Chicago overrun by Architects as AIA Convention Looms: Moreno, Gernaga, Luis, Lai and Sterry at the Apple Store

 

For the first time in a decade, the American Institute of Architects national convention rolls into Chicago later this week, and in addition to an almost overwhelming array of keynotes, talks, panels, and tours, there are any number of related events, many of which we've captured on the June Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.

Starting on Monday, the Royal Institute of British Architects is sponsoring a series of nightly lectures 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue.  The series, Fringe Benefit Lecture - Architecture Showcase: Diversity in Design, kicks off Monday with  tymedesign's Bohdan Gernaga talking about “embracing color”; NRI Chicago's Ashley Mistry on 3D printing, and architect Juan Moreno of JGMA discussing how his firm's projects are “transforming some of Chicago's diverse neighborhoods.”

On Tuesday, there's Monte Chapin of Graphisoft N.A. showcasing BIMxDocs, his firm's iOS app, Lira Luis presents “fringe ideas for rebuilding after a disaster”, and Zoological Lighting Institute founder James Karl Fischer talks about “photobiology and nocturnal habitats.”   The series concludes on Wednesday, with Jimenz Lai, IDEO Chicago's Sara Frisk, and “design scientist and futurist” Melissa Sterry speculating on “how nature would design a city.”

Chicago-based architect

Sterry will also be giving an RIBA-sponsored lecture at the Doubletree on Thursday, Learning from Life: The Biologically Informed City, the same night there's a special AIA Convention Design+Dining Pecha Kucha at Martyr's, with the participants including Linda Keane, Petra Bachmaier, Catherine di napoli, Jonathan Parker, architects Miguel Del Rio, Carl Sergio and Dan Wheeler, SOM's Eric Keune and Michael Pfeffer and Architectural Record Senior Editor Joann Gonchar, with Peter Exley as MC.

Friday, AIADIV and Chicago Women in Architecture is sponsoring a Global Inclusion Reception at the Hafele Chicago Showroom with Ambassador (Ret) John F. Maisto. 

This is all in addition to major convention keynotes with Jeanne Gang and Theaster Gates, Ed Mazria and Tony Hsieh.  Check out the full convention scheduled on the AIA website, and all the events still to come this month on the June Calendar of Chicago Architecture Events.

dasHaus lectures, Lai, Millet, Dick Higgins collaborates (posthumously) with Chicago Police for The Thousand Symphonies - more for September

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Next Friday, September 21st, Das Haus, a traveling pavilion from Germany that demonstrates state-of-the-art technologies in building construction and solar energy use, makes its way to Daley Plaza for a ten day run.  In conjunction, with the installation, there's a series of lectures which we've just added to the September Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.  On Friday, the 21st, the Passive House Alliance Chicago offers an Introduction to Passive House, at the Hafele America Chicago showroom, and at Lunchtime on the 24th, Katrin Klilngenberg talks about 10 Years of Passive House in the U.S. at the Goethe Institute, among other events.

On Thursday, September 18th, 7:00 at the Graham, a chamber ensemble will play a new version of Fluxus artist Dick Higgins' The Thousand Symphonies.  Four Chicago Police officers were enlisted to create the composition by blasting notes onto music paper with machine guns.  The work was originally created by Higgins in 1968 as a non-destructive use of guns for purposes "other than killing Viet Cong and scattering protesters."  The performance will be preceded by a short film documenting the creation of the Chicago composition.

photo: Jyoti Srivastava

Next week, we also have Jimenez Lai offering a "quasi-reading" from his new book Citizens of No Place at the Graham on Monday,  and architect Patricia Patkau at the Art Institute on Tuesday.  Wednesday finds Thomas Leslie at CAF lunchtime, and Vincent James and Jennifer Yoos of VJAA at IIT in evening.  On Thursday, the 20th, David Van Zanten talks about The Work of Louis Julien Millet at Second Presbyterian Church.

And those are just the highlights.  We still have over three dozen great items still to come, so check them all out on the September Calendar of Chicago Architectural Events.