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Chicago (Architecture) à la carte

Periscope House in Boston reimagines domestic architecture with soft edges and sensory cues. Architect J. Jih explains the design approach and their ongoing collaboration with Skylar Tibbits at MIT aimed at expanding mat

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Year in Review: Did We Reach Peak-Biennial in 2019?

The proliferation of these events begs the question: Who is the targeted audience of a biennial, and whom does its staging benefit?

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Chicago Architecture Biennial Preview: Spatial Research and Urban Conflict

With an unabashed embrace of the empirical, contributors assert something about how space is experienced.

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Chicago Architecture Biennial Preview: Activism

Researchers, historians, and publishers at the biennial seek to forge closer connections between activism and the architectural profession.

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Chicago Architecture Biennial Preview: Housing

At the biennial, artists and activists shine a light on a tragic chapter of the 20th century—the rise and fall of public housing.

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Chicago Architecture Biennial Preview: Rights to Resources

At this year's event, exhibitors look critically at the dynamics of resource distribution and ecological stewardship.

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Chicago Architecture Biennial Preview: Questioning Real Estate Values

In dramatically reconsidering what property ownership looks like, two nonprofits seek to empower neighbors and residents to claim city spaces for themselves.

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From Housing to Activism, the Next Chicago Architecture Biennial Will Bring Global Issues to Chicago

Yesomi Umolu, the artistic director of the upcoming Chicago Architecture Biennial, discusses the themes and narratives to be explored at this year’s event.

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Artist David Hartt Sifts Through the Ruins of Moshe Safdie’s Unrealized Habitat Puerto Rico

In a new show on view at the Graham Foundation as part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the artist documents the remnants of a utopian building that never was.

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A Tale of Two (Fictional) Cities at the Chicago Architecture Biennial

A pivotal portion of the show explores the city in two different axes.

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Nick Cave Collaborates With Jeanne Gang on Joyful Performance Piece in Chicago

At the Chicago Architecture Biennial, "Here Hear Chicago" marries the dynamism of Cave’s signature “soundsuits” with Gang’s architectural flair.

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Top 10 Things to Do and See at the Chicago Architecture Biennial

The biennial officially opens to the public on September 16 and runs through January 7, 2018. Here's your guide to this year's big event.

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Don’t Be Afraid of Character, Say These Biennial Participants

Architecture can be funny, eliciting a laugh or a smirk. It can have a backstory. It can be a character in an urban drama. But how far do you push it?

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Why Architectural Collage Is Important to These Three Chicago Architecture Biennial Participants

The recent popularity of architectural collage has led to a lot of cloning and some groaning. But collage is more than an aesthetic—it helps reconceive space in new, often scenographic ways.

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The Architectural “Blob” is Dead, Long Live the “Pile”

The blob ostensibly obliterated the culture of tectonics within architecture, but it was a short-lived fad. Interest has shifted again toward a loosely “aformal” approach—the pile. What are the consequences of arch

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Johnston Marklee Says Its Time for Architects to Rediscover Architecture

As curators of this year's Chicago Architecture Biennial, Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee are prompting participants to look back at the discipline's history.

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15 Buildings That Embody Chicago’s Postmodern Moment

We revisit a forgotten chapter in the city's rich architectural history and discover a surprisingly contextual, responsive, and intelligent movement.

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10 Highlights from the Chicago Architecture Biennial

The "State of the Art of Architecture" generally delivers on its promise to expand our definition of architecture as a cultural art.