Last week, our Content team completed two small refresh projects in the Chicago Gallery. The Columbian Model crew came to perform a light cleaning on the Chicago City Model, and to place several new buildings on the display. They are mostly West Loop and South Loop projects, but 300 North Michigan is also now on the model—that’s the Sterling Bay/bKL development right across the street from Illinois Center, directly north of the Carbide and Carbon Building; we also installed the completed Navy Pier flyover, so that might be worth pointing out to visitors, as well. A complete list of new models can be found here.
Also, we have installed a wall exhibit on the enduring impact/legacies of the Great Chicago Fire and other monumental fire events that have shaped Chicago and added to our city’s standing as global center for design and planning. The link above contains a few reference images of the wall in situ.
Note: This exhibit is part of a funding commitment with Underwriters Laboratories (made during the CAC capital campaign) and will remain on display for a minimum of 24 months. The exhibit replaces a prior piece that highlighted the making of the Chicago City model. We are looking to have that time lapse video installed at an appropriate place on the architecture.org website, perhaps even with a call out or QR code somewhere in the gallery. Details are not yet firm, but we will keep you posted.
PS: The slide deck above also includes mention of a December 16 public program with architect and engineer Werner Sobek, a longtime collaborator with Helmut Jahn and many other top designers. The event is not on sale yet, but we encourage you to hold the date and time (Dec 16, 12pm-1:30pm CT; Zoom lecture) as Werner is a real one-of-a-kind talent.