Fishman's Next National Plan: More for January

Yes, it's never too late to add another great item to the January Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

Case in point: this Wednesday, January 23rd, the University of Michigan's Robert Fishman will take on the myth of the paucity of national planning in the United States, at the Great Cities Institute. 

Earlier, at lunchtime at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, Architecture for Humanity/Chicago's Katherine Darnstadt will discuss recent and upcoming projects.  On Tuesday, there's a meeting of the 2030 Commitment Chicago Working Group at AIA/Chicago, and on Thursday, ULI/Chicago will be taking on the prospect of Chicago: The Next Technology Hub with a morning panel at the Union League.

And this Saturday, it's the latest edition of the Future City Regional Finals, in which 7th and 8th graders are introduced to engineering with SimCity and design idealized cities, in computer simulations, models, essays and presentations.  It's at the Student Center East at UIC.

Check out the nearly 20 great items still to come on the January Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

Esra Akcan on Kreuzberg, plus Neil Brenner, Terry Guen, Jeanne Gang - more for January

Yes, we're still adding great new items to the January Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

This Wednesday, January 16th at the Graham, professor and author Esra Akcan will be talking about about News from the Living Room:  Storytelling and Participatory Architectural Writing, exploring the International Building Exhibition that commissioned designs for public housing from architects from Aldo Rossi to Rem Koolhaas to Zaha Hadid, to name just a few, to transform Kreuzberg, a Berlin neighborhood populated largely by Turkish immigrants.

Then on Monday, January 28th, also at the Graham, Archeworks is sponsoring a talk by Neil Brenner, the Urban Age in Question, that critiques contemporary ideologies and how "the geographies of urbanization . . . today encompassed diverse patterns and pathways across the planetary sociospatial landscape . . . "

There's a double dose of Studio/Gang Architects at the Art Institute this week, with curator Karen Kice leading an overview of AIC's exhibition Building: Inside Studio Gang Architects on Tuesday, and Jeanne Gang, herself, discussing her firm's recent projects at Fullerton Hall on Thursday.

On Wednesday, landscape architect Terry Guen lectures at CAF lunchtime, while on Thursday, Matt Seymour discusses Randolph Tower (a/k/a Steuben Club) Terra Cotta Restoration at the Cultural Center for Landmarks Illinois.  (Friday's Pecha Kucha Night at Olympia Centre is wait-listed.)

There are a dozen great items this week, and over two dozen between now and the end of the month, so check out the January Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

Earthquake! (Walk - Don't Run) plus Vivian Maier, Randolph Tower and a Holiday Hangover Party

original photograph courtesy Cinema Treasures - click images for larger view

The only time I can recall Chicago sustaining earthquake damage was in 1975, when plaster fell from the ceiling of Holabird and Root's United Artists theater as Sensurround - a promotional gimmick invented for the disaster film Earthquake - sent enough low frequency rumblings through a battery of subwoofers to set the entire house shaking.  Building inspectors were called, the auditorium de-woofed and Terra firma reestablished.

Which is not to say a major earthquake can never happen here, although the closest we've gotten to "the big one" was a 3.8 magnitude event on February 10, 2010 centered in the Kane County town of Virgil.  The New Madrid Fault downstate generated a devastating 8.2 magnitude quake in 1811, and remains a potential source for future shenanigans.

So, just to be on the safe side, you can check out Illinois Emergency Management Agency's ATC-20: Post Earthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings, an all-day seminar at the Thompson Center this Tuesday.  It's one of the highlights this week on the January Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.  Tuesday evening, Michael Williams and Richard Cahan will at MCA to discuss their great new book - Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows.

On Wednesday lunchtime, AIA/Chicago will be hosting Building Bureaucrats: Evaluating Architecture with National Register Staff, and a fundraiser for Landmarks Illinois will offer a tour of the newly restored Randolph Tower (Steuben Club).  On Friday, AFH-Chicago is holding its Holiday Hangover 2013 party at the DIRTT Showroom, and on Saturday, Save Wright is holding an open house at Frank Lloyd Wright's Heller House in Hyde Park.  (Bring your checkbook; it's for sale.)

These are just some of the highlights this week.  Check out the revised January Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

Towers (Olympia and Randolph), Pecha Kucha, Vanavehu, Wright's Heller House, Future City 2013 - more for the January calendar!

See - we told you.  We're already adding great new dates for the January Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

click images for larger view

Grab your ascot and reserve the night of Friday, January, 18th. Tickets are going fast for a special Pecha Kucha, co-sponsored by UK/Chicago, at the top of the 61-story-high Olympia Tower, in the the home of the British Consul

General.  It's a benefit for Vanavevhu, which supports and advocates for child-headed households in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Next Thursday, the 10th, you can visit your (substantial) TIF dollars at work at a Real Estate & Building Industries Council sponsored tour of the beautifully renovated Randolph Tower, which began life in the 1920's as the Steuben Club.  Proceeds benefit Landmarks Illinois' programs, including efforts to expand the Illinois State Historic Tax Credit.

On Saturday the 12th, Save Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy is offering an Open House for Wright's Heller House in Hyde Park, offering you the opportunity to say, "I liked the tour so much - I bought the house!"  The 1896 residence is actually for sale.

And on Saturday, January 26th, it's time again for the 2013 edition of the Future City Chicago Regional Finals, at Student Center East at UIC, a great event in which 6th, 7th, 8th graders are introduced to engineering and use Sim City to design their cities, with the winners going on to the finals in Washington with the big prize a trip to U.S. Space Camp.

Check out the details for these events and another several dozen others still to come on the January Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

Yes, Virginia, there will be a 2013 - the January Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events: Gang, Kearns, Guen, Vivian Maier and more!

Yes, we survived 2012 and now live to tell the tale of the January 2013 Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

The year starts out this Thursday, with Friends of Downtown asking What Do You Love or Hate About Downtown Chicago?, at the Cultural Center.  Then things really start getting in gear the following week, with Michael Williams and Richard Cahan, publishers of Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows at the MCA on Tuesday the 8th, and a discussion of Historic Preservation lunchtime Wednesday the 9th at CAF.

As part of the one of largest preservation projects currently underway, Randolph (Steuben Club) Tower Terra Cotta Restoration will be discussed at a Landmarks Illinois lunchtime lecture at the Cultural Center, Thursday, the 17th.

The don't-miss exhibition Building: Inside Studio Gang Architects continues at the Art Institute, where curator Karen Kice will be offering a gallery talk lunchtime on Tuesday the 15th, and Jeanne Gang, herself, talking about her firm's recent projects in Fullerton Hall on Thursday, the 17th.

Several organizations demonstrate that the holiday party refuses to go gentle into the new year, with Architecture for Humanity/Chicago offering up its Holiday Hangover 2013 party at the DIRTT Showroom on Friday the 11th, while lunchtime Wednesday the 23rd at CAF, Co-Director Katherine Darnstadt talks about AFH/Chicago's local projects.

AIA Chicago offers Larry Kearns and Neil Sheehan talk about the Facebook Data Center and Inspiration Kitchen on Tuesday the 15th, and CAF offers Terry Guen lunchtime on Wednesday the 16th.  At it's January 24th breakfast panel, the Urban Land Institute Chicago considers Chicago: The Next Technology Hub?  As of this writing, there are still tickets available for CAF's Sunday, January 27th behind-the-scenes tour of Rafael Viñoly Architects new Center for Care and Discovery at the University of Chicago.

But wait: there's more!  And I'm sure we'll be adding as hangovers subside and people start firing up the mimeographs again - we're still waiting for the Plan and Community Development Commissions to post their meeting schedule for the New Year.  Already, however, there are already nearly three dozen great items, so check it all out on the January 2013 Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.