, all-the-while reflecting their distinct urban culture.

[overview]
urbanFAB [workshop] will engage in a close-up examination of the existing urban factors that drive new models of digital design and fabrication. These factors include physical, social and climatic influences (among others), but most importantly you’ll be observing what makes your city unique in global systematic design, both natural and human produced. The urbanFAB [workshop] is a unique look at the interface between the built form infrastructures and the physical & social systems of our urban environment.

More Information from Urban Buddy

Infrastructures for Change Symposium 2010 - June 3rd

2010-05-25T00:42:00.001-05:00

This second installment of the Infrastructures for Change Symposium focuses on the Chicago and Great Lakes Region. From the website, the symposium:

will focus on the design and planning of the next 100 years of Chicago, Lake Michigan, and the built urban environment within the Great Lakes Basin. Infrastructures for Change will initiate a new blueprint for action toward imagining and inventing a 21st Century Great Lakes Model for global city building.

The program begins at 8:30 am on June 3rd at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning with introductions followed by an opening keynote by Cameron Davis, J.D., Senoir Advisor to the US EPA Administrator. More information on Archeworks' website.

2010 Architecture for Change Summit

2010-05-18T08:56:00.000-05:00

From the organizers:

Register now for the Architecture for Change Summit:

Join architects, developers and affordable housing activists on September 22-24, 2010 in Chicago to address the affordable housing crisis.

Affirm the ways design matters in the affordable housing crisis; Hear about the dedicated work of nationally recognized affordable housing design advocates; Understand how conventional housing development practices and policies impede affordable, appropriate and sustainable housing design; and Mobilize support for meaningful and inclusive change in these practices and policies.

Design Corps Founder and Executive Director and 2010-2011 Loeb Fellow Bryan Bell is confirmed and will be presenting information on his SEED program. See you there.

Resource Center Fundraiser

2010-05-17T19:32:00.001-05:00

From Resource Center:

Only a few days remain to register for the Resource Center's annual spring cocktail party, ReCreate 2010!

Please join us in celebrating the work of the Resource Center while meeting new and old friends. Register at today!

Details:
ReCreate 2010
***Friday, May 21st, 5:30-8:30 p.m.***
Archeworks
625 North Kingsbury Street
Chicago, IL 60654
(convenient public transit access;
valet parking available 1/4 block east at Reza's for $9)

Please note: The evening will include a very brief special meeting of Resource Center members. Members will be asked to consider amended Resource Center bylaws, a draft of which is available on our website.

NEW CITY FARM VIDEO
Check out the wonderful new video piece about City Farm, courtesy of our friend Christine Malone

OTHER SUPPORT
If you can't attend, please consider a donation to support the Resource Center

SHOREBANK AWARD
Resource Center was recently named as the recipient of the Green Neighbor Award from ShoreBank for our contributions to the Chicago community and our efforts to "build stronger, healthier communities.

Archeworks Project to be Exhibited at Venice Biennale

2010-05-17T19:20:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Archeworks for their project, Mobile Food Collective, being included among work from other architects as part of the American Pavilion at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition of the 2010 Venice Biennale. The exhibit will feature work from architects that involve "trans-disciplinary" collaboration. Here is their full Press Release.

Volunteer Help Needed for Newhouse Exhibit Installation

2010-05-11T21:04:00.000-05:00

The CAF needs help during the day on Thursday, May 27th and Friday, May 28th to install the Newhouse Exhibition at the gallery of Robert Morris College: 401 S. State Street.

You can sign up for as many hours as you are able each day. They essentially need help hanging up the projects in the gallery. They plan to open the show on Tuesday, June 1st and will not be able to install over the weekend.

Contact Krisann.

Rebuilding Together this Saturday!

2010-04-22T15:26:00.000-05:00

All our efforts from the past year with Rebuilding Together will culminate this Saturday for their National Rebuilding Day. Come on out to work with like-minded architects and others as well as the homeowners themselves. Don't be shy, anyone can swing a hammer or a paint brush, there's something for everyone. Several groups that have previously been featured on this blog will be hosting homes. To get involved please contact their team leaders: AIA - Holly Genc and AfH - Brian Landwehr.

All of the homeowners have been screened to meet income requirements and many of the ones I met were simply incapable of doing the work themselves do to some sort of physical ailment or old age. This is a great cause.

Design Exposed: SOM Blackbox Lecture

2010-04-16T09:00:00.002-05:00

Yesterday evening, the AIA Chicago chapter sponsored a lecture conducted by Keith Besserud of SOM on recent work done in the arena of parametric modeling and performance simulation in the Blackbox Studio, which is an in-house group of specialists who focus on advanced modeling, simulation and analysis across a range of scales from urban design, to building massings, to individual wall components.

Description from the AIA Chicago website:

Keith Besserud, AIA, head of the Black Box Studio at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP, will discuss projects on which his group has collaborated and the advanced computational design technologies the studio has developed. What is the role of design research and a specialized in-house “consultancy” within the context of an architecture firm? We will also look at the interdisciplinary approach towards algorithmic/parametric design as well as tools to create and investigate the “optimal” and the “novel.”

Besserud began by giving a general overview of parametric design and diagrammed the relationship between simulation and analysis, data management and geometry control. He highlighted a number of SOM projects undertaken by the Blackbox Studio including the post-rationalization of complex curvature for a feature ceiling in the lobby of the recently completed Burj Khalifa, a parametric roof for a convention center in Tanggu, China that is visually striking while accommodating program and optimizing structural performance and, finally, a more theoretical urban design project titled Growing Cities where the Blackbox Studio simulates the emergent growth of a city based on the "happiness" of buildings as determined by nature of their immediate surroundings.

The conclusion of the presentation and the subsequent Q&A took an interesting turn as questions were asked about the reaction to this way of working among designers at SOM. Besserud responded by saying that the response is generally positive. He went on to say that given the particular culture, it can be challenging to implement due to the front end time commitment to construct the "intelligent framework" needed to work this way. Offices that involve themselves in time-sensitive competition commissions can find it challenging to find the time for this. That said, Besserud remained optimistic going on to point out that SOM is actively pursuing grants to further their research into biologically inspired growth models. Additionally, in an attempt to foster a more robust local community of computational designers, he mentioned the Chicago Computational Design Forum (CCDF) which aims to be a multi-disciplinary forum for professionals that use computational methods in a variety of ways.

Sidebar Updated with Many Volunteer Opportunities

2010-04-15T10:04:00.000-05:00

Enjoy!

UHC Workshop 2010 - 1) Seedlings to Vermicomposting: A 3-Part Series

2010-04-12T10:26:00.001-05:00

A timely workshop by our friends over at Urban Habitat Chicago. When is the workshop for keeping the squirrels off my tomaters?

Saturday, April 17, 2010 · 10:00 AM
Play in the mud with the staff and volunteers of UHC! These one-hour workshops will cover everything from seedlings to vermicomposting. Bring your lunch and partake in a discussion about the sustainable actions you’re doing at home. A sampling of workshops:

START YOUR SUMMER SEEDLINGS
10:00am - 11:00am
Tomatoes and basil are irresistible, and taste best fresh from the garden! Learn how to create your own soil mix to start your seedlings indoors, then we’ll be planting seeds. After a month and a half they’ll be redy to move outdoors, or to a sunny window in a larger pot. The earlier you start the sooner you can be enjoying a caprese sandwich! We’ll discuss plant care and disease control for your plants so you can better tend them as they grow. Fifteen max particpants - register early! Pesented by UHC’s urban agriculturalist, Emily Lake.

AGRICULTURE, BIOSYSTEMS, COMPOSTING - THE ABC’S OF ORGANIC GARDENING
11:00am - 12:00pm
What makes something organic? This workshop will introduce you to the basic methods and fundamentals of organic gardening. From preparing the soil, understanding how and what to plant, to au naturale pest control, this workshop will enlighten you to what organic entails. Mike Repkin, UHC’s president-emeritus and President of Repkin Biosystems, will demystify organic. Fifteen max participants - register early!

VERMI-COMPOSTING = PLAY WITH WORMS!
12:00pm - 1:00pm
Like dirt? Like worms? The benefits of vermicomposting far outweigh the gross factor. Worms take your produce waste and turn it into rich, fertile soil that is ripe for planting. Create your home vermicomposting kit with the help of UHC co-founder, urban composter, gardener, and designer Anna Glenn. Anna will teach you how it’s done, and you can even take home a small beginner kit for a small extra fee (worms not included). Fifteen max participants - register early!

Where & When
Date: Saturday, April 17, 2010
Time: 10:00am - 1:00pm (each workshop is one hour)
Location: Northside College Preparatory High School
(Workshops will be held behind the school)
5501 N. Kedzie Ave., Chicago, IL 60625
Cost: Please pay with cash or check at the door.
MEMBERS: $7.00/workshop or $16.00 for all three
NONMEMBERS: $10.00/workshop or $25.00 for all three
REGISTER NOW for one or more workshops!

Archeworks Summer 2010 Internship

2010-04-09T10:15:00.000-05:00

Archeworks is seeking an intern for Summer 2010. The intern will work with the Archeworks Director to generate content for a new publication highlighting alternative urban design and architectural strategies for 21st Century cities. The intern will be responsible for creating graphic diagrams, editing lecture transcripts, soliciting quotes and project documentation, and synthesizing and distilling information from various sources, amongst other tasks. The intern must be motivated, self-sufficient, detail-oriented, and comfortable working with minimal supervision.

The ideal candidate has a strong writing background and is currently enrolled in an architecture, landscape architecture, or urban design graduate program or is a recent graduate. Successful candidates will have a keen understanding of urban and environmental issues and a passion for resourceful urban design as a means of enhancing quality of life in the contemporary American City. Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite is necessary.

The internship will start in early to mid-May and end in early to mid-August. Exact dates to be determined. The intern will be based at the Archeworks studios in Chicago's River North neighborhood, with occasional flexibility to work remotely. Archeworks can provide a modest stipend for this position.

The application deadline is 5 p.m. CST on Monday, April 19, 2010.

Applicants should submit cover letter, resume, two short writing samples, and digital portfolio or work samples to Katie Vail, Archeworks Program Manager.

Questions can be directed to Katie Vail. No phone inquiries please.

Archeworks was founded in 1994 on the premise that good design should serve everyone. Over the past 16 years, Archeworks has completed over 40 community design projects addressing universal design, sustainability, urban agriculture and ecology, early childhood education, neighborhoods with limited resources, micro-enterprises for women and minorities, and other community-based needs in the urban environment.

CIC School Outreach Challenge - Save the Date

2010-04-08T16:23:00.000-05:00

The Presidents' Challenge

In response to Michael Rogers' Challenge as spelled out in the Spring Envision newsletter of AIA Illinois (see above), the Community Interface Committee is organizing a program for interested architects to reach out to public schools.

On Wednesday, April 21st at 6pm, at the Chicago Chapter Office of AIA an education specialist from the Chicago Architecture Foundation will talk about reaching out to public schools, what to expect, what to present, how to address the students, etc. An informal discussion will follow.

There will be more details as the date approaches but check out the challenge and take the initiative.

Saturday, April 10: Chicago Avenue Urban Farm - Community Conversation

2010-04-02T13:11:00.001-05:00

The proposal presented to Fourth Presbyterian a few weeks ago.

This design charette is a result of the AIA Bridge Program. See previous posts as well as Michael Burlando's shared photos from Growing Power's farm near Milwaukee. This is an open invite:

Saturday, April 10, 2010The purpose of this conversation (“charrette”) is to gather input from the Cabrini community and other interested parties about the establishment of a new Urban Farm on Chicago Avenue. We would like you to help refine and develop an initial design plan for what we would like the Urban Farm to provide to the community and how to meet our collective vision.

You are here today to help us:

Clarify vision elements. The community stakeholders have already outlined a basic vision for the Urban Farm, but elements of that vision need further definition and illustration to reflect community wants and needs. The vision includes providing affordable, fresh produce in the neighborhood through year-round food production; developing neighborhood youth through learning about sustainable agriculture and gaining job training skills, and laying the groundwork for several micro-enterprises.

Identify preliminary action program steps. Help prioritize what steps we should take to implement the plan. The results of this charrette will be reviewed by the Chicago Avenue Urban Farm Advisory Council.

Let us know you whether you plan to join us by contacting Natasha Holbert, Program Director, at 312-274-3831.

Saturday, April 10th, 2010 - Schedule
8:30 a.m. - Coffee & Meet/Greet
9:00 a.m. - Welcome & Introduction: Introductions and Presentation of Background
9:30 a.m. - Charrette 101: Introduction to the Terminology and Language of Planning & Design
10:00 a.m. - Break
10:15 a.m. - AIA Bridge Presentation: Engagement Exercise – Presentation of Chicago Avenue Project
11:15 a.m. - Goals and Issues: Small Group Exercises and Report Back
12:00 p.m. - Synthesis: Facilitated Integration of Concept Plans by AIA Bridge
12:30 p.m. - Action Program and Next Steps: Facilitated Discussion of Implementation Priorities
1:00 p.m. - Adjourn

8:30am to 1:00pm
Chicago Avenue Urban Farm
444 W Chicago Avenue (Chicago and Hudson)

Archi-treasures 2010 Design Charettes

2010-04-01T09:35:00.003-05:00

Calling all volunteers.

Archi-treasures 2010 Design Charettes have been established as follows:

Saturday, April 17, 10am - 2pm
BJ Wright Courts
1354 S. Morgan

Saturday, April 24, 10am - 2pm
Westhaven
100 N. Hermitage

Saturday, May 1, 10am - 2pm
Legends South
4034 S. State Street

Saturday, May 8, 10am - 2pm
Germano-Millgate Apartments
8802 S. Burley

For those of you that are new to Archi-treasures and/or Archi-treasures charettes, you are invited to a brief orientation from 6pm - 7pm on Wednesday, April 7 at the Archi-treasures office, 3339 West Division. They will be sharing a little about the history of Archi-treasures as well as talking through their charette process. This is an optional orientation for those that are new or for veterans who would like to share their experience.

You can also get an idea of what you're in for by searching for Archi-treasures on this blog. Contact Vanessa with your interest.

PS: April 10th date changed to April 17th and May 8th confirmed.

Archeworks Exhibit and Open House

2010-03-15T15:53:00.001-05:00

Winning Entry: CarbonTAP by PORT Architecture and Urbanism

Archeworks is hosting a presentation and panelist discussion as part of its exhibit, WPA 2.0: Working Public Architecture - Chicago Edition, on April 6th. This is the featured program of Archeworks' 2010 Spring Open House. The topic involves the recent Working Public Architecture (WPA) 2.0 competition by CityLAB of UCLA and will feature the work of several Chicago architects that participated, including UrbanLAB's entry, which was selected as a finalist of the first stage, and Port Architecture and Urbanism's entry which was selected as the winner.

Steven Pantazis Architecture: Highway Reclamation/Racial Reconciliation

As I am a Chicago architect and entered the competition I was asked to participate. I will be presenting my project titled Highway Reclamation/Racial Reconciliation. The event will be moderated by Greg Dreicer, Vice President of Exhibitions and Programs at the Chicago Architecture Foundation. The show starts at 6 and is free and open to the public. Seating is limited so RSVP online.

WPA 2.0: Working Public Architecture - Chicago Edition
April 6th at 6pm
Archeworks
625 N. Kingsbury (at Ontario)
Free Admission

Structures for Inclusion 10

2010-03-12T12:02:00.001-06:00

Now in its 10th year, Design Corps presents this conference as a forum to present and discuss current architectural practices that are intended to reach a more diverse clientele.

From the announcement:

Structures for Inclusion 10 will be a tenth anniversary celebration hosted by Howard University on Saturday and Sunday, March 27 and 28, 2010. Three panels will discuss the theme: “Social Economic Environmental Design: SEED” and how to build on the success of the Green design movement in addressing critical social and economic issues through design.

The speaker roster doesn't disappoint and includes local architect and "agitator" Monica Chadha of Studio Gang and Converge:Exchange fame. There is plenty of time to register to contribute to the cause and join like-minded individuals, leaders and innovators in their field for this unique annual event.

Projects in Burkino Faso, Africa by Francis Kere Architect

Structures for Inclusion 10
March 27 and 28, 2010
Howard University
Washington DC

reamscapes Exhibit

2010-03-11T22:38:00.001-06:00

All photos courtesy David LeFevre

From the press release:

Six carefully selected teams of up-and-coming designers from the Chicago area working in the field of architecture have been invited to take a ream of standard copy paper and render the banality of 500 sheets of paper into a thought-provoking and arresting temporary installation.

Carlo standing.

Some time contributor and full time reader David LeFevre is part of a team called Fold 500 (what a coincidence) that has an installation on display in the reamscapes exhibit. The reception is tonight, Friday, March 12th from 6-10pm and coincides with the Chicago Arts District monthly 2nd Fridays event in Pilsen.

Carlo observing.

Team Fold 500's Project Statement:

“This is not a plane” embraces the symbiotic relationship between the digital and the physical. The construct expresses one of the most primitive notions of the physical --the fold. Through the repetitive transformation of 500 sheets of paper into paper airplanes, one large gestural fold creates a spatial condition where the inherent dichotomy of the physical and digital interface.
In this installation, paper embodies, among other things, the physical manifestation of digital design, the uniqueness of the instance, and the joy of spontaneous human creativity through a physical reaction with the content -- scribble, tear, crumple. Fold.

And Bio:

Fold 500 is made up of Carlo Parente, David LeFevre, Jessica Hogue, Luis Palacio and Nathan Bowman --5 architects working together in the office of AS+GG who share a passion for digital technology, physical media, paper airplanes and Bloody Marys.

Carlo trying to get bad luck.

Bloody Marys? That explains the Project Statement. The show runs through April 3rd but the free wine is only available during the opening reception. See you there!

reamscapes - 6 designers + 500 sheets of paper + creativity
Mar 12th-Apr 3rd, 2010
ShowPODs
1822-43 S. Halsted St.
Chicago

Last Chance for Actions

2010-03-09T17:35:00.001-06:00

Photo by Michelle Litvin

This Saturday, March 13th, will be your last chance to view the exhibit Actions: What you can do with the City. The exhibit has landed here at the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts after its debut at Montreal's Canadian Center for Architecture. Don't worry, the documentation is in English. Actually the exhibit consists of contributions, or "Actions", by artists, architects, designers, activists and others from all over the world.

The vast majority of the Actions work to make the city more humane, sometimes using grass-roots geurrilla urbanism such as activists dressed as city workers using a home-made stencil to paint bicycle symbols on heavily trafficked streets, thereby creating a bike lane. To balance out the exhibit, some actions actually work toward the opposite effect, anti-sitting Actions for example, placed on private property to prevent people from sitting on things. The photo below is an interesting dichotomy of the exhibit.

On the one hand, the Action works to overcome an anti-lying-down-device, the handrails along the bench, while the handrails, not part of the exhibit, work to prevent people from lying down. This resourceful individual's Action is not only functional but highly fashionable.

I found the exhibit entertaining, engaging and participatory. It's definitely something that generates a good amount of conversation afterward, such as, what to do with the exposed backs of street signs?

Sticker Graffiti by MELT

You only have four days left to see it and what better excuse than before and after a related lecture being held at The Graham Wednesday night (March 10th) at 6pm by Amy Franceschini called The Revolution Will Be Cultivated. Find out what she's all about here and here. Admission to both the exhibit and the lecture are free.

Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
Madlener House
4 West Burton Place
Chicago, IL 60610
Gallery Hours: Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm.
Free Admission.

More reviews:
Lauren Weinberg for Time Out Chicago
Jason Foumberg for New City
Ryan LaFollette for The Architect's Newspaper
Architect Magazine
Bert Stabler for Proximity Magazine

Growing Power Meeting This Thursday

2010-03-08T13:45:00.001-06:00

Photo by Michael Burlando

I posted previously about the Bridge Program as orchestrated by AIA Chicago Chapter. One of the groups that came out of the program is working with Growing Power and Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago on a structure to support their urban farming activities. Two alumni of the Bridge Program, Michael Burlando and Daniel Roush, went up to Growing Power's facilities in Milwaukee and Mike was nice enough to share his excellent photos and commentary from his trip here. If you want to get involved or are interested in learning more about this very interesting project, still in its nascent stages, there is a meeting this Thursday, March 11th at 6pm at AIACC's office.

CTBUH Conference Revisited

2010-03-03T03:30:00.002-06:00

And finally, the last conference to be revisited is the CTBUH. With registration priced as high as $650, I'm happy to let you know all of the video recordings of the speakers are now available online - for free! Memorable presentations include:

Richard Tomasetti and the use of a boat simulator in Newfoundland to simulate the 18 second period of the Chicago Spire - the first time the simulator had been used for a building,

Eric Kuhne and the social contributions to building tall,

Adrian Smith and the challenge of meeting the 2030 Challenge that most mayors (including Daley) have signed onto without any means of meeting it,

and Mayor Daley on the past, present and future contributions of tall buildings to Chicago.

And yes, the Spire is designed to sway from one side to the other and back over the span of 18 seconds.

Subcribe, Subscribe, Subscribe

2010-03-01T10:20:00.000-06:00

As winter begins to thaw and I emerge from my tradition of hibernation I've been bumping into more and more of you that read my blog. Thank you!

I was asked last week if I post consistently and while I try to get one out every week I don't have a rule that it will be every Monday, for example. But, you can subscribe. And you don't have to rss either. There's a link to the right that will ask you to add your email. That way you will know when I post by getting it in your inbox. Convenient, no?

You can tell me all about it at PechaKucha Night Chicago tomorrow (Tuesday) at 8:00 at Martyrs'. I'll be the one with the jacket.

A+DEN/AAO Conference Revisited

2010-02-23T23:07:00.000-06:00

In keeping with the spirit of revisiting this past jamb-packed fall architectural conference season, we revisit the A+DEN/AAO conference. If you couldn't make it or you want to hear the speakers again, click on the individual sections labeled Read More, scroll to the bottom and check out the audio recordings. Memorable speakers include Carol Coletta, CEO, CEOs for Cities; Damon Rich, Founder, Center for Urban Pedagogy; Maurice Cox, Director of Design, National Endowment for the Arts and more.

CIC Inaugural Meeting Tonight

2010-02-22T23:55:00.002-06:00

As mentioned previously, the Community Interface Committee (CIC) is one of the initiatives that came out of the AIA Bridge Program. The CIC will be a central resource for not-for-profits to find architects and vice versa. The founders intend to have a full time staff including at least one architect and to become the de facto resource for connecting architects with the underserved in Chicago. If you want to be a part of this important initiative from the very beginning, be at the AIA Chicago Chapter Office, 35 E. Wacker Dr. Ste. 250 at 6pm tonight (Tuesday).

Global PechaKucha Night for Haiti Tomorrow

2010-02-19T09:54:00.002-06:00

PKN for Haiti logo by Studio Number One

20 seconds, 20 images, 200 cities, 2000 presentations, 200,000 people - with the aim to raise $1,000,000 for rebuilding Haiti.

The event was realized after an email from Cameron Sinclair, co-founder of Architecture for Humanity to Mark Dytham, co-founder of PechaKucha, asking for help. Within minutes they hashed out a plan and sealed the agreement, how else, with a joint PKN presentation at Tokyo's SuperDeluxe. The mission was announced by Mr. Sinclair later on at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Watch the joint announcement:

The 24 hour-long streamathon will be available online LIVE beginning simultaneously in Tokyo, with a presentation by PechaKucha Founders Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham, and in New Zealand's most eastern city. From there the "PechaKucha Presentation Wave" will travel westward hitting every city in the PK Network along the way for approximately 10 minutes each.

According to the Global PK homepage, the stream will begin at 2am Chicago time and can be viewed here and here as well as on your iPhone or smartphone by using this free application here.

It will catch up with Mr. Sinclair and Architecture for Humanity headquarters in San Francisco at about 10pm Chicago time, 1pm Tokyo time, where there will be an event in Tokyo focusing on Haiti.

PKN Chicago Global Day for Haiti Poster by Visualized Concepts

PechaKucha Night Chicago is, of course, participating and this time has teamed-up with PechaKucha Champaign-Urbana. It is being held at its usual spot, Martyrs', 3855 N. Lincoln. The presentations begin at 2pm with doors opening at 1pm and is all ages this time so be on your best behavior. The cost is $25 or $100 for VIP (those tables and seats in front of the screen) and tickets can be purchased online or at the door. The list of presenters is composed of "guaranteed notorious" special guests and can be found here.

There is also a new Donate Button posted on the global and city PechaKucha websites if you can't make an event and want to contribute. All proceeds go to the building of buildings in Haiti. AfH's funding is usually divided into design services, marketing and travel with funding for buildings coming from outside sources. In this case ALL money raised from Global PKN goes to the building of buildings in Haiti.

Don't get Haiti Fatigue. AfH has committed itself to long-term sustained architectural aid in Haiti. Show your support.

ACADIA 2009 Revisited: Day 3 - Middleware

2010-02-17T22:41:00.000-06:00

Ben Raines and Ken Maschke

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture and Thornton Tomasetti

"Data Flow and Communication in the Design of Complex Architectural Forms"

Presenting in tandem, Ben and Ken as they were affectionately referred to, explained the nature of the collaboration between architect and engineer on three projects undertaken by AS+GG and TT. The projects, Crystal Center, Matrix Gateway Complex (Winner of a 2010 P/A Award), and the Wings Museum, were all 3 located at various locations in the once bustling land of architectural excess known as Dubai. The projects all provided unique architectural and structural challenges. Ben and Ken stressed that successful complex projects are contingent upon the effective transfer of information between the parties involved, in order to provide a fully integrated and coordinated design scheme. In developing the designs both teams satisfy the need for design exploration by building digital models that serve the purposes of unique to their individual trades. For the architects, 3d models built in Rhinoceros 3d can be used to test architectural decisions through massing and surface models, renderings, exported plan and section information, or surfaces that can be exported to analysis software, like Ecotect, to test environmental responsiveness. For the engineers, models built in SAP2000 can be used for finite element analysis, or FEA, in order to accurately determine stresses on load-bearing members, and Tekla to develop and store values for, in the case of the Wings Museum, a diagrid exoskeleton structural system. The diagrid system required especially close collaboration between Ben and the AS+GG team and Ken and the TT team. The architectural team controlled the visual expression of the diagrid and created a mesh of triangular design surfaces and nodes that can be exported in a format that serves the purposes necessary for the structural team to analyze the stresses in all members of the system and size them accordingly. To complete the loop, the engineers then send tabular data from the FEA back to the architects that allow them to interpret the results in such a way that they can give 3d mass to their original design mesh. Using parametric software, in this case Grasshopper 3D, designers can store and order data from both the FEA and 3d model elements from Rhino and subsequently define the relationships between the two to be able to quickly, efficiently and accurately model a diagrid skin of glass and steel. Ben and Ken concluded by stating that the above process is rich yet involves significant forethought to make sure that all lines of communication are open and readily passable and that all parties involved can speak the same language. However, they offered a caution that software cannot make the final decisions and the design professionals involved must close the loop to be able to produce great buildings.

Brady Peters

Royal Danish Academy

"Parametric Acoustic Surfaces"

Brady Peters has been at the forefront of the discourse revolving around parametric modeling and scripting for a number of years now. Formerly an associate at Foster and Partners in London, Peters was involved with the Specialist Modeling Group. The SMG, as it is known, is an in house consultancy at Foster's that provides support to design teams by performing a number of advanced modeling tasks including geometric rationalization, optimization, writing of custom computer programs for project specific tasks, and component based design. Examples of projects by Foster and Partners that were heavily influenced by the SMG are two clear span roof projects, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC and the Great Court at the British Museum in London. Both are examples of structures designed, fabricated and installed using parametric software. In both these cases Bentley's Generative Components was used. Peters has moved on from Foster and Partners and is currently working towards his PhD in architecture at Centre for Information Technology and Architecture (CITA) at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Peters' work focuses on how space and sound define architectural surfaces. Parametric software allows Peters to use metric data from an environment, in this case sound wave energy, and then use that data to drive a change, i.e., size, angle, radius, etc., in a series of local geometries, or components, which in turn influence the global aesthetic. The result is a geometric construct that is performing according to the relationships and metrics that Peters defines.

AfH Chicago Chapter Meeting Tomorrow

2010-02-15T04:02:00.000-06:00

Architecture for Humanity Chicago Chapter's monthly meeting will be held tomorrow evening at 6:30 at Brehon Pub, 731 N. Wells. This is the first meeting since the fundraiser last month from which 10% of the proceeds went to AfH's Haiti effort. Many initiatives were brought up including the new competition-winning logo design that was sent to AfH HQ for approval, the announcement that the Chicago Chapter has been selected as one of three Regional Offices, and the launch of the new Chicago Chapter website.

Logo Design by Preema Modi.

According to Communications Committee Co-chair Geoff Malia, being selected as a Regional Office does three important things for the Chapter. It will have its own 501(c)(3) status, it will have its own professional and general liability insurance which means it will now have the ability to provide full architectural services through construction, and lastly it will be able to maintain its own bank account to fund projects.

The world, and more specifically the profession, is still abuzz about aid and rebuilding efforts for Haiti. AfH HQ is dedicated to focusing its efforts on providing long-term sustainable solutions. At the local level, the Chicago Chapter has been working closely with Peter Exley on Chicago's contribution to Pecha Kucha Global Day for Haiti dropping this Saturday at 1pm at Martyrs'. They've also been in contact with HQ to let them know they are available to help in Haiti as well as pursuing leads directly, independent of HQ.

Other issues on the agenda for tomorrow include the annual USGBC Natural Talent Design Competition, AfH Chicago Chapter's Street Furniture Competition and as always the floor is open for other ideas, suggestions and comments. All this and meetings are held in a pub. What more could you ask for?

See you there.

Staurdays in the Studio - Model Making

2010-02-11T08:38:00.001-06:00

Volunteers are needed for the Model Making session of Saturdays in the Studio at IIT on Feb. 20th from 9:00-3:00. There will be a planning meeting on Wednesday at 12:30 at CAF in the 4th floor conference room. Anyone interested should contact Krisann.

Saturdays in the Studio
model-making @ IIT
Crown Hall
3300 S. State St
February 20
9:00 - 3:00
(workshop is from 10:00 - 2:30)

ACADIA 2009 Revisited: Day 2 - Software

2010-02-10T13:12:00.012-06:00

Judit Kimpian, Josh Mason, Jeroen Coenders, Dan Jestico, Steve Watts

Aedas, Arup, Hilson Moran, Davis Langdon

"Sustainably Tall: Investment, Energy, Life Cycle"

This cross-disciplinary collaboration brings together the major players involved in a design team for a tall building - architect, structural and mechanical engineers, and cost consultants - to develop a Tall Building Simulation (TBS) model that can act as an interactive platform for clients and design teams to quickly and efficiently evaluate the effects of shape and form on energy use, embodied energy, CO2 emissions and capital/life cycle cost of tall buildings. One of the driving concepts for the development of this parametric model is to address the assumption that the majority of the decisions that effect a tall building's sustainability are made at the very earliest stages of the project, and yet the information required for an accurate sustainability assessment is not made available to design teams until well after the initial concept phase. This model allows different scenarios to be evaluated by the client and the design teams at an early stage, thereby maximizing the effectiveness of a given strategy in achieving a projects sustainability goals. As with any forecasting effort, the accuracy of the forecast relies on defining the right parameters and on the gathering of good data. In this case the team collected real energy use data collected through post-occupancy evaluations and other recognized sources of data, and bench marked performance comparisons against published research on the energy use of tall buildings. The quantitative parameters that the team chose were general enough to allow the designer to apply concept level qualitative thinking, yet tangible enough to allow them to easily assign a value to each parameter. The parameters used are:

Occupancy
Wide versus Slender Towers
Shape
Floor-to-Floor Height
Orientation and Cladding
Mechanical Systems
Daylight Controls
Cooling/Heating Set Points
Equipment Efficiency
Hours of Operation
Carbon Factor

Weighing the carefully thought out parameters against one another allows the design team to work together to achieve an integrated solution of high-performance. To me the interest is not as much in the computational aspect of the project as it is in the nature of the collaboration involved. Collaborative thinking is absolutely essential to creating an integrated response to both client demands as well as the need to build and operate tall buildings sustainably.

Nathan Miller

NBBJ

"Parametric Strategies in Civic Architecture Design"

This paper highlights digitally driven projects done by the Los Angeles office of NBBJ that demonstrate how the office utilizes parametric and generative processes to design and deliver buildings with speed, efficiency and precision. Miller starts by outlining the 2 ways that digital technologies are employed at NBBJ - as tools & as methods. As a tool, advanced modeling software, in this case Grasshopper is used, is used to support and enable a design idea through rationalization, optimization and production. This represents the way digital technologies are usually used in their office - to digitally automate the documentation of a set of analog instructions. In more unique cases advanced modeling software is used as a way to achieve new architectural possibilities by allowing the software to assume control of the execution of an algorithm that can result in potentially unforeseen outcomes. The algorithm, controlled by the designer, in concert with the ability of the computer to carry out the instructions results in a process-driven approach to documentation and fabrication as the rules, relationships and constraints describe the desired physical output as opposed to physical dimensions. Miller highlighted the Hangzhou Main Stadium in Hangzhou, China as an example where parametric thinking was employed early on in the design process and advanced as the design became more articulated. The project is an 80,000-seat multipurpose stadium conceived of as a premier sports venue for the expanding city of Hangzhou. The exterior of the stadium is a series of structural "petals" that create an enclosure around the sides and a roof. Each of the petals were designed as a parametric "component" derived from unique edge curves which were derived from concentric planar curves through a design surface. There is variability throughout the array of petals achieved by applying the same rules, constraints and instructions to different seed conditions. The resulting associative geometries respond to structural and material concerns and provide logic for the documentation and fabrication of the petals that have utility beyond that of a design study tool. In this particular case NBBJ sent Miller and his team to China to work with the local architect, CCDI, to develop construction documents from the parametric model they developed. Reporting on that process can be tracked here.

ACADIA 2009 Revisited: Day 1 - Hardware

2010-02-03T09:24:00.002-06:00

Silvan Oesterle

Gramazio and Kohler

"Cultural Performance in Robotic Timber Construction"

This presentation presented work done by students at the Dept. of Architecture at the ETH Zurich under the guide of Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler. Kramazio and Kohler's work has focused primarily on fabrication that focuses on the use of robotic processes. The challenge of their work has been to explore spatial relationships through digital logic. In this case, the digital logic is utilizing a six-axis industrial robot arm to handle and place building components. The precision and efficiency with which the robot arm carries out its specified tasks results in highly articulated transformative structures. In this presentation Oesterle employed the robot arm to fabricate timber structures that elaborated upon vernacular building techniques and strategies to create serial constructs of wood slats. The interest in this particular process lies in the rationalization of the construction process to enable the designer to "talk" to the robot arm and feed it a series of instructions that it will recognize and that will compose the desired effect. Oesterle outlined the following as the constraints for the design that needed to be coded:

A minimum required overlap of half the slat's width between the slats of one layer to the next layer to allow for proper nailing connections.
A maximum allowed cantilever of approximately 70 cm for the overall structure during production in order to avoid sagging and deformation.
Placement logic for the slats either predefined or through optimization to prevent collisions between the gripper (tool attached to the end of the robot arm) and the already built wall.
An end angle that adheres to the +-45 degree limit of the cutting machine to ensure closed flush placement of wood slats.

The result is an elegant proof-of-concept installation that exhibits a high level of 'digital craft.' Oesterle demonstrated command over the analog-to-digital translation process that one must have to successfully rationalize, define and represent a dynamic condition in a parametric environment. Check out Silvan's work here.

Ziggy Drozdowski and Shawn Gupta
Hoberman Assoc Inc.and Buro Happold Ltd.

"Adaptive Fritting as Case Exploration for Adaptivity in Architecture"

Drozdowski and Gupta presented a part of a much larger body of work called the Adaptive Building Initiative, a research endeavor that explores the use of mechanism design that creates adaptive systems in buildings that use less energy, offer more occupant comfort, and use space more efficiently than static buildings. This particular paper presented Adaptive Fritting, an adaptive shading system comprised of multiple layers of glass with identical frit dots, separated and controlled by a disc actuator device that rotates all layers of glass independent of one another in such a way that, from an initial state, the frit dots, in elevation, create a variable pattern as the actuator completes its' 360 degrees of rotation. The resulting variability ranges in its' coverage and demonstrates that it could be programmed to respond to the time of day position of the sun to provide maximum shading of direct solar radiation when it is needed, and can adapt to provide more maximum views when sun angles allow. I highly encourage you to view the animations here, as it can surely explain it better than I. The paper concludes that while adaptive systems are traditionally seen as expensive and impractical, 'movement' in buildings can be accessible if done with high economy and simple elegance.

Kai Strehlke - KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Herzog and de Meuron

"Digital Technologies, Methods, and Tools in Support of the Architectural Development at Herzog and de Meuron"

As the Head of Design Technology at Herzog and de Meuron, Strehlke is charged with execution of work that stems from the HdM design philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness of every project. To a group of academics at a conference revolving around computation and advanced modeling. That means a lot of custom computer programs written without much of the overlap needed to reuse a script more than just once, a task that Strehlke demonstrated to be as complex as one might expect. At the beginning of his keynote address he outlined a design process prevalent at HdM that, first and foremost, utilized top-down architectural thinking that originates with the principals, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, and only employs computational methods when a level of complexity that is too difficult to manage by hand is reached. Strehlke exhibited 3 projects that each reached the aforementioned level of complexity: The City of Flamenco in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain (2003), Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany (2003) and Bird's Nest Lamp (2009).

The City of Flamenco in Jerez de la Frontera

The project is a cultural complex that includes an auditorium, a museum, a school, and a documentation center. For one particular aspect of the project a perforated, load-bearing wall constructed of poured concrete was designed that also embodied ornamental qualities which reflected the cities Moorish past. Strehlke and his team, the Digital Technology Group, a small group of HdM employees created inside the office to enhance and support the creative abilities of the office as a whole through the creation of custom scripts and complex geometric models, took on the task of creating and managing a collection of digitally generated tags, or components, to create the ornament. Each tag contained geometric data for CNC manufacturing, as well as program adjacency information and structural analysis data that assured that the wall provided the necessary points of attachment for stairs on the interior as well as assuring the structural performance of the wall.

Elbphilharmonie

This project is a cultural complex in the harbor of Hamburg that combines a pre-existing brick warehouse with a crystalline tent-like structure with two concert halls, a hotel, residential units that float above. A parametric scripting approach was used for a sound diffusing surface pattern for the interior of the symphonic concert hall, as well as for the design of the custom frit pattern of the glass facade. Parametric models of the exterior wall enabled the accurate delivery of a highly complex and varied system of 2,200 glass elements with a high variety of different sizes.

Bird's Nest Lamp

The Bird's Nest Lamp was a project to post-rationalize a lamp that was created in China using a traditional Chinese method of creating a mold with hand tools and casting with the chosen metal. A parametric model was built in much the same way that a parametric model for the iconic Bird's Nest stadium was built. Structural ribs run over a double-curved surface and intersect at predefined structural nodes that have been engineered to assure a sound construct. Using this process it was easy for Strehlke to analyze the existing hand-made lamp to derive these nodes, or 'knots,' input them into a parametric environment and construct the ribs by performing a simple sweep of a consistent profile along curves projected onto the circular lamp geometry.

Strehlke's paper presentation left me, someone most interested in understanding how environmental and structural analysis software can shape a building for high-performance, with a burning question. If computation and advanced modeling is used only when architectural thought has reached an unreasonable level of complexity, what happened prior to the advent of pervasive use of the computer in architecture? I am curious to know how the top level decisions have been influenced knowing that there is a skilled digital craftsman like Kai Strehlke on your side ready to bail you out.

ACADIA Conference Revisited

2010-02-02T17:40:00.000-06:00

In an effort to keep Chicago's conference season of last fall going, David LeFevre will be posting follow-up content from his experiences at the ACADIA Conference. Please look for these postings for the next three Wednesdays beginning tomorrow.

AIA Young Architects Forum Presents: Architects and Beyond

2010-02-01T15:22:00.002-06:00

Last Thursday, the Young Architects Forum of AIA Chicago Chapter put on a presentation hosted at HOK's office. In the description, there was mention of learning how to identify skills and networking techniques. It turned out to be more of a presentation, however we had the opportunity to ask questions in these areas if we wanted. Aside from the fact there wasn't any beer provided I thought the event was both timely and great.

All four presenters were traditionally trained in architecture but the first three have since gone on to start their own, non-architecture, businesses while the last, Cagri Kanver, works with HOK's Advance Strategies division.

The first presenter, Jessica Lybeck, runs a business consultancy called Till Creative. She quit her job at SOM's Urban Design Studio to start her own business which she sort of fell into. That is to say, she had a number of ideas for a business but it wasn't until she helped a friend start hers that she realized she had a natural talent for it. Since starting Till Creative two years ago she has received media attention from Time Out Chicago, The Wall Street Journal and Crain's Chicago Business.

Next up, Nathan Benjamin, principal and founder of Planet Reuse, LLC., a first to market company whose goal is to make using reclaimed building materials effortless, matching materials with designers, builders and owners to save projects money. Their main customers are people building sustainable projects. As such, they provide LEED services of the reclaimed materials portion for new projects - free of charge. They have decided to make their money from selling the material, not from the consulting services. The recession has actually been good for him. Aside from all the material available from places that have gone out of business, much of it practically new, it has given he and his associates the time they need to restructure and organize things after learning more from their experience and past mistakes.

The third presenter was, Annie Mohaupt, founder of Mohop Shoes. Ms. Mohaupt has one of those American Dream stories you've heard of. In her words, one day in 2005, while driving in her car she had and epiphany: "Shoes!" After 18 months of trial and error with steaming and bending plywood and testing different straps the first shoes were ready to go out. Today she runs a small shop off of Elston and employs 10 people. Her manufacturing method has changed slightly. Instead of bending plywood the soles are carved out of wood blocks from a CNC machine. In her words again, "I model everything in Rhino, set up the blocks on the CNC machine before I leave for the day, and when I get back in the morning, poof, I have shoes!" Priceless. A friend of mine commented afterward on the contrast between how lightly she described her process whereas architects are normally very intense and serious when talking about the design process involving technologies like Rhino.

Adina Balasu, co-chair of YAF for AIACC,

Given that the market is not calling for Architects we thought it'd be a good idea to provide architects with inspiration to take their skill sets outside of the pure "Architect" arena and identify new areas where they can apply their vision and thinking by learning from those that already made the jump.

Adina says they received some great feedback and people were inspired so they are now planning the next session. She's currently looking for presenters,

I'd like one to be an architect that successfully marketed themselves to land a position and talk about how they did it. An architect that has a positive story of how they took matters in their hands and did something out of the ordinary to defeat the market.

The presentations were certainly inspiring and it's easy to be envious of people like Ms. Mohaupt that are doing what they love while making money at it. Whatever their advice for those about to embark on their own endeavors, personality has got to have a lot to do with it. After she finished presenting about her shoes even I wanted a pair, er, for my wife, I mean.

Photo Credit: Darya Minosyants

Volunteers needed at the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust

2010-01-30T14:22:00.000-06:00

Join the Wright Team
Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust seeks Volunteers for Wright’s Robie House and Home and Studio

(Oak Park, IL) – The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust is seeking volunteers to assist at both Wright’s Robie House in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood and the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park. A two week spring volunteer training session at Robie House begins February 23 and at the Home and Studio March 9. Interested parties are encouraged to contact the Preservation Trust before the two week training begins.

Volunteers enjoy membership benefits, invitations to exclusive events such as excursions to art and architectural attractions and exclusive educational opportunities like architectural-based lectures, a monthly newsletter and discounts in the museum shops. Wright’s Robie House and the Home and Studio offer docents a fascinating and rewarding environment where they can develop new skills and create great new friendships.

Interested parties are encouraged to contact the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust by February 15 to receive pre-course materials. For more information about the Trust, the museums sites and volunteer opportunities please visit GoWright.org or call 708.725.3818.

Architecture for Humanity - Chicago Competition: Street Furniture

2010-01-28T08:41:00.002-06:00

The Chicago Chapter of Architecture for Humanity is happy to announce a public competition to design street furniture!

The Problem:
The fabric of any city has underutilized and neglected spaces. These vacant pieces of the city are often intended for development at some point in the future but currently sit empty and unused. Left unattended, they can become dangerous and unwelcoming areas along the streetscape. Through small acts of community we can repurpose these empty spaces and imagine for ourselves a better streetscape.

The Challenge:
Design one or more pieces of "street furniture" that can be easily distributed to vacant sites and parks throughout the city for two months during the summer. Your goal: to initiate a dialogue about how we use our space and encourage community participation in the decisions that affect our civic life. As such, these installations are intended to be temporary and inexpensive. Designers should consider what will happen to the materials at the end of the two month time period.

Designs will be due no later than 5p, Friday, February 26th via email to furniturecomp@afh-chicago.org.
Winners, decided by a jury, will be announced at the March chapter meeting (Tuesday, March 16th, 6:30p). Winning designers will have at least one piece (potentially more) of their street furniture built and distributed to a park space in the spring for a period of two months. Best of luck to any of you who are interested! If you have questions, please direct them to Kathryn McRay or Laura Bowe.

AIA Chicago Chapter Bridge Program Comes to a Close

2010-01-25T03:55:00.012-06:00

I wrote briefly of the Bridge Program in the past but haven't elaborated on it much. The intent was to pair Fellows of the AIA with emerging professionals to provide valuable mentorship. Upon its conception the mission was extended to include a community outreach project.

The bucolic setting of Frank Lloyd Wright's Frank J. Baker House.

Last Sunday the mentors and mentees were graciously invited by Walter Sobel, FAIA to his Frank Lloyd Wright designed Frank J. Baker house in Winnetka. Mr. Sobel, now in his 90's (this blog reported him to be 95 in 2008, although he doesn't look a day over 88 to me) shared some of his stories with us too. Aside from some physical ailments — he used a walker to get around — he seemed to be in good health with his mental faculties in check. Which lead me to thinking we ought to have a system in place to keep retired architects engaged with the profession. Here's a guy with 70-plus years of experience and no outlet for sharing them.

Note the bare essentials in the foreground.

Which brings me back to the bridge program. Over the last several months we mentees have been narrowing down and refining our ideas for what our community outreach project will be. The mentors dropped in from time-to-time to mingle and offer input. In the end we presented two proposals to the AIA Board of Directors who then agreed to foot the bill for us to attend the AIA Holiday Party.

The Mentor Mentee Mingle

The two programs we decided upon are a Community Interface Committee (CIC) and a group dedicated to working with a local church on a structure to support their efforts in urban farming. Here is the mission statement for the CIC:

The Community Interface Committee is dedicated to increasing the visibility and participation of architects within community groups and non-profit organizations.
The Committee will act as:
1. A network and forum for exchange of knowledge related to public interest work.
2. A point of contact for community groups and non profit groups that seek solutions.
3. A liaison between the AIA and established pro-bono design groups
4. Support for architects’ involvement in civic activities

And an interesting Matrix comparing the proposed services with those provided by local and national for-profit and not-for profit entities:

The inaugural meeting for the CIC will be on Feb. 23rd at the chapter offices of AIA Chicago. I'll keep you posted on the urban farming structure project.

So while those programs continue and carry on the legacy of the Bridge Program, it officially came to a close with the reception at Mr. Sobel's house. It was great to have some of the mentors out including Steve Burns, Dirk Lohan, Tod Desmarais, Peter Exley and his wife Sharon, Louis Garapolo, John Nelson, Jack Train, Dan Wheeler and AIA Chicago Chapter President Walter Street and AIA Illinois Delegate Laura Fisher.

Story time with host Walter Sobel, FAIA.

My thanks to the Sobels, the mentors that dedicated their time throughout the Program and attended the reception, and the AIA Chicago Chapter for taking on the initiative, lead by Matt Dumich, Mark Schwamel and Brett Taylor. It sounds like the Program has gotten other chapters to take notice.

Wright's typical Cathedral-like spaces following a low-ceiling entrance.

Help Haiti

2010-01-18T12:00:00.001-06:00

One morning, years ago, I was lying in bed in-between that time when you wake up and that time when you actually get up. As I lied there, I heard what sounded like a vehicle approaching. It got closer and closer and changed from a humming noise that a car would make to that of a truck. As it got louder, the windows began to rattle like an old, single-pane bay window would when a truck drives by (I used to live on a quite street in a small town). The sound went from that similar to a truck engine and rumbling to that of a train that seemed as if it was going to ride right through the room where I was sleeping.

I had always thought of an earthquake as moving the ground underneath oneself in a side-to-side motion. Instead, it took the bed I was lying in and threw it in the air over and over again until it was over, and just as quickly roared away. It lasted only a few seconds, but it felt much longer. Luckily, everyone was okay and there was little damage to buildings.

That earthquake registered a 4.2 and I can't imagine experiencing the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that has devastated Haiti. As a reminder, the earthquake that rocked Haiti was one thousand times stronger than the one I experienced.

There has been plenty of response from the architectural community. I had thought there wouldn't be much immediate need for our services until the debris was cleared. However, in speaking with Walter Street, President of the Chicago Chapter AIA, there are opportunities to get involved in very early preliminary planning process. He recommended clicking the banner on AIA National's website.

Other responses, to name a few, include those from Architecture for Humanity, Article 25, and Emergency Architects Australia, who says its Canadian arm of the charity has an extensive relationship with Haiti and is mobilizing its efforts.

Not an architect or can't contribute services or labor, you can donate funds to Architecture for Humanity's Haitian relief effort, 10% of the proceeds for the Chicago Chapter's fundraiser tomorrow are going toward that same fund. You may also donate to the Red Cross, as recommended by many, including the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Architecture for Humanity - Chicago Holiday Hangover Fundraiser and Party

2010-01-18T08:30:00.000-06:00

From Architecture for Humanity:

Architecture for Humanity - Chicago's first annual holiday fundraiser and party is tomorrow, today is the last day to RSVP and secure your tickets early!

We are pleased to invite you to celebrate the past two years of work we've accomplished as a chapter and to usher in an exciting new year. We will have images of past projects, food and beverages, a silent auction (cash or check only!), and we will be on hand to talk about all of the interesting projects coming up in 2010. Included in the nights events will be the launch of our new logo, the result of this past fall's public competition! If you have a colleague or friend who would be interested in joining the AfH - Chicago chapter or wants to learn more about the types of projects that we work on please invite them to join us at the Holiday Hangover party on January 19th.

When: Tuesday, January 19th 6-9p
Where: Steelcase Showroom, Merchandise Mart - Suite 300

Tickets are $25 before the event and $35 at the door. All proceeds will fund upcoming projects in 2010, 10% of which will be directed to efforts in rebuilding Haiti!

Please RSVP.

Greenbuild Call for Proposals

2010-01-12T12:29:00.006-06:00

Greenbuild's International Conference and Expo will be in Chicago this year in November but their call for proposals are due this Friday, Jan. 15th. Here is a link to videos of past presenters.

AIA Associate News Article

2010-01-11T16:42:00.000-06:00

The AIA Associate News has posted an article I was asked to write for them here.

Saturdays in the Studio - Portfolio Workshop

2010-01-06T17:22:00.000-06:00

The next workshop will take place at Harold Washington College and will concentrate on mentoring high school students through graphic design basics, Photoshop and Illustrator. Please contact Krisann with your interest.

Rebuilding Together: Bodies Needed

2010-01-04T10:57:00.001-06:00

Home previews in Chicago are complete but more needs to be done in Berwyn. If you want to get involved but transportation is an issue, speak up. The people at Rebuilding Together are always willing to accommodate. Bodies are needed for the following Saturdays:

Jan. 9th
Jan. 16th
Jan. 23rd

As usual, contact Andrea Fritsch.

AIA Bridge Program Gets a Pony for the Holidays

2009-12-08T11:09:00.002-06:00

I had mentioned the new AIA Bridge program in an earlier post and now that the program is coming to the end of its term I can write a bit about the outcome. Please look for that in future posts.

Brett Taylor, top photo, lower left, sees no evil. James Holland, bottom photo, foreground, smells no evil.

A few weeks ago we were given the opportunity to present our proposals to the AIA Chicago Chapter Board. While the presentation was well received, at some point during the meeting someone suggested the Board might sponsor the Bridge program, many of whom are unemployed emerging professionals, to the AIA Holiday Party. So a few days later word came down that they had ponied up the dough and they deserve our sincerest thanks.

But this is related to another important issue. One of the things that was brought up at the meeting was a summary from the Large Firms Round Table. Apparently they were concerned about loosing emerging architects to the recession as has been the case in years past. Now, whether they are, in fact, concerned about loosing young architects or whether that was just said because the room was full of Bridge program members, many of whom are emerging architects and newly unemployed, remains to be seen.

But one of the ways unemployed emerging architects have remained engaged with the profession has been through the AIA. I'd like to suggest that the vast majority of young, laid-off architects come from big firms that sponsored their membership to the AIA. Well, many of those memberships are coming to term and many of those emerging professionals will not be renewing them.

I've heard a number of AIA administrators point out the membership in Chicago is in better shape than the national numbers. Those numbers may soon fall off a cliff as emerging professionals let their memberships lapse because they are still unemployed. On top of that, those EP's will no longer have access to many of the resources that AIA provides. The Chicago Chapter has certainly been supportive of me, along with the Bridge program and the seminars I attend for Learning Units, they have a link to this blog on their home page.

So, if I take what I have heard over the last few weeks regarding emerging professionals, AIA memberships, large firms, etc., and plug them into a formula I come up with a solution. I'm not suggesting large firms provide memberships to former employees for nothing. But I have a number of ideas in which the EP's can be put to work towards social issues involving communities or segments of society who lack access to professional services. A large firm could volunteer a team leader and a few of their workstations that have been dormant for about a year now. In return, EP's would have access to professionals, equipment, colleagues, professional memberships, and most importantly they would have the ability to work toward completing their IDP.

The sponsor firms, in turn, would be able to maintain a connection to these employees during this recession and build upon their skill set so they are prepared for the economy when it recovers. At the same time they would be training their existing employees to be future team leaders.

As I said, I have a couple of ideas for projects for which this system could be put to use. Please look for those in upcoming posts.

Food Desert Caravan Charette This Saturday

2009-12-02T09:36:00.000-06:00

Project Brief from Architecture for Humanity, Chicago Chapter:

Food Desert Caravan

Project Partner
Food Desert Action

Background
A July 2006 study sheds light on a major facet of community disinvestment in Chicago’s African-Americancommunities: the lack of grocery stores. The study examines the phenomenon of “food deserts,” described as “communities with little or no access to grocery stores and quality, nutritious food choices.”

Roughly one in six Chicago residents lives in a food desert. The report demonstrated statistically significant relationships between food access and diet-related disease, including diabetes and obesity, and premature death.

A significant part of the cost and risk in grocery retail lies in real estate. This involves tremendous cost, and is an irreversible decision once made. Minimizing the real estate aspect of the business could reduce start-up costs and lower risk for a new enterprise.

Project Description and Goals
The Food Desert Caravan is a proposal for a mobile store, built in a retrofitted city transit bus, to restore urban food access. The Caravan will focus on providing fresh produce.

Parameters and Design Considerations
• Chicago Transit Authority accordion-like bus
• Four season operation
• Green, sustainable and energy efficient technologies (i.e., bio-diesel fuel, solar-powered sound system, reused materials, etc.)
• Appropriate shelving, refrigeration and storage for produce
• Accessible/universal design
• Storage area for packaged pre-ordered produced boxes/bags
• Space for income generating signage/advertisements
• Easy loading and unloading produce
• Space for point of purchase area
• Area for educational and promotional materials
• Speedy Construction (easily replicated)

Timeline
Conceptual Design Charette, 8am-12pm, Saturday December 5, 2009
Location: MacArthur Foundation, 140 S. Dearborn, Suite 1700

Contact
Geoff Malia

The Rose Fellowship Makes its Way to Chicago

2009-11-30T05:30:00.009-06:00

I was invited to attend a reception by The Enterprise Rose Fellowship in Community Architecture at the Ransom R. Cable Mansion last month to welcome Chicago's new Rose Fellow, Daniel Splaingard, as well as recognizing the inaugural Fellowship in Chicago.

Katie Swenson, Senior Director of the Enterprise Rose Fellowship and co-author of Growing Urban Habitats, Seeking a New Housing Development Model was nice enough to make herself available for an interview. Here is a summary of our coversation

Steven Pantazis: When the Fellowship was first formed, did they imagine it being as far reaching as it is today? Is it as far as they wanted it to be?

Katie Swenson: I think the original concept of the Fellowship is unchanged and that's something we're very proud of. We wanted to give young architects and designers a full experience in community development, not just an experience in one component of architecture, drafting for example, as they normally would coming out of school. So when we place them in a Community Development Corporation, they are exposed to design, construction, maintenance of the buildings upon completion, providing mortgaging and credit counseling to potential residents. In this way they walk away from the program with a much broader experience. We felt it would be useful for emerging architects to have experience from the developers' perspective.

One thing Jonathan Rose mentioned recently that was unintended as a huge benefit to the program is the network amongst the fellows that has developed and is maintained over the years. As far as the program being where we thought it would, you know, the original funding for the Fellowship was thought of as seed money so, yes, we are very happy with how far it has come. We have programs all over the U.S. and this year we are planning a Fellowship in Puerto Rico. We're also working with six tribal groups in the southwest to establish sustainability programs. This program spawned from what was originally a one-off resulting from one of our Fellowships.

We have a new program with the National Endowment for the Arts called the Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute which pairs a team of resource practitioners with Development Directors for a few days in an exchange of knowledge similar to the Mayors' Institute.

SP: You mentioned Fellows being exposed to multiple disciplines, are Fellows expected to be generalists upon completion of their term?

KS: Not necessarily. The goal is to provide the Fellows with the tools they will need to make educated decisions, and very specifically, where they want their careers to go. Some went on to work for firms that work with community developers. Fellows are engaged with community development corporations which are mostly non-profits and some have stayed in that field. In fact, 85% of CDC's go on to hire the Fellow after the term which I think is a testament to the success of the program. CDC's don't realize the value of having an architect on staff until they have a first hand experience with it.

SP: So it's a learning experience for both parties.

KS: Exactly. And the focus of Enterprise has always been to support CDC's. Architects understand good design but you don't always have a developer that appreciates the benefits of good design.

Daniel with Joy Aruguete, Executive Director, Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation. Photo by Harry Connolly.

SP: As a Rose Fellow Alumnus, what impact has the Fellowship had on your life and career?

KS: Well, first of all, I think it's impossible to separate a career between a personal and professional identity. So in that regard, the Fellowship allowed me to unite my personal mission and professional mission. It gives you the ability to say you want to use your work and career to make a difference by giving you the opportunity to develop skills, vision and confidence. The three years allows you to have the experience and make it into a career path so that, after the Fellowship, you can be more specific about what you want to do.

SP: The Fellowship is nearly 10 years old, why is Chicago just getting the opportunity now?

KS: Chicago had not been on the Fellowship's radar before, but it is the heart of American architecture and has such a robust community development world. But there's always room for more. That's why Enterprise has a local office in Chicago. And, of course, Monica [Chadha] was instrumental in bringing the Fellowship to Chicago.

SP: What have some of your favorite projects been? Who has set the bar for Chicago?
KS: San Francisco has been an important model for us. We started there with one Fellow in the first class and because of him another CDC came forward. From there another foundation stepped forward. So it grew upon itself rather organically. And San Francisco is an incredible leader in design excellence in affordable housing.

L.A. and Portland are really excellent examples.

We found CDC's often don't look outside their own cities. Looking nationally works to encourage an exchange of ideas so we've been encouraging CDC's to look to what is being done in other cities.

SP: How can other cities get involved?

KS: It works in different ways. Sometimes we identify a city or sometimes a CDC comes to us. For example, in Puerto Rico we started by working with a CDC based out of New York. On the other hand, in Cleveland, we new we wanted a Fellow deeply engaged in the foreclosure crisis there, so we started by identifying the city and the problem and potential CDC's we could work with.

We rely on government, local and national support and actively fundraise at the local level for each fellowship. So it's really important, for the fellowship to work, to have a commitment from the community as well as from Enterprise.

SP: This is one of the worst years the architecture profession has ever seen. How many Applicants did you get?

KS: Lots. We received more applications for the CHicago Fellowship, many more, than we had ever received in any other year. It felt almost brutal the amount of incredibly qualified people that applied. But, we decided, from the very beginning, that we wouldn't question their motives on how they got interested in working in public housing. We just looked at every applicant as we normally would and tried to select the best candidate

SP: Can you describe the selection process? What made Dan stand out?

KS: The way it normally works is a local committee narrows down the selection of applicants before they are placed in front of the national committee. They then go over the list with the host CDC. This year was different in that they got down to four and couldn't get any further. We just had so many applicants and so many of them were extremely qualified. They interviewed the four finalists in Chicago and it was the CDC who made the final decision.

Dan understood the broad range of a project from the big idea at the beginning to the final minute details, maintenance on the final building, for example, at the end. He was able to connect the entire process from the design to the living experience of the residents to the maintenance of the properties. One of the things he said was, from his experience at the [Sam Mockbee's] Rural Studio [at Auburn], he called himself both a dreamer and a janitor. So Bickerdike believed he had qualities that would make him both a team player and a leader.

Chicago-based Rose Fellow Daniel Splaingard with Andrea Traudt of Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation, Daniel’s host organization. Photo by Mitchell Canoff

SP: How did you select Bickerdike?

KS: The CDC selection is a more closed-door process but I can tell you that Bickerdike embodies so much of what we look for in a CDC; a combination of deep, long term real estate development and neighborhood focus. Plus their executive director is on our national board so she had worked with Enterprise before. Also, this was the second time they applied. They applied initially seven or eight years ago so this told us they were familiar with the program and really interested in participating.

SP: Have you received any feedback from either the Fellow or the host on how things have progressed thus far?

KS: Yes, Dan is deep "in it" which is the best sign. I know that they both have a sense of the long-term commitment so from Bickerdike's perspective they have identified what he needs to learn early so he can be more effective later. But Dan is being more proactive as well. He has identified areas, such as Revit, that he needs to improvement on and is working on those areas. He also decided on his own accord to take the LEED right away and not wait.

SP: When will there be another Rose Fellowship to apply for in Chicago?

KS: I don't know. I can’t answer that at this point.

SP: Will there be another Urban Habitats Competition?

KS: I don't think so. The competition was more theory and I'm more interested in applying that theory to practice. The competition was great; trailer parks are fertile ground for either good or bad design. They're not like normal neighborhoods because the people living there have no rights to the land so the developer can do whatever he wants.

Some of the experiences coming out of the fellowships is theory and research in a way, though. We're learning how we could better hone our skills to make the areas of design and practical construction not so divergent and how we can pass on that knowledge.

SP: Does that mean another book could be on the way?

KS: I certainly hope so. Right now we're more concerned with matching Fellows with CDC's.

SP: You mentioned, at the reception, the desire for Enterprise Community Partners to work with emerging architects. How does an emerging architect go about getting noticed by Enterprise?

KS: The CDC's are finding that in order to develop high quality, green affordable housing, they have to be more savvy about design. Our goal is to have all CDC's have someone like a Fellow on their staff. I would advise emerging architects to expand their horizons a little bit to understand policy regulations, financing, etc. You know, I think I mentioned Shaun Donovan at the reception and he's a prime example that if you broaden your experience to understand the other aspects that go into public housing, then you're perhaps better prepared to make a difference in the areas you want.

SP: Enterprise has a presence in cities all over the country, are they actively seeking to do more work in Chicago?

KS: Absolutely. We have a local office there with multifamily mortgage and asset management. We've been working on the green retrofit funding with Chicago. We also look for a bit of guidance from local agencies, the CHA for example.

SP: So, what I'm getting from you is, if we wanted to work with Enterprise your advice to any CDC's in Chicago would be to be a bit more proactive and reach out to Enterprise rather than to wait for Enterprise to reach out to them?

KS: Absolutely, it couldn't hurt.

7 Days Until Pecha Kucha Night Chicago

2009-11-24T05:12:00.002-06:00

The 12th installment of Pecha Kucha Night Chicago is in one week on Tuesday, December 1st at Martyrs. I'm not a presenter this time, but it will still be good. I promise. Tickets are $10 at the door or online.

A+DEN Conference: The Objectivity of Good Design

2009-11-23T05:15:00.003-06:00

One of the themes that permeated the conference was the challenge of establishing a culture of understanding of good design.

One major roadblock, getting everyone to agree on what good design is. During Peter Murray's presentation, he mentioned Prince Charles' affinity for Georgian architecture and the now famous, or infamous, sacking of Richard Rogers' modern design for the Chelsea Barracks for a Georgian alternative. Mr. Murray is the Chairman of New London Architecture and the Director of the London Festival of Architecture.

Peter Murray on the role of political will in architecture.

I don't blame the Prince of Wales for preferring the Georgian style, everyone is entitled to their opinion. But it's just that sort of political intervention that has been used in cities and neighborhoods to confine them to a certain look. I've heard stories of architects avoiding public housing projects because they mandate things like devoting a minimum percentage of exterior wall to brick. I understand the intent of a requirement like that to protect the end product by disallowing inferior materials. But you also risk stifling the design freedom of the architect.

Richard Rogers' scheme for the Chelsea Barracks. Image courtesy Telegraph Media Group.

Prince Charles' alternative scheme for the Chelsea Barracks. Image courtesy Telegraph Media Group.

Also, while this may work at a small scale, when you get to the scale of an entire city you risk the sort of mundane homogenous neighborhoods one may find in the row housing of Las Vegas or Mexico. Perhaps it would be better to grade architecture, not by style, but by overall aesthetics, quality of materials, the effectiveness of the building to perform the functions for which it is intended, its integration with the urban fabric, its contribution to the social fabric, etc.

One way the City of New York has worked to promote original designs and emerging architects is by setting aside RFP's for smaller projects for smaller or younger firms. As the firms complete these smaller projects they will be considered for larger ones. This has resulted in a very diverse range of designs from emerging architects and has generally been considered a success. I was somewhat familiar with the program but really admire it now thanks to a presentation at the conference by Rosalie Genevro, Executive Director, Architectural League of New York.

Panelists from left: Story Bellows, Director, Mayors' Institute on City Design; Maurice Cox, Director of Design, National Endowment for the Arts; Victoria Thornton, Founding Director, Open House London; Lynn Osmond, President & CEO, Chicago Architecture Foundation. Photo by Anne Evans.

Maurice Cox, Director of Design, National Endowment for the Arts, even broached the subject at a panel discussion. He referenced a lecture by Shaun Donovan, Secretary U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, at Harvard's GSD. In it, Mr. Donovan never used the word design. Instead, his lecture was peppered throughout with the word space-making. I assume this is an effort to avoid alienating a segment of society who sees architecture and design as, rightfully so, elitist.

One of the things I walked away with from the conference is a feeling of admiration from a number of attendees. Few cities have a culture with such an understanding of architecture and design as Chicago. This gives us a bit of a head start over other cities that have to start from scratch, so to speak.

How was Rebuilding Together?

2009-11-16T08:58:00.001-06:00

I talked to Andrea from Rebuilding Together last week and she let me know there were a number of you there because you had read about it on my blog. One of the reasons I chose a blog as a web resource for volunteer opportunities was because of the ability to provide candid reviews about the organizations with which I volunteer. One way to extend that resource is by having your comments.

Did you go? How was it? would you do it again? Did you have a donut? A bagel? Were the volunteers friendly? The home owners? Who else are you volunteering with?

Speaking of which, I'll be out with the RT people this Saturday but CAF is looking for volunteers at the same time. Krisann needs people to lead high school students through a sketching session from 9:30-3:00 as part of her Saturdays in the Studio program. If you want to get involved or you're even a little curious there's a planning meeting this Wednesday at 12:30 at CAF, Suite 430.

Please comment.

Carol Coletta at the A+DEN Conference

2009-11-10T10:12:00.001-06:00

It's not what your cities can do for you, it's what you can do for your cities. More specifically, what architecture and design can do for cities in attracting and retaining talent. So, I guess it is what your cities can do for you.

Carol Coletta. Photo by Anne Evans.

This is the second keynote I've heard at an architecture convention in as many months that addresses the importance of knowledge. This time Carol Coletta, President and CEO, CEOs for Cities, referred to it more as talent. Most mayors and city leaders recognize the current race in attracting and retaining talent and so she suggests architects use this to convince policy makers of the importance of good design in the built environment.

In my experience in this regard, which admittedly stems mostly from hearing about others' experience in this regard, there seems to be a universal understanding in economic influences to cities yet there continues to be a disconnect in understanding the role good architecture can play as an influence. Chicago is one of the few lucky exceptions and in hearing what others in attendance from around the nation had to say they were a bit envious.

Ms. Coletta spent significant time addressing the most mobile segment of society 25-34 year olds. The number one thing they look for in a place to live is a city that is clean and attractive. This criteria is followed closely by their ability to live the way they want, green city initiatives, safety, and they want the housing they want to be affordable. That is, they don't want affordable housing, that put out and subsidized by the government. They want whatever housing they want to be affordable, which touches on the stigma that exists with the term "affordable housing". And rightfully so, so much of it is poorly designed. Although there are some gems out there.

Ms. Coletta also mentioned the 2030 plan and the tendency for politicians to verbally commit to something that they know will fall outside their term limits, leaving no incentive for them to follow through. While many mayors have signed on to the 2030 plan, there is no plan of action for implementation. Although I don't think she knows about the Carbon Reduction Plan being proposed to the city by Adrian Smith+Gordon Gill Architects. It was presented at the CTBUH Conference to much acclaim. The interesting thing was, once you start to investigate what needs to be done to reduce emissions by 50% you realize the extreme measures that need to be taken.

To be continued...

ACADIA 09: reForm()

2009-11-09T08:09:00.001-06:00

Every year the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) assembles a group of the best and brightest academics and practitioners in the field of architecture with the intent of advancing the knowledge revolving around the use of computation in the field of architecture. ACADIA was formed in the early 1980's for the purpose of facilitating communication and critical thinking regarding the use of computers in architecture, planning and building science.Their annual conference changes venue every year and this year comes to Chicago and, more specifically, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).

An interesting coincidence, as SAIC President Wellington Reiter points out, that as Chicago celebrates the 100th year of the Burnham Plan it hosts a conference of innovators and big-thinkers that Burnham himself would attend were he alive today. The conference, titled "reForm()," explores how architects, engineers, artists and designers are using new HARDWARE, SOFTWARE and MIDDLEWARE technologies to transform the ways in which buildings and spaces perform, act and operate. Mr. Reiter, against the backdrop of a premier art and design school, acknowledged and embraced the exceptionally high level of craft on display in the work presented at the conference, while at the same time issuing a caution to not let the intricacy and complexity enabled by digital tools distract from the issues of the day.

I’m going to attempt to give an objective recap of each of the conference highlights, followed by an interpretation of how the technology presented addresses issues at hand for practicing architects in a world concerned with climate change, renewable energy sources, sustainability and high-performance building systems.

Rebuilding Together - The Final Push

2009-11-04T10:58:00.002-06:00

You may recall previous posts in regards to an organization called Rebuilding Together. I had intended to write a reflection on my experiences with the not-for-profit and the people they help. Now that the interviews are winding down, and they need more volunteers for the final push, I figured this was as good a time as any.

I won't get into the semantics of the organization themselves, they were well organized and knew what they were doing, this being their 10th year. I should mention the donuts, bagels ad coffee. As I said, well organized.

The things that really stood out for me was that there are so many people in need in such a small area, the Austin neighborhood, and that there were such extremes of classes involved, in some cases they lived just down the street from each other.

For example, one house had three men living in it, the grandmother, her daughter and four or five grandchildren running around piles of refuse. The walls had massive holes in them due to a complete overhaul of the plumbing in the place. It was tough to see and tougher to walk away from. I don't think I'm experienced enough in these situations to presume to know where to begin to help, but I remember thinking that the children could use a good mentor.

Just down the street, however, an older woman, possibly in her forties, answered the door and invited us into her fine, middle-class home. In many ways it was nicer than my condo and even the basement was finished. While it was sad to see the extremes, the potential positive outcome here was the exposure the children in the previous home would have to a middle-class home or family. That's something that was taken away from poor neighborhoods in the last 50 years in this country but is also something we have come to recognize and attempt to rectify with our new housing projects, aptly named mixed-income communities.

I've heard other people say Austin is the new North Lawndale. Several years ago the architecture, design, development and real estate communities descended upon North Lawndale to the point where, some say, it was over saturated with outreach. The results are clear, and master plans and proposals continue along with new or rehabbed buildings that are setting a new standard, not only for the neighborhood but for the nation, such as the Charles H. Shaw Technology and Learning Center by Doug Farr's office.

Austin is shaping up to be in a similar situation. Many organizations are focusing their efforts on the neighborhood. One of the things that has kept it on the down-and-out is its proximity to Oak Park and its use as a westward drug corridor into Chicago.

Rebuilding Together is a well-run organization and I never felt unsafe. You may be familiar with their Rebuilding Together day which normally falls in April. If you're unfamiliar with the interview process that is required of applicant homeowners it's a great program with a lot of need. They're coming down to the end of the season and would like to be finished with Austin by the end of November (they've started tackling Berwyn too). But whether or not they finish depends heavily on you. Interviews are done in pairs, one person interviews the homeowner while the other scopes the house to determine how much help they need. As an architect, I was a scoper and they made it very easy for me by providing a checklist.

There's a thriving community here, some people just need a little push in the right direction. Whether you want to help out, meet new people or build up a resume in this economic downturn Rebuilding Together could use you and there's certainly a lot of need in Austin. I know how many of you are out of work so if you're tired of sitting around this is a worthy cause.

The next interview days are as follows:
November 14th
November 21st
December 5th
December 12th

Please contact:
Andrea Fritsch
Program Manager
Rebuilding Together * Metro Chicago
PO Box 641250, Chicago, IL 60664
P: (312)201-1188
F: (312)977-3805

Palleroni Has Landed

2009-10-28T05:15:00.011-05:00

And Delivered.

Last Tuesday night at the Graham Foundation, Sergio Palleroni lectured on his life's work with his program called the BaSiC Initiative. I knew a little bit about what he does from seeing it on the PBS series Design e2. None-the-less, he went into considerable detail on a number of projects and I was impressed by the depth, scope, and global reach of his work.

It all started nearly 3 decades ago when he decided to put his formal education to use by helping his people. After a brief stint building housing for the UN and World Bank, he struck out on his own.

Mr. Palleroni gave us a good impression of the poverty throughout the world and I gained an appreciation for the methods he was using to help them. He wasn't giving them fish, as most government entities do to house the poor, he was teaching them to fish. Which is probably the best way to reach out the vast number of people and communities that need help. During his lecture he casually mentioned a community he worked in of 1 million squatters. That resonated with me for a while and is still something I think about. A community of 1 million squatters. I'm so far removed from a situation like that I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like.

Teaching them how to build housing, schools, and libraries gives them a sense of empowerment and ownership over the land which in turn strengthens the community. Some even banded together to get loans and matching grants.

At some point during his presentation there was so much work I found it hard to believe that what he was showing was all his even with him presenting it. In speaking with him afterward I came to find out he had a family on top of it all. I asked him how he was able to complete projects on 5 continents (What, no Antarctica?) at the same time and raise a family.

By now, he is able to appoint students and research assistants he has known for a few years to lead projects. After a number of years of doing this those project managers and former students have gone on to start their own initiatives.

On balancing family life with professional, he humbly credited his wife for being understanding but admitted having her as a partner in the firm has helped. He used to bring his kids with him to locations around the world. But now that they're older they have to stay home to attend school.

Upon his departure I'm left with more questions: Is his Portland school initiative expandable to Chicago? What other programs like this can we create here in Chicago to address the specific needs of our poor communities? How can we address the social breakdown that seems to be a unique trait to poor communities in America and can architects design housing to facilitate the improvement of those social structures?

I want to thank Mr. Palleroni, who took time out of his busy schedule while in Chicago to speak with us. He mentioned the importance of sharing and distributing knowledge and in continuing that spirit he shared his slides with me so that I might composite his lecture with the audio recording I had thanks to the Graham Foundation. Accordingly, this lecture and workshop series couldn't have happened without Roberta Feldman of the City Design Center and the selfless contributions of the rag-tag group that makes up the partnership that is Converge:Exchange. Whether you missed it or have to see it again, please enjoy Sergio Palleroni: Affecting Lasting Change Through Design Build Activism.

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Speed Mentoring at Archeworks

2009-10-26T12:32:00.000-05:00

This Tuesday night at 6pm. The Chicago Women in Architecture and the Archeworks Alumni Association are hosting the event. Answer the following questions and email them to speedmentoring@archeworks.org

1.   List your name and current contact information:  
2. Are you registering as a Mentor or Mentee?  
3. What are your reasons for attending?
4.   Who is your current employer or organization?  
5.   What is your educational background?  
6. List any other organizations you are active in or affiliations you have that you think would be helpful for this event:

Speed Mentoring
6:00 - 8:00
October 27th
@ Archeworks
625 N. Kingsbury

New Pecha Kucha Beta Site Launches

2009-10-22T20:28:00.001-05:00

The beta version of the global Pecha Kucha site has been in the works for a while and guess who has the honor of being the only non-tokyo presentation posted on the site; moi. I had nothing to do with their naming of the presentation. I probably would have called it volunteering in chicago architecture or something. But the word they chose did get the most laughs. Jokes that you don't have to think about tend to have that effect.

This site has officially experienced the PK Bump and Peter Exley deserves my sincerest thanks for his support.

UNSudio and Parametric Modeling

2009-10-20T10:19:00.001-05:00

Last night I attended the opening keynote for ACADIA 09 by UNStudio's head of design integration, Christian Veddeler. I write this with the assumption that you're familiar with both UNStudio's work and parametric modeling software.

While I am familiar with and admire their work, I saw Ben Van Berkel speak about the pavilion this past summer, I was intrigued to learn more about their design flow. Mr. Veddeler used the Mercedes Benz Museum as a case study.

Image courtesy UNStudio.

The Museum is based on a trefoil knot:

From there the knot was pulled and repeated vertically to create a double helix circulation strategy. Parametric modeling software was essential in keeping the project viable by keeping costs manageable while maintaining a fluid design process.

By applying parameters to elements of the project it allows them to focus on design without having to worry about the means and method of construction as much. For example, a parameter for repeating concrete formwork was applied to the curves and other elements (the entire structure is reinforced concrete). Once that was established they were free to manipulate the design to accommodate the pragmatic constraints that we architects are always faced with; program, square footage requirements, gravity, etc. In this way they weren't waiting until the end to address such things as making certain elements fit into a module so the project budget doesn't spiral out of control.

And don't most architects work in this way? We design a building with little regard to how it's going to get built only to have to go back to the drawing board once the construction bids come back over budget. In my opinion, software tools like parametric modeling are essential for architects wishing to push the envelop of design and construction. It certainly has been for UNStudios.

Two Significant Conferences this Week

2009-10-19T14:25:00.000-05:00

This was me:

ACADIA? CTBUH? CTBUH? ACADIA? ACADIA? CTBUH?

You get the idea. Anyways, I thought I was stuck until a colleague of mine, David LeFevre, let me know he would be at the ACADIA conference and offered to be a guest contributor. Given the importance of this global-reaching conference and his expertise in software for architects, I said yes.

ACADIA, Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture, has a conference every year and this year it's being hosted by the School of the Art Institute. I'll be blogging on the presentations and keynotes that I'm able to attend, the opening keynote tonight features UNStudio's Christian Veddeler head of design integration, David will take on the rest. The workshop component begins today with the conference extending until Sunday.

It's with the conference component later this week that I have a scheduling conflict. It overlaps another huge conference with global reach, that brought to us by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, CTBUH. This one is hosted by IIT and features such speakers as Richard Tomasetti, Donna Robertson, Arthur Gensler, Steven Holl, Bill Baker, Adrian Smith, and Mayor Richard M. Daley. Whew.

You'd think they would have gotten together to work out a schedule. After all, you can't design a tall building any more without a legion of human AND computer power.

As if this wasn't enough, Farshid Moussavi of Foreign Office Architects is lecturing in Chicago on Wednesday night. Oh, and that Palleroni lecture tomorrow night.

Architects Needed for Design Charette at IIT

2009-10-19T09:54:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, Oct 24th at Crown Hall, IIT is hosting a charette for the design of a new transportation hub at 35th and Federal. Architects are wanted to be added to teams of IIT architecture students. There is a fee to participate but it's offset by the lunch provided. RSVP

My Pecha Kucha Presentation

2009-10-15T05:30:00.002-05:00

For those of you that missed it but wanted to see it, for those that saw it and need to see it again, and for those of you that are easily distracted, here is my Pecha Kucha Night Chicago presentation. My sincere thanks to Matt Dumich of Young Architects Forum, Peter Exley and his gang of volunteers responsible for bringing PKN to Chicago 6 or 8 times a year, and everyone who came out to offer their support. A special thanks to Thorsten Bosch for tolerating my pestering and sending me the video.

The next PKN is December 1st, see you there.

Volunteer opportunity: Ask an Architect this Saturday

2009-10-14T22:15:00.000-05:00

Chicago Bungalow needs volunteers on short notice. To make the cut, you must be licensed, be in good standing with the AIA, have experience in single family and especially vintage homes and experience with implementation of green technologies would be nice. Interested? Contact Chris Turley.
More information.

IIT College of Architecture Symposium: What Next?

2009-10-13T05:05:00.017-05:00

This Saturday, October 17th, with a keynote speech on Friday night, IIT will be hosting a symposium promising to address the impact of the following influences on the profession: rapid global urbanization, looming environmental change, algorithmic form generation, digital modeling and economic upheaval. The organizers have lined up an impressive roster of architects and educators to present the latest developments in these areas.

Here's a taste of the schedule:

Friday, 16 October 6 pm
Wishnick Hall, IIT, 3255 S. Dearborn Street

Keynote Address
Robert Somol
Director and Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture

Saturday, 17 October 9 am — 6:30 pm
McCormick Tribune Campus Center, IIT, 3201 S. State Street

What Next for Interface?
Joel Sanders
Associate Professor, Yale University
Principal, Joel Sanders Architect, New York

What Next for Probability?
Luke Ogrydziak + Zoë Prillinger
Friedman Assistant Professors, University of California at Berkley
Principals, Ogrydziak/Prillinger Architects, San Francisco

What Next for the Avant-Garde?
Michael Meredith
Associate Professor, Harvard University
Principal, MOS, Cambridge, MA and New Haven, CT

What Next for Resources?
Sandy Isenstadt
Associate Professor, University of Delaware
Member, Institute for Advanced Studies

What Next for the Past?
Andrew Herscher
Assistant Professor, University of Michigan

What Next for Futurology?
Felicity Scott
Assistant Professor, Columbia University

Plus a roundtable discussion with:
Joseph Rosa
Chair of Architecture and Design, Art Institute of Chicago

The event is free and open to the public but seating is limited. If you're interested in hearing about where the profession may be headed from leading practitioners and educators, RSVP.

Upcoming Lectures

2009-10-12T08:47:00.003-05:00

Check out the much-neglected sidebar for some outstanding lectures over the next two weeks including some heavy-hitting theorists at UIC (I've noticed a recurring theme here). Don't forget Sergio Palleroni, not a theorist-a practicist? Well, he's certainly an activist. He'll be here Oct 20th. Tune in tomorrow for information about a symposium at IIT this weekend. I hope your Friday evening and Saturday is clear.

Post AIA Conference Post

2009-10-05T05:26:00.004-05:00

I wanted to write a brief reflection about my experience at the conference including some of the highlights as I think it would be relevant to the architecture community at large.

The three themes of the conference, Building Information Model (BIM), Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), and sustainability certainly resonated throughout the seminars. So much so that, in many cases, the content of several seminars overlapped.

What I really wanted to convey to you was the impact of the opening and closing keynote speakers. The first speaker, Larry Prusak, talked about knowledge for an hour and a half. And while that may seem like a boring speech to sit through, he delivered it with such wit and enthusiasm that we were all on the edges of our seats. I easily could have listened to another 2 hours.

He talked about knowledge as the new commodity but, paradoxically, we are unable to exchange it as a commodity. And, unlike the old standby commodities, land, labor and capital, we don't run out of knowledge when we use it. In fact, it tends to increase when we share it. Some memorable quotes:

Knowledge has the tendency to stick. It's sticky.

Cognitive Diversity.

We should be teaching children rhetoric instead of calculus.

He referred to many present-day and historical references, describing companies like Intel that scour the globe for personnel and a company in Norway that has 30 "idea makers" whose job it is to find new ideas by talking to researches, academics and scientists throughout the world and bring back those ideas to the company.

What does this mean for architects? In the last 100 we have become more of a private club rejecting outside ideas or even closing ourselves off completely as a result, in my opinion, of our huge, bloated egos. I’ve often heard architects complain about structural engineers or contractors. In my experience, the more successful projects have been those where there is more of a collaborative effort and the architect welcomes the advice from contractors and engineers rather than stifling them at the risk of being proven wrong.

The closing keynote speech by Dr. Daniel S. Friedman, Dean of the College of Built Environments at Washington University was equally compelling and an appropriate way to end the conference. He talked about the profession changing, or rather, not changing while the world around it does. He suggested it was leaving us exposed to the potential of deregulation and referenced the deregulation of architects in the U.K. With all the talk about BIM throughout the seminar, we have to realize that we are no longer representing buildings with lines but we are now building models with objects, in effect simulating construction. This has the potential of bridging a huge gap between professionals and lay-people or students of architecture that previously existed, potentially lessening the value of the architect.

He proposed changes in the way architecture students are educated as well as the need of seasoned practitioners to teach and criticized the current system of tenure, saying some of these professors have never practiced and will never retire reducing the chances for change to occur at the university level.

He likened his new profession of architecture to that of the scientific or medical community in which university education, and especially research are extremely important to their respective fields. I've often regretted the fact that we in the architecture community are so competitive that there is a lack of collaboration that I feel is sorely missing. Perhaps if we had some kind of governing body or publication, like the Journal of Medicine, architects would be more inclined to share their ideas as there would be a method of providing and tracking acknowledgment.

On academia, he had 10 principals that he has been proposing throughout universities and to the NAAB:

1 treat the entire curriculum like studio - all studio all the time
2 use research to drive design (design as skill, design as an epistemology)
- type drove 19th
- program drove 20th
- research drives 21st
3 teach more building science (NAAB criteria should be ~ 50/50 in technical knowledge)
4 mandate teamwork
5 replace the jury system with studio rounds (like medical rounds / grand rounds for final reviews)
6 dissect abandoned buildings (access to building pathology…)
7 use case method to teach professional practice and ethics (courage to face uncertainty)
8 interdigitate research and internship
9 require internship for accreditation
10 quality interns for licensure at graduation

One of my favorites is the Studio in the Round, as doctors have, in lieu of the current system of critiques and jurors. He criticizes the current system saying we teach our students how to fail rather than how to succeed.

I spoke to him afterward and suggested that he could tackle architectural education reform from two ends rather than from just the universities. If the AIA has been able to incorporate mandatory green Learning Units, why not mandatory research or teaching units?

If you ever have a chance to hear either of these two gentlemen speak, I highly recommend it. I also recommend following Dr. Freidman’s work. Change is inevitable and it remains to be seen whether we as architects will step up to the responsibly or whether we will continue to ride the wave while outside influences force us to change to accommodate them. Lets put the leader back in architect.

Palleroni Lecture Countdown

2009-09-28T05:23:00.004-05:00

On the evening of October 20th, architect and activist Sergio Palleroni will present a lecture of his work and experiences at the Graham Foundation. It should pair well with the new exhibit opening that week at the Graham called Actions. More on that later.

When planning for this started, Mr. Palleroni's name sounded only vaguely familiar until I remembered seeing him featured on an episode of Design e2. One of the services his organization, BaSiC Initiative provides is teaching very poor communities how to build housing from materials available on the land. Often times these result in now forgotten methods of construction as was the case on the Design e2 episode when he taught a Native American community in Mexico how to build houses out of adobe brick. He thus not only provides what we would neatly categorize his housing as affordable, but he teaches communities how to build them for themselves, empowering them with skills they can pass on to future generations indefinitely.

As a sort of countdown to the event, I'll be writing a series of posts on the organizations involved with planning the lecture. Over the next three weeks, look for posts in the form of summaries or interviews or both about National Public Housing Museum, City Design Center, Graham Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Converge:Exchange, ADPSR, LL Consulting, SHED Studio and Urban Habitat Chicago.

The lecture will be followed by a panelist discussion with a chance to ask questions. This is a rare opportunity and I, for one, am grateful for Mr. Palleroni donating his time like this to share his craft with us. The lecture starts at 6pm.

Blogging for the AIA

2009-09-24T18:20:00.003-05:00

For the next 3 days I'll be blogging from AIA's Changing Times|Time for Change conference at the Wyndham Hotel. They asked if I was interested and, upon reviewing the schedule of topics, I said yes. You can find my posts here.

Volunteers Needed in September for Exhibition Evaluation Project

2009-09-22T16:23:00.003-05:00

From the Chicago Architecture Foundation:

Gallery Observations for Chicago Model City

CAF is looking for volunteers to be part of an important project this year that will help us better understand our audience visitation for exhibitions in the atrium space. Volunteers are needed to help evaluate the effectiveness of the 2009 exhibition Chicago Model City which runs June 11-November 21, 2009. Volunteers will conduct gallery movement observations, hand out surveys to visitors, and track attendance numbers.

If you have an interest in learning more about the interests of CAF’s audiences and the effectiveness of CAF’s marketing and exhibition development please join us on this project!

We are currently looking for volunteers during the week of Friday, September 25 – Thursday, October 1. Shifts run in 2-1/2 hour increments from 9am – 6:30pm. Service hours will be earned for each shift.

To sign up, please contact Barbara Gordon at bgordon@architecture.org or 312-922-3432 ext 225.

See my previous post about the exhibit here.

Exhibit Review: The Glue Factory

2009-09-14T08:29:00.006-05:00

On Friday, I attended the opening of a new exhibit at I-Space, The Glue Factory. On display was documentation of peoples' fears.

Curated by Rashmi Ramaswamy and Mike Newman of Shed Studio and Helen Slade, all of whom are part of The Museum of Contemporary Phenomenon, this show is the culmination of a number of studies and surveys that began with an interactive method for community members to state their fears in a gallery exhibit called "What Do You Fear?/House of Fear". Ms. Ramaswamy was surprised to find the majority of fears surrounding issues of growing old: alone, without money, unable to take care of one's self, degradation of mental and physical capacities. "Especially since, at the time, the major news headlines were about global issues such as the Afghan and Iraq wars and the fight on terrorism. The fears were rather selfish considering the issues being broadcast in the news."

Which is what makes The Glue Factory so well-timed today; health care and domestic issues are the big stories of the day. I've said before, it's good to see architects take on social issues. We're so often focused on the built environment, the needs of the client and budgetary constraints that we never consider the social impact we may be making (or most often, the social impact we're not making).

The Glue Factory is on display on the 2nd floor of the I-Space gallery and runs through October 10th.

9/11 Declared Day of Service

2009-09-11T08:17:00.003-05:00

What will you do?

If the plethora of links on the sidebar don't float your boat, I recommend contacting your alderman. Often times they will have a list of not-for-profits on their website. At the very least, they will have someone on staff to point you in the right direction.

Can't weasel out of work today? Here are two ideas for tomorrow. As mentioned in a previous post, Rebuilding Together is conducting interviews of homeowners as well as scoping their homes to qualify them for their rebuilding day in April.

Also tomorrow, I'm coordinating a team on behalf of Architecture for Humanity Chicago Chapter to head out to Peoples Church to do some field measuring. They provide church services on Sunday, yes, but the rest of the time they provide shelter for the homeless on their other floors. Here are some photos. The ultimate goal will be to document this beautiful and historic building but they have an immediate need for ADA upgrades and new restrooms. The more the merrier so if you're interested hit that little Contact Me link in the sidebar and send me a note.

Now I just have to figure out how to be in two places at once...

Rebuilding Together this Saturday

2009-09-09T09:50:00.006-05:00

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to shadow experienced Rebuilding Together interviewers. They typically work in pairs going to homes that have applied for this program. Once at the home, one person interviews the homeowner while the other scopes the house for rehab potential. There are so many homes and so much need for help that they will be doing these interviews for several more weekends. Once a home is approved it is added to the list of homes to be rehabbed on the building day which usually occurs in April. Last year Rebuilding Together rehabbed more than 75 homes - in one day!

I'll be there this Saturday, September 12th as well, this time on my own - that is, no shadowing. There's lots to do so please come and help out. Directions and contact info below:

Please join us at the Park National Bank at 11 W. Madison St. in Oak Park at 8:30 am this Saturday morning, September 12th.
Driving Directions: The bank is easily accessible by exiting I-290 at Austin Blvd (Exit 23A). Travel north 5 blocks and turn Left on Madison Ave. The bank and parking lot are on the south side of the street. (Please park in the gravel lot near the bank, not the paved lot). We will be meeting on the 2nd floor.Public Transit Directions: Take the Green Line to the Austin stop. We will be happy to arrange to pick you up from the train. The bank in approx. 5 blocks south of the train station. Please let me know if you would like a ride. Please also tell us if you will not be bringing a vehicle so I can make sure each team has a car.
Please keep my cell phone number in case you need to contact me for any reason, Andrea's cell: (920)650-0994.

Pecha Kucha Chicago - Tomorrow!

2009-08-31T11:05:00.002-05:00

What?!! September already?! Start it off (or end summer) with a bang.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 1st, I'll be presenting at the 11th installment of the Chicago Pecha Kucha Night. The other presenters and the batting order have been established and can be found on the website. As a reminder, the chances of it selling out are pretty good. 21 and over, doors at 6pm, show at 8:20pm. Buy tickets in advance or at the door. See you there.

Rebuilding Together This Saturday

2009-08-26T11:52:00.001-05:00

From Rebuilding Together Metro Chicago:

Please join us at the Park National Bank at 11 W. Madison St. in Oak Park at 8:30 am this Saturday morning, August 29th.

Driving Directions: The bank is easily accessible by exiting I-290 at Austin Blvd (Exit 23A). Travel north 5 blocks and turn Left on Madison Ave. The bank and parking lot are on the south side of the street. (Please park in the gravel lot near the bank, not the paved lot). We will be meeting on the 2nd floor.

Public Transit Direction: Take the Green Line to the Austin stop. We will be happy to arrange to pick you up from the train. Please let me know if you would like a ride.
Let me know if you will not be bringing a vehicle so I can make sure each team has a car.

If you are new to house selection or would like a refresher, take a look at our new training presentations attached. There is one presentation for skilled volunteers who will be reviewing repairs (workscope training) and one presentation for volunteers who will be interviewing the homeowner and checking documents (interviewer training).

Please contact Andrea, if you would like to sign up for this Saturday or any other upcoming Saturdays

Andrea Fritsch
Program Manager
Rebuilding Together * Metro Chicago
PO Box 641250, Chicago, IL 60664
P: (312)201-1188
F: (312)977-3805
afritsch@rebuildingtogether-chi.com

Pecha Kucha Night Chicago Volume 11

2009-08-24T10:31:00.004-05:00

Next Tuesday, September 1st, I'll be presenting at the 11th installment of the Chicago Pecha Kucha Night. I'll be talking about, what else, my blog and volunteering in Chicago in an architectural capacity. It hasn't been at its usual venue, Martyrs', for some time so the chances of it selling out are pretty good. 21 and over, doors at 6pm, show at 8:20pm. Buy tickets in advance or at the door. See you there.