Blair Kamin – Page 33

Revised Obama center design seeks better fit with park and answer to critics

May 11, 2019 at 6:23 a.m.

Addressing criticism that their plans would undermine the serene landscape of historic Jackson Park, backers of the Obama Presidential Center on Tuesday revealed major revisions that include a sleeker version...

Outside the front door of Tribune Tower.

The illusion of architectural permanence

May 11, 2019 at 6:23 a.m.

Like everybody else who works for the baiduhai, I’ve known for more than a year that our newspaper would be leaving our namesake tower, where journalists have worked since...

Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, archivist for Frank Lloyd Wright, dies at 87

December 14, 2018 at 11:04 p.m.

Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, who organized Frank Lloyd Wright’s massive archives and wrote or edited more than 50 books about the buildings, ideas and career of the legendary architect, died Sunday...

Former longtime NBC News reporter Cecilia Alvear, who fought for Latino inclusion in newsrooms, died on April 25, 2017, in California. She was 77. <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-cecilia-alvear-dead-20170425-story.html" target="_blank">Read more</a>.

John Portman, whose atrium hotels brought sparkle to cities, dies at 93

August 22, 2019 at 2:12 a.m.

John Portman, the Atlanta architect and developer whose hotels introduced soaring atriums into the fabric of American life and helped revitalize downtowns around the nation, died Friday at 93. Portman’s...

People pass Apple's flagship Michigan Avenue store during a snowfall on Dec. 29, 2017, in Chicago. Some are calling the potential for snow and ice to fall from the building's rooftop a flaw its iconic design.

Dangling icicles at Apple store not company’s worst problem

May 11, 2019 at 6:23 a.m.

Winter has struck Apple's flagship Michigan Avenue store, and the hysteria has begun. With icicles dangling from the store's ultrathin carbon fiber roof and caution signs and yellow tape cordoning...

Tim Samuelson, Chicago’s official cultural historian, is also a great storyteller

December 17, 2018 at 11:05 p.m.

Can we clone Tim Samuelson? I’m only half kidding. Samuelson, Chicago’s official cultural historian, is as essential to the city’s identity as the Loop’s commodities traders and the weather forecasts...

The Obama Foundation has proposed building a garage on the Midway Plaisance across the street from the Obama Presidential Center.

Community leaders skeptical about new Obama center garage design

May 23, 2019 at 3:12 a.m.

A revised design for the Obama Presidential Center’s controversial parking garage is getting a thumbs-down from some community leaders who attended a closed-door meeting at which the plan was unveiled....

The Wrigley Building, foreground, in Chicago.

Historic preservation tax credit is saved, but weakened

May 11, 2019 at 6:23 a.m.

In Chicago and other cities that depend on the glow of restored historic buildings to lure tourists and create jobs, there were mixed emotions over the $1.5 trillion tax package...

A man walks through Beijing's ZAO/standardarchitecture biennial project at the Chicago Architecture Biennial show at Chicago's Cultural Center on Dec. 7, 2017.

Biennial needs to relate better to local audience

May 11, 2019 at 6:23 a.m.

As the second edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial heads into its final weeks, it’s a good time to reflect on the big exhibition’s relationship to the city in which...

The plaza outside Chicago's new Apple store, photographed Oct. 19, 2017, looks over the Chicago River.

Best architecture of 2017: Apple Store, Unity Temple and the Biennial in a remarkable year

December 17, 2018 at 6:33 p.m.

With a new architecture biennial, a big Frank Lloyd Wright anniversary and a series of small gems, it was a very good year for Chicago architecture. Here are the highlights:...

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