Blair Kamin – Page 50

Fifty design ideas for Chicago's 50 wards are on display in the Chicago Architecture Foundation atrium gallery at 224 S. Michigan Ave.

Chicago architects offer 50 ideas for 50 wards at exhibition

May 23, 2019 at 3:59 a.m.

With roots that stretch back to 1966, when activists saved the Henry Hobson Richardson-designed Glessner House on Prairie Avenue, the Chicago Architecture Foundation is turning 50. But it's not looking...

President Barack Obama walks across the South Lawn of the White House from Marine One on March 29, 2016, in Washington, D.C.

Obama library architect selection expected by end of June

May 23, 2019 at 3:59 a.m.

In the next few weeks, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are expected to make one of the most consequential decisions in Chicago's storied design history: They'll pick...

Crews demonstrate the fountain still under construction in Polk Bros Park on May 24, 2016, at Navy Pier in Chicago.

Changes at Navy Pier make it more authentic, less tacky

May 23, 2019 at 3:59 a.m.

There's much more to the remade Navy Pier than its much-hyped Ferris wheel, and most of it is good, dialing down the carnivalesque commercialism that alienated many Chicagoans and gave...

The Juliette Grand Ballroom on the third floor of LondonHouse has views to the Chicago River.

Michigan Avenue classic comes back to life with a 21st century twist

May 23, 2019 at 3:59 a.m.

There's nothing quite like watching a beautiful old building snap back to life after years of neglect. It's going to happen Thursday when the former London Guarantee & Accident Building,...

Men sit at the sorting bins for Air Mail to be handled by helicopter from the roof of the main post office building on March 25, 1950.

New plan for old post office has better chance of delivering than past flops

May 23, 2019 at 3:59 a.m.

After years of cockamamie plans for reviving the moribund hulk of the old Chicago post office, a sound proposal finally has emerged to revive the building. Yet nothing is ever...

Playboy bunny Candace Collins memorabilia is seen at the newly-opened exhibition at the Elmhurst Art Museum, "Playboy Architecture, 1953-1979."

A sexy show: Exhibit explores link between Playboy and modern design

May 23, 2019 at 3:59 a.m.

When you hear the words "Playboy magazine," I doubt you think about modern architecture. But maybe there's a link between modernism and the sexual revolution. A new exhibition makes the...

Bicyclists ride past Cyrano's Cafe & Wine Bar.

Top 5 places to take a walk in the city

May 23, 2019 at 11:52 a.m.

Some of Chicago's most rewarding spaces and promising projects aren't skyscrapers. Navy Pier: Illinois' top tourist attraction, the pier is celebrating its centennial this year with a new and bigger...

The Wolf Point West apartment building as seen from the south.

Apartment tower is a promising start for Wolf Point development

May 23, 2019 at 3:59 a.m.

Compared to sexy skyscrapers for the ultrarich and major corporations, rental apartment towers rarely rate a second look. Budgets and aesthetic aspirations tend to be low. The outcome profits developers...

Architect Ma Yansong at the originally proposed future site of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

Kamin: Hobson’s argument on Lucas museum rings false

May 23, 2019 at 3:59 a.m.

Chicago financial executive Mellody Hobson is smart and civic-minded, but I don't buy her argument that Friends of the Parks has "hijacked" the Lucas museum debate and that the city's...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Martin Nesbitt, left, chairman of the Obama Foundation, announce on May 12, 2015, that Chicago will be the home of Obama's presidential library and museum.

Obama library architectural selection process nearing end

May 22, 2019 at 9:46 p.m.

The competition to design the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago is moving closer to the finish line, with architects presenting conceptual plans for the prestigious project directly to President...

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