Blair Kamin – Page 52

The 606 trail covers 2.7 miles along Bloomingdale Avenue from Ashland Avenue on the east to Ridgeway Avenue on the west.

The 606 trail honored with national planning award

December 17, 2018 at 6:06 p.m.

The 606, which transformed a derelict elevated railroad line into a vibrant park and trail system, will receive the American Planning Association's 2016 National Planning Excellence Award for Urban Design,...

Outside the front door of Tribune Tower.

Tribune Tower competition

May 14, 2019 at 3:53 a.m.

Tribune Tower is the product of the most famous architecture competition of the 20th Century. On this date, the 75th anniversary of the Tribune, co-publishers Robert R. McCormick and Joseph...

The Kenect Chicago tower is under construction March 17, 2016, on Milwaukee Avenue. Under a new proposal, buildings in some areas just outside downtown could be built even taller than the one shown here.

Chicago’s latest development plan is promising but half-cooked

May 23, 2019 at 3:58 a.m.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, famous for rhymes like "Down with dope, up with hope," might label it "Take from the greedy, give to the needy." I refer to a promising...

Metal spikes line the perimeter of the China Central Television Tower in Beijing.

China taming ‘bizarre architecture’ after years of envelope-pushing design

May 23, 2019 at 3:58 a.m.

When Tribune photographer John J. Kim and I ventured to China in 2013 to eyeball the work of Chicago architects there, we discovered a paradox: Each Chinese city had at...

Pedestrians walk down a flight of stairs at Union Station in Chicago on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015.

Union Station’s ‘Untouchables’ stairs get a makeover

May 23, 2019 at 3:58 a.m.

Chicago is famously a city of architectural realism, exemplified by bone-beautiful buildings like the X-braced John Hancock Center. Yet it's also a place of cinematic fantasy, of signature buildings and...

Architect Jeanne Gang at Studio Gang Architects at their new offices at 1250 W. Division in Chicago on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015.

Jeanne Gang to design U.S. embassy compound in Brasilia

December 17, 2018 at 6:12 p.m.

Chicago architect Jeanne Gang is having quite a moment. Named the 2016 Woman Architect of the Year last week by a British magazine, Gang won a plum job Tuesday: Design...

Portrait of architect Jeanne Gang at Studio Gang Architects at their new offices at 1250 W. Division in Chicago on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015.

Jeanne Gang receives British honor

June 9, 2018 at 1:11 a.m.

Chicago architect Jeanne Gang has been named the 2016 Woman Architect of the Year Award by a British magazine, The Architectural Review. Gang, who heads Chicago-based Studio Gang Architects, was...

This is a view of the newly proposed site of the Lucas Museum looking east from the 1900 block of South Calumet Avenue in Chicago on Feb. 25, 2016. The new idea puts the museum over the parking lot and train tracks in the foreground.

Helmut Jahn has a big idea for George Lucas: Revamp McCormick Place

May 23, 2019 at 3:58 a.m.

Ah, the lakefront. It's Chicago's playground, battleground and three-ring circus, with George Lucas and his embattled museum dream occupying the center ring. With the shoreline site that the movie mogul...

Architect Jahn’s shortened Michigan Avenue tower a successful trim

May 23, 2019 at 3:58 a.m.

Sometimes, less is more. That's certainly the case with the Helmut Jahn-designed 1000 S. Michigan tower, which just got an architectural haircut of nearly 200 feet and emerged looking more...

Helmut Jahn tower for South Michigan Avenue gets 200-foot trim

May 22, 2019 at 9:27 p.m.

Responding to concerns that their first proposal was too tall, developers on Monday unveiled a scaled-down version of a Helmut Jahn-designed high-rise for South Michigan Avenue. The proposal, which cuts...

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