The history of public housing, Great Chicago Houses, Steel Day, PARK(ing) Day and a showcase of green design - more great events in September

Day one: put up the new monthly calendar.  Day two:  go through all the emails about stuff I missed and add it in.

So, already, we've got a half dozen great events freshly added to the September Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.  Every Wednesday morning this month, The National Public Housing Museum is pairing a tour of the site of the museum with a lecture on the role and history of public housing.   Today's lecture is by Executive Director Sunny Fischer, and September 29th will feature Illinois State Senator Mattie Hunter, talking about her life in the Robert Taylor Homes.

Friday, September 17th is PARK(ing) Day 2010, and Architecture for Humanity, Chicago will be doing their part here by transforming parking spaces in Logan Square into a temporary public park.  (But don't cry for Morgan Stanley: AFH-Chi assures us the stickers on all the affected meters will be taken care of for the day.)


On September 24, AISC Chicago will be marking Steel Day 2010 with an architectural cruise past some of Chicago's famed steel-framed skyscrapers. And next Thursday, the 16th, at the Driehaus Museum, (AKA Nickerson Mansion), Stuart Cohen and Susan Benjamin will discuss their book The Great Houses of Chicago: 1871-1921, for the Chicago-Midwest Chapter of the Institution of Classical Architecture and Classical America.

And through Friday, September 10th, you can take in the Green Showcase Exhibition at Harold Washington College, 30 East Lake, Room 102.  The exhibition . . . 

 . . . displays student plans from Harold Washington College and SAIC for projects that were inspired by the City of Chicago’s Green Initiative, two of which are currently in the development stages for Harold Washington College: the Green Roof project for the 30,000-square-foot rooftop of Harold Washington College, which will make it one of the largest green roofs in the city; and the “10 East Lake” project, an outdoor sustainability lab located on the premises of Com-Ed’s CTA Generator Station—activating the plaza that is directly to the west of the college. Both plans are slated to begin construction in the near future. There are real and speculative green projects that SAIC students have been co-designing with south and westside communities in the exhibition, as well.

The renderings on display show living walls, rainwater collection systems, farmers markets, rain gardens, outdoor classrooms, sculpture gardens and much more. Students are responding to the architecture of the city and the sites, as well as the data about the sites that they have collected through digital sun analysis, wind condition calculations, bird habitat observations and other environmental tests. The roof project will be a collaborative space for the whole college, including the integral involvement of the Biology department, which will have classrooms and teaching greenhouses on the site. 

More information on-line.

Check out all the 60+ great events on the September calendar here.