Blair Kamin

The Givins Castle, now home to the Beverly Unitarian Church, at 10244 S Longwood Dr., in Chicago, on Oct. 9, 2018.

Column: Architecture critic’s top 10 picks for Open House Chicago: A chapel in the sky, the original Sears Tower and Chicago’s only castle

October 16, 2019 at 3:00 p.m.

The underlying theme of my top 10 picks for this year's Open House Chicago is superlatives: the world's tallest church building, the former world's largest post office, and the original...

Forensic Architecture of London and the Chicago-based Invisible Institute investigated a Chicago Police Department account of the shooting death of Harith Augustus in July 2018.

Architects challenge police account of Chicago barber’s shooting death using computer modeling and a second-by-second video

September 20, 2019 at 8:33 a.m.

One of the most heavily promoted exhibits at the Chicago Architecture Biennial, which opened Thursday, involves a collaboration between Forensic Architecture, a London-based research agency founded by an Israel architect...

"Re-Rooting + Redux," from Sweet Water Foundation, appears at the Chicago Architecture Biennial at the Chicago Cultural Center.

New Chicago Architecture Biennial opens and wants to upset the way you see the city. That’s why you should see it.

October 8, 2019 at 4:40 p.m.

The little bombs go off as soon as you enter the Chicago Cultural Center. One snippet of wall text tells us that Chicago's city seal — which is right there...

The Plot: Miracle and Mirage, is on display at the Chicago Cultural Center Sept. 17, 2019, as part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial.

Column: First look at Chicago Architecture Biennial, opening to public Thursday

September 19, 2019 at 3:17 p.m.

A new architectural exhibition is challenging Chicagoans to rethink the city's past and reimagine its future. Its exhibits include an outdoor sculpture made of recycled wood from trees from Washington...

A visitor walks through an installation by Beijing firm ZAO/standardarchitecture on Dec. 7, 2017, at the Chicago Architecture Biennial at the Cultural Center. A 2017 tax filing by the biennial shows it with a budget of more than $1 million for advertising and promotion. It's not clear if journalist junkets are paid for out of that budget.

Column: Can you trust journalists on a junket? Chicago’s architecture biennial pays travel expenses of some who cover it.

September 16, 2019 at 7:49 a.m.

When journalists gather Tuesday for a press preview of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, many will be there courtesy of the event itself. Its organizers will pick up all or part...

Pamela Montgomery-Bosley on Sept. 11, 2019, holds a diorama that she created in memory of her son that will be displayed in a memorial to victims of gun violence at the Chicago Cultural Center. Montgomery-Bosley's 18-year-old son, Terrell Bosley, was slain in 2006 in a church parking lot as he helped a friend unload drums from a car.

Column: A school lanyard, a driver’s license, a tiny guitar. Mementos of gunshot victims to fill memorial that opens at Cultural Center next week

September 12, 2019 at 4:36 p.m.

Two Chicago women whose sons were shot to death will help unveil a project next week that speaks to the spate of killings that has wracked the city and the...

The current interior of Fruitport High School has straight hallways. The redesign and expansion, currently under construction, is being built with features — such as curving hallways and protruding walls — meant to protect students by making it harder for a shooter to target victims.

Column: A small town in the heartland redesigned its school to prevent shootings. But architecture can’t ensure kids’ safety.

September 19, 2019 at 6:33 p.m.

Should the school your child attends be designed to thwart a mass shooter? "Yes," people say in this west-central Michigan village, where the tallest structure — a yellow water tower...

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