Southern Excursion - a Journey through Chicago Architecture

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Madeleine: ...And what do you do, John?
Scottie: Oh, just wander about.
Madeleine: That's a good occupation.

A beautiful spring day in Chicago is pointless to resist, and so I found myself on my way to Ping Tom Park, my only deliberate destination.  Beyond that, I wandered, letting the streets with the great names  - Emerald, Normal, Lumber - angling and meandering along the river, lead me through a complex city, a working city.  Not the carefully contrived center, but a less planned, more organic architectural chronicle of birth, development, decay, and death or resurrection - pick your door and take your chances.  There's more true history in Bridgeport and Pilsen than in the Loop - they're at a sweet spot remove where developers less often see dollar signs in their eyes contemplating high-rises where old buildings now stand.  No empires are being built here, just life lived day-to-day, in an urban fabric that's endlessly diverse and fascinating, and, at places raw or refined, poignantly beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday's Pride: Lions of Chicago

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Jeanne Gang before Aqua (and being name a MacArthur genius) - an early portrait.

"I was always fascinated with how pieces came together . . . When we make form, we’re thinking about how can we make the identity fluctuate."

When Studio/Gang architect Jeanne Gang was announced as the winner of one of this year'$500,000 MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" fellowships, I was reminded that just a week or two ago, I had come across a profile I had written, based on several interviews with Gang, back in 2004, as her career as an architect was just getting started. Among many things, she talks about growing up in Boone County, giant Pink Sea Snails, Rem Koolhaas, Marilyn Monroe and several of her early projects, including the Starlight Theater in Rockford, the Marble Curtain, the Chinese American Service League, and the Ford Calumet Environmental Center, among others.

 I don't think it's been published before, but you can read the complete profile - with photos - here.