Blair Kamin – Page 46

The Damen Avenue Bridge over the North Branch of the Chicago River, shown Oct. 8, 2016, will soon be repainted red. The bridge debuted in 1999 sporting "Chicago Bulls Red," though the city later had it painted gray after the red paint faded and peeled.

Plan to repaint Damen bridge red casts light on joyful power of color

May 23, 2019 at 4:16 a.m.

Colors matter in architecture and infrastructure, even if hard-headed functionalists are loath to admit it. Would the Golden Gate Bridge have the same romantic appeal if its distinctive reddish-orange paint...

The fully lit letters of the name Trump on the Trump Tower.

Donald Trump’s sycophantic, vitriolic treatment of architecture critics

May 23, 2019 at 4:01 a.m.

Donald Trump doesn't aim his nasty, middle-of-the-night tweets just at beauty queens he thinks have gained too much weight. He also targets architecture critics, me included, who've gotten under his...

Looking up toward the 800-bed Campus North Residential Commons designed by Studio Gang Architects at the University of Chicago, as seen on Sept. 26, 2016.

Gang’s U. of C. dorm weaves together a unique example of town and gown

May 23, 2019 at 4:01 a.m.

Would Harry Potter feel at home in the new University of Chicago dorm by star architect Jeanne Gang? I suspect he would even though the dorm has no gargoyles, stained...

Outside the front door of Tribune Tower.

Tribune Tower’s new owners should also look to future

May 23, 2019 at 4:01 a.m.

At least the new owners of Tribune Tower are saying the right things. In an interview before announcing their $240 million purchase Wednesday, the owners signaled their intention to deal...

The coffee bar at Zurich North America Headquarters in Schaumburg.

A suburban office complex breaks from the mold

May 23, 2019 at 4:01 a.m.

Suburban office buildings tend to be cut from the same dull cookie-cutter, so when one comes along that grabs your eye, it's an event. Such is the case with the...

Peres Projects of Berlin sets up a gallery for Expo Chicago at Navy Pier on Sept. 20, 2016.

Next Architecture Biennial aims for 1-2 punch with art fair

May 23, 2019 at 4:15 a.m.

Can the Chicago Architecture Biennial pull a Kris Bryant and avoid the sophomore slump after a good first run in 2015? Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the new chairman of the...

Nick Cave has been singing about mortality for decades, and he's really good at it. Whether the narratives are biblical or pulpy, the victims innocents or death row convicts, the circumstances comprehensible or cruelly random, Cave's songs are on intimate terms with the infinite ways a life can be extinguished. And yet, "Skeleton Tree", his latest album with his estimable band, the Bad Seeds, is a relatively concise song cycle shadowed by death that feels different than all the rest. <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/kot/sc-music-nick-cave-skeleton-tree-ent-0916-20160916-column.html" target="_blank">Read the full review.</a>

Making the riverfront a place for people

December 17, 2018 at 5:36 p.m.

The downtown Chicago Riverwalk often seems so effortlessly successful that it's easy to forget that people actually labored to design it, including Chicago architect Carol Ross Barney and Boston-area landscape...

From Riverwalk to Schaumburg, a window into architectural projects

December 17, 2018 at 5:36 p.m.

The fall architecture season beckons with a cornucopia of new buildings, urban spaces, lectures, exhibitions and events. Here are some you won't want to miss: The Riverwalk rises: Already a...

Promising South Loop project could herald riverfront revival

May 23, 2019 at 4:00 a.m.

It's a rare thing to get a chance to develop 14 acres along the Chicago River, rarer still when that land is a short hike from Willis Tower. Done right,...

New Tribune Tower owners should save McCormick office, other lavish rooms

May 23, 2019 at 4:00 a.m.

He stood 6 feet 4 inches tall, had an erect soldierly bearing and was known simply as "the Colonel," having won that title in World War I. Often remembered (and...

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