Blair Kamin

The drafting room at Taliesin West in 2017 in Scottsdale, Ariz., the winter home of architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the architecture school he founded.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture school seeks to move to new locations in Arizona

June 16, 2020 at 1:15 p.m.

After months of controversy, the architecture school founded by Frank Lloyd Wright has announced plans to move from its longtime homes — Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisc., and Taliesin West...

People crowd The 606 trail in the Wicker Park neighborhood on March 25, 2020.

Column: Now that the Lakefront Trail is opening, let’s reimagine biking to work in Chicago

June 16, 2020 at 1:55 p.m.

It was a giddy, guilty pleasure to be one of the hundreds of people who on Sunday defied Mayor Lori Lightfoot's order to stay off the Lakefront Trail. The sun...

Shoreline Sightseeing tour boats start operating again on the Chicago River on June 12, 2020.

Architecture tour boats return to the Chicago River today after being sidelined by the virus

June 12, 2020 at 2:08 p.m.

It's one of the signature images of summer in Chicago: Architectural tour boats plying the skyscraper canyons of the Chicago River, their guides spitting out facts to packed crowds as...

A bicyclist and a runner use the "shared street" along Leland Avenue on June 9, 2020, in Lincoln Square.

Column: Chicago’s new ‘shared street’ tilts the balance in favor of pedestrians, bikers and social distancing. But it’s tinkering, not structural change.

June 14, 2020 at 2:21 p.m.

Before the brutal killing of George Floyd, this column would have been a routine assessment of the first "shared street" Chicago has created in response to the coronavirus pandemic. It...

Hand sanitizer dispensers are available near Cloud Gate on June 15, 2020, as Millennium Park reopens.

Column: Don’t be fooled by Chicago’s ‘reopening’ of the lakefront west of Lake Shore Drive. Much of it was already open.

June 8, 2020 at 5:53 p.m.

Dutifully reported as a relaxation of restrictions, the city's announcement that lakefront parks west of Lake Shore Drive are reopening Monday is, in reality, a public relations sham. Reopening? A...

The operation theater, neglected for many years, still awaits renovation at the former Cook County Hospital.

Column: An exclusive look at the reborn Cook County Hospital: Once facing the wrecking ball, the West Side landmark is about to reemerge, beautifully remade

May 26, 2020 at 9:01 a.m.

The renovation and reinvention of the old Cook County Hospital is a triumph of historic preservation, one that should resonate far beyond the walls of the beloved Beaux-Arts landmark on...

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Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture school seeks to move to new locations in Arizona

Column: Now that the Lakefront Trail is opening, let’s reimagine biking to work in Chicago

Architecture tour boats return to the Chicago River today after being sidelined by the virus

Column: Chicago’s new ‘shared street’ tilts the balance in favor of pedestrians, bikers and social distancing. But it’s tinkering, not structural change.

Column: Don’t be fooled by Chicago’s ‘reopening’ of the lakefront west of Lake Shore Drive. Much of it was already open.

Column: An exclusive look at the reborn Cook County Hospital: Once facing the wrecking ball, the West Side landmark is about to reemerge, beautifully remade

Column: Two-tower plan for former Chicago Spire site moves a step closer to groundbreaking

Column: Listen up, Mayor Lightfoot: Readers want their lakefront back. They’re tired of dodging runners and rats.

Column: The Farnsworth House, a modernist masterpiece, is threatened anew by floodwaters

Column: Venice postpones big architecture show, putting Chicago in a bind