Blair Kamin – Page 5 –

A social distancing sign marks a chair at Cushman & Wakefield global commercial real estate services, July 17, 2020, in Chicago.

Column: Meet the secret weapon for fighting the pandemic: Interior architects

August 28, 2020 at 3:21 p.m.

Almost exactly 40 years ago, I got my first job in architecture: Not as an underpaid draftsman for some Pritzker Prize-winning architect or as an editorial assistant at a glossy...

Column: Chicago architects name interim director after former head exits without explanation

August 28, 2020 at 8:58 a.m.

Two weeks after abruptly announcing that its longtime executive vice president was out, the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects named a veteran Chicago architect as his interim...

The former Laramie State Bank of Chicago building, at Laramie and Chicago avenues in Chicago, is seen Aug. 25, 2020.

Column: Time to stop planning and start building: It’s crunch time for Lightfoot’s drive to revive South and West sides

August 26, 2020 at 3:45 p.m.

Urban planning isn't for the faint of heart. You have to overcome naysayers and "not-in-my-backyard" types — the dreaded NIMBYs. And woe to the city planner who paints a rosy...

The sweeping curtainlike feature of the Greenhouse cannabis dispensary is seen in Skokie.

Column: In Illinois, an architecturally arresting pot shop reveals how marijuana has gone mainstream

August 19, 2020 at 11:02 a.m.

Chicago and its suburbs have long been fertile ground for cultivating architectural superlatives. Now they're vying for a new one: The world's most visually arresting pot shop. To say that...

Column: In Skokie, an architecturally arresting pot shop reveals how marijuana has gone mainstream

August 16, 2020 at 8:46 a.m.

Chicago and its suburbs have long been fertile ground for cultivating architectural superlatives. Now they're vying for a new one: The world's most visually arresting pot shop. To say that...

A woman argues with bystanders before crews removed the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park on July 24, 2020.

Lightfoot announces review of Chicago monuments as part of ‘a racial healing and historical reckoning project’

August 12, 2020 at 6:05 p.m.

Nearly three weeks after ordering the removal of Christopher Columbus statues in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday announced the formation of a committee to review the city's monuments as...

A lower level lounge is seen Aug. 10, 2020, in the renovated Kacek Hall.

Column: Mies van der Rohe’s workhorse tower gets a vibrant remake as a dorm at Chicago’s Illinois Institute of Technology

August 11, 2020 at 1:50 p.m.

The pandemic. The unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd. Rampant looting in downtown Chicago. Against that chaotic backdrop, it was moving Monday to experience the profound calm that...

An exterior view of the Yale Building, located in Englewood, which was featured in the annual Open House Chicago in 2017. It was built in the 1890's as luxury apartments for visitors of the World's Columbian Exposition and it is now used as low-income housing for senior citizens.

Column: Pandemic forces Open House Chicago to shift to exterior and online tours

August 4, 2020 at 3:07 p.m.

For years, the Open House Chicago architecture festival has lured thousands of visitors with the promise of peeking behind facades and getting a look at splendid interiors, like the soaring...

Hank Willis Thomas' All Power to All People sculpture in Philadelphia, on Sept. 14, 2017.

Column: As Lightfoot readies a review of Chicago’s monuments, including three removed Columbus statues, Philadelphia offers edgy alternatives

August 1, 2020 at 8:27 a.m.

To those of us who eyeball soaring skyscrapers for a living, the statues and other works of art in parks and plazas may seem like mere adornments. But as the...

"Constellation" a sculpture by architect Santiago Calatrava at River Point Park on July 28, 2020.

Column: Farewell, Spire. Hello, spiral. Twelve years after his twisting tower ground to a halt, architect Santiago Calatrava readies a flaming red sculpture along the Chicago River

July 29, 2020 at 11:31 a.m.

Remember the Chicago Spire, the planned 2,000-foot condo tower that would twist into the sky like a giant corkscrew but wound up an embarrassing hole in the ground? Well, the...

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