Blair Kamin – Page 13

Column: On the night before Halloween, skyscraper architects will party in costume — dressed as their buildings

October 30, 2019 at 10:52 p.m.

Architects from around the world were prepping Wednesday for a special costume party in Chicago, one in which they will come dressed as their buildings. Fittingly scheduled for the eve...

Column: Here’s an exclusive look at the latest design tweaks to the Obama Presidential Center. Is the third time the charm?

October 28, 2019 at 4:02 p.m.

The first version of the Obama Presidental Center's museum tower, unveiled in 2017, was heavy and funereal, like a truncated Egyptian pyramid. Version two, which emerged last year, was taller...

The tower at 150 N. Riverside, designed by Goettsch Partners, was one of four projects given the highest form of recognition, an honor award, Oct. 25, 2019 as Chicago architects gathered to celebrate their best work.

Column: Top architecture awards go to riverfront skyscraper, U. of C.’s public policy school and IIT’s innovation center

October 25, 2019 at 4:16 p.m.

A 54-story riverfront tower, whose sloping lower walls have led it to be nicknamed "The Tuning Fork," was among the top winners Friday night as Chicago architects gathered to celebrate...

Maurice Cox, Chicago Commissioner of Planning and Development, at the rooftop garden on the Chicago City Hall on Oct. 23, 2019.

Column: In his first in-depth Chicago interview, Lightfoot’s planning chief talks about the Obama Center, the Thompson Center and reviving struggling neighborhoods

October 25, 2019 at 3:37 p.m.

Maurice Cox, the highly regarded, design-savvy urban planner who Mayor Lori Lightfoot lured away from Detroit to spread the wealth to the city's South and West sides, could be Chicago's...

The central entrance on the first floor with tenant escalators at the Old Main Post Office.

Column: An exclusive look inside Chicago’s Old Post Office as the nation’s largest reuse project greets its first tenants this weekend

October 17, 2019 at 5:49 p.m.

It's early in the much-hyped new life of Chicago's once-hulking, now hip Old Post Office and early assessments, truth be told, are dangerous. You never know how a building, especially...

A Helmut Jahn-designed tower — the largest condo building launched in Chicago since the recession — breaks ground on South Michigan Avenue next week

October 16, 2019 at 2:39 p.m.

Developers plan to break ground next week on a delayed, Helmut Jahn-designed condominium tower that would be the tallest building in the iconic row of skyscrapers on Michigan Avenue across...

The eastern gateway of Lincoln Park Zoo, the Searle Visitor Center, is seen Oct. 10, 2019, in Chicago. A canopy of interconnected steel panels, infilled with a laser-cut pattern that resembles tree branches, sweeps over the 46-foot-wide entrance to the zoo.

Column: Lincoln Park Zoo’s playful new gateway works. Too bad its motorized gate doesn’t.

October 11, 2019 at 2:06 p.m.

When architecture works, it delights our eyes and lifts our spirits. And when it doesn't work, it's frustrating for all concerned — architects, clients and the broader public. A Lincoln...

"Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago's South Side" by Lee Bey, featuring a cover photo by Bey. (Northwestern Press, 192 pages, $30)

Column: An eye-opening book shows that Chicago’s much-maligned South Side is stocked with architectural treasures. Many (but not all) have been overlooked.

October 9, 2019 at 7:19 a.m.

Say the words "South Side of Chicago" and, for the vast majority of Americans, architectural glories will not come to mind. Instead, reflecting the drumbeat of bad news about the...

Lynn Osmond, president and CEO of the Chicago Architecture Center, is seen Aug. 31, 2009, at a grant award ceremony at the Field Museum.

Column: Broad shoulders and back scratching: Lightfoot’s appointment of a well-connected architecture leader to landmarks panel raises ethics concerns

October 4, 2019 at 1:52 p.m.

Eight years ago, I criticized then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel for appointing two clearly unqualified people to the city panel that decides which Chicago buildings get protection from the wrecking ball. One...

An advertisement for new residences hanging on an older building in the Lincoln Common development on Sept. 26, 2019.

Column: The Lincoln Common district emerges in Lincoln Park — more city-friendly than the hospital it replaced, but still not a vital urban hub

September 30, 2019 at 12:23 p.m.

Because of its sheer size and height, the nearly complete Lincoln Common development in Chicago's tony Lincoln Park neighborhood could have been an urban design disaster — a massive, inward-turning,...

All Stories