Send listings, corrections, comments,
complaints and limericks to: webmaster
December 5, Tuesday
Richard Nickel’s Chicago: Photographs of a Lost City
12:15 P.M. - John Buck Gallery, Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 South Michigan
Sponsor: Chicago Architecture Foundation
Free event
Lecture and book-signing by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams, authors of Richard Nickel’s Chicago: Photographs of a Lost City contains 250 of Richard Nickel’s photographs taken during the fifties, sixties and seventies. Nickel was an architectural photographer who is remembered for his brave and lonely stand to protect Chicago’s great architecture, and for his dramatic 1972 death in the rubble of Adler and Sullivan’s Stock Exchange Building. He is remembered, too, for the photographs he left behind. Including more than 200 never-before-seen photographs of Nickel’s Chicago, this is a book about one man’s relationship with his city, a remarkably personal story told through compelling photographs.
5:00 - 9:00 P.M. - University Club, 76 E. Monroe St.
Sponsor: AIA Chicago
$10.00 for members, $15.00 for non-members
The program includes a special presentation by Richard Cahan and Mark Williams on their new book, Richard Nickel's Chicago: Photographs of a Lost City. Reception continues following the program.
Register for this event. Information: 312/670.7770
Washington Park SRO: Sustainable Affordable Housing
6:00 - 8 :00 P.M. - Chicago Center for Green Technology, 445 North Sacramento Boulevard
Sponsor: Chicago Center for Green Technology,
Free event. Registration required.
Presenter: Wyllys Mann, Eastlake Management and Development Corporation
The Washington Park SRO (Single Room Occupancy) project is striving for a LEED “Gold” rating from the US Green Building Council. Some of the green features
unique to this type of renovation project include a geothermal heat pump system,
an ungraded building envelope, permeable pavers, a green roof, and a solar/thermal
hot water system, and many other cutting edge features. Special attention will be
paid to the project’s planning process and overall financing which included
numerous financial incentives for building green.
Register by
calling the hotline at 312/746.9642, or by emailing your desired class and contact
information.
December 6, Wednesday
The Columbia College Chicago Master Plan
12:15 P.M. - John Buck Gallery, Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 South Michigan
Sponsor: Chicago Architecture Foundation
Free event - Eric R. Multhauf lunchtime lecture. Guests are welcome to bring a bag lunch. A Corner Bakery is also on the premises.
1LU
Lecture by Sam Assefa, Director of Policy for the Chicago Department of Planning and Development, charged with advancing Mayor Richard M. Daley’s vision of making Chicago America's most livable city. In this position, he coordinates policies on land development, architecture, urban design, and sustainable development. Previously, he served as deputy chief of staff to Mayor Daley, and as head of urban design and interim head of the Zoning and Land Use Division at DPD. Mr. Assefa is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Master’s in City Planning, and the University of Illinois, Chicago, with a B.A. in Architecture.
Mayor Daley's pledge to make Chicago the "Greenest city in America" is helping create various policy initiatives both in the public and private sectors. As a result, Chicago is fast becoming a model for sustainability in the United States. The talk will highlight the key policy initiatives, with a focus on land and building development policies, to illustrate how the city is leading by example on sustainable development.
What If We Were Wrong? Preparing for Evolution and Change in Emergency Design
6:00 - 8:00 P.M. - Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, 1775 W. Dempster St., Park Ridge, Olson Auditorium
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Healthcare KC
Free event for members, $15.00 for non-members
2 LU/HSW
Speaker: Frank Zilm, D.Arch, FAIA, FACHA
Register for this event. Information: 312/670.7770
December 7, Thurday
The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City
12:15 P.M. - John Buck Gallery, Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 South Michigan
Sponsor: Chicago Architecture Foundation
Free event
Lecture and book signing by Carl Smith, Franklyn Bilss Snyder Professor of English and American Studies and Professor of History, Northwestern University and author of The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City
(Chicago Visions and Revisions). The 1909 Plan of Chicago is better known as the Burnham Plan, after its principal author, the legendary architect and city planner Daniel Burnham. Full of stirring ideas, vigorous prose, and breathtaking images, the Plan proposed many of the city’s most distinctive features, including its lakefront parks and roadways, the Magnificent Mile, and Navy Pier, and it established the concept of urban planning in the United States. Smith’s concise, accessible, and richly illustrated book incisively examines the background, creation, contents, implementation, and continuing presence of Burnham’s vision of his beloved Chicago and modern urban America.
12:15 P.M. - Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, Millennium Park Room, 5th floor southeast
Sponsor: Friends of Downtown
Free event
Representatives from Sage Hospitality will discuss the history, acquisition and renovation of the Blackstone Hotel. As announced in 2005, the hotel is undergoing a $112 million renovation with a planned opening in 2007 in a deal between Marriott Renaissance and Sage Hospitality, a Denver-based company. Named for Timothy B. Blackstone, a prominent railroad executive and the founding president of the Union Stock Yards whose mansion had stood on the site, it is planned that the new building will retain its historic name.
12:45 P.M., City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle St., Room 201-A
Note: Permit Review Committee meets after Landmarks Commission
- estimated start time 1:30 P.M.
Open to the public
Monthly meeting.
Special Event:
11:00 A.M. - 33 N. LaSalle, Room 1600
Program Committee meeting to hear suggestions from the public for future landmark designations .
5:30 - 9:00 P.M. - Hard Rock Cafe, 63 W. Ontario St.
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Young Architects Forum, International Masonry Institute, BAC District Council #1 Plasterers
Free event
Cast your own plaster ornament with the help of BAC journeyman plasterers and IMI plastering instructors at this annual event. View samples of different plastering techniques and case studies of Chicago-area plastering projects. This year, a limited run of Louis Sullivan ornaments will be given out in honor of Sullivan's 150th birthday. Space is limited: registration is required.
Register for this event. Information: 312/670.7770
Franz Schulze will provide an illustrated lecture that covers the 70-year career of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, one of the world’s leading architecture, urban design, engineering, and interior architecture firms. Emphasis will be placed, though not exclusively, on the accomplishments of the Chicago office. All are invited to join CAF and SOM for a reception at the firm’s 10th floor office
RSVP at 312/922.3432 x224 or buy on-line. Information on-line
December 9, Saturday
Chicago Sketchcrawl
9:30 A.M. , starting point at Auditorium Theatre lobby, 50 East Congress
Sponsor:: Sketchcrawl
Free Event
Draw impulsively for the whole day. Join sketching friends from all over the world in making a mark ..on paper! No reservation needed Bring your friends and your sketch book. It will be cold so we are going to try to do all our sketching indoors this time.
6:00 P.M. - Glessner House Museum,
1800 South Prairie Avenue
Sponsor: Glessner House Museum
Adults $18.00, children 8 -12 $14.00
Glessner House's annual holiday tours of historic Prairie Avenue. Rarely open to the
public in the evenings, visitors will enjoy viewing the rooms of the Clarke and Glessner houses as docents stationed in each room tell stories of holiday traditions from long ago.
Clarke House, the oldest surviving building in Chicago, marks the season with a focus on the New Year as the significant day of
celebration in the mid-19th century. Learn how a family in a burgeoning city on the prairie would have trimmed their home in anticipation of visiting family and friends. Glessner House, an original Prairie Avenue mansion, is adorned in the Victorian holiday tradition with fresh pine roping, red ribbons and a Christmas tree decorated with authentic Victorian ornaments and holiday cards. Learn about extravagant Christmas dinners, gift giving and the changing tradition of the Christmas tree
Other events today:
Holiday Arts & Craft Fair - 12:00 to 8:00 P.M. (free) - Visit the newly renovated historic Coach House for Glessner House Museum's third annual Holiday Arts & Crafts Fair. Items available for purchase will include ornaments, holiday decorations and cards, jewelry, fashion accessories, household items, soaps and candles.
Historic Holidays on Prairie Avenue - 2:00 to 5:00 P.M. $10.00 for adults and children. Celebrate the holidays the old fashioned way. Clarke and Glessner House Museums will open their doors for an afternoon of historic holiday fun for children and adults. Activities will, story telling, ornament making, cookie decorating, parlor games, and sleigh rides from 3:00 to 5:00 P.M. , and of course, a visit with Santa.
6:00 P.M. - Glessner House Museum,
1800 South Prairie Avenue
Sponsor: Glessner House Museum
Adults $18.00, children 8 -12 $14.00
Glessner House's annual holiday tours of historic Prairie Avenue. Rarely open to the
public in the evenings, visitors will enjoy viewing the rooms of the Clarke and Glessner houses as docents stationed in each room tell stories of holiday traditions from long ago.
Clarke House, the oldest surviving building in Chicago, marks the season with a focus on the New Year as the significant day of
celebration in the mid-19th century. Learn how a family in a burgeoning city on the prairie would have trimmed their home in anticipation of visiting family and friends. Glessner House, an original Prairie Avenue mansion, is adorned in the Victorian holiday tradition with fresh pine roping, red ribbons and a Christmas tree decorated with authentic Victorian ornaments and holiday cards. Learn about extravagant Christmas dinners, gift giving and the changing tradition of the Christmas tree
5:00 P.M. - Burnham Conference Center at APA • 122 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 1600
Sponsor: American Planning Association Chicago
Free for members and non-members. Limited seating. No reservations required.
With ballot initiatives similar to Measure 37 in Oregon sweeping the country, the idea of "protecting" private property rights from regulation is again at the forefront of public debate. Eric Freyfogle, Max L. Rowe Professor of Law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has spoken and written widely on private property and land conservation for numerous years. Embedded in today's political debate, Freyfogle contends, are two quite different visions of land ownership — a highly individualist vision put forth clearly by the "property rights" movement and a more murky, communitarian vision that would enjoy greater support if better understood.
5:30 - 7:30 P.M. - USG Solutions Center, 222 W. Hubbard St., Chicago
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Environment KC
Free event
Celebrate the achievements of 2006 and look to the future as AIA Chicago and the Chicago Dept. of Environment renew their Memorandum of Understanding to carry out activities of mutual interest.
Register for this event. Information: 312/670.7770
ULI Chicago Networking Event
6:00 - 8:00 P.M. - The Kerryman, 661 North Clark
Sponsor: Urban Land Institute Chicago
$40.00 for ULI members $50.00 non-members, $10.00 full-time students
An evening of fun, food and holiday cheer at The Kerryman. Beer/wine/soda bar & hors d’oeuvres. In the spirit of giving, monetary donations will be accepted at the event
in support of Children's Memorial Hospital.
6:00 - 8 :00 P.M. - Chicago Center for Green Technology, 445 North Sacramento Boulevard
Sponsor: Chicago Center for Green Technology,
Free event. Registration required.
Presenter: Mark Fick, Chicago Community Loan Funding
Sustainable affordable housing seems in many ways to be contradictory. Join Mark
Fick of Chicago Community Loan Funding, as he explains how the concepts of
affordable housing and sustainable housing are no longer exclusive of each other.
Discussion will focus on the financial aspects of sustainable affordable housing.
Register by
calling the hotline at 312/746.9642, or by emailing your desired class and contact
information.
December 13, Wednesday
Holiday Lunch and 2007 Agenda
12:00 - 1:00 P.M. - The Cliff Dwellers, 200 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Regional and Urban Design KC
$20.00 for members and non-members
Celebrate our accomplishments during 2006 and discuss plans for 2007. Cost is $20 paid at the event, and reservations are essential.
Register for this event. Information: 312/670.7770
12:15 P.M. - John Buck Gallery, Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 South Michigan
Sponsor: Chicago Architecture Foundation
Free event - Eric R. Multhauf lunchtime lecture. Guests are welcome to bring a bag lunch. A Corner Bakery is also on the premises.
1LU
Lecture by Stanley Tigerman, Tigerman McCurry Architects.
12:00 - 1:00 P.M. - USG Solutions Center, 222 W. Hubbard St., 3rd flr.
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Technical Issues KC, USG Corporation, Kirkegaard Associates
Free for members, $15.00 for non-members
1 LU/HSW
Understanding the integration of architectural & acoustical design, and the principles involved in designing an office space to function as a good acoustic environment. As part of the presentation on Open Plan Acoustics, we have created a typical active office acoustical environment in which we can auralize (simulate) different ceiling conditions by augmenting the “natural” acoustical environment with simulated sound reflections. The various conditions include: 1) mineral fiber ceiling NRC~0.55; 2) mineral fiber ceiling NRC~0.75; and 3) glass fiber ceiling NRC~0.95. The different conditions are presented with and without sound masking. Speakers from Kirkegaard Associates:, Dawn Schuette, AIA and Anthony Shou. Speakers from USG Corporation: Rik Master, AIA, and Jim Janning, AIA.
Register for this event. Information: 312/670.7770
Completing the South Lakefront Park System: The Last 4 Miles
Twenty-six miles of Chicago's 30 mile shoreline are public parks, part
of Chicago’s public lakefront park system. Four miles remain in private or quasi-governmental ownership. Starting on the south side, Friends of the Parks and pro bono architects have worked in partnership with south side park advisory councils, neighborhoods and community organizations to develop a vision for completing the south lakefront from 71st Street to the Indiana border. Architects and planners will present the draft plan envisioned by the community for the three uncompleted areas: 71st to 75th Streets, the USX site and Illinois Port District land south of the Calumet River.
Monthly meeting.
1:00 P.M., City Council Chambers, 121 North LaSalle
Open to the public
December agenda (Adobe Acrobat format)(December agenda not yet posted)
December 15, Friday
Antonio Gaudi
6:15 and 7:45 PM - Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 North State
Sponsor: Gene Siskel Film Center
$9.00, $7.00 for students, $5.00 for Film Center members
Just a year after its last engagement in December of 2005, the Film Center is again showing Antonio Gaudi, the 1985 film by Woman of the Dunes director Hiroshi Teshigahara, inspired by the wild, undulating, joyously erupting forms of Barcelona architect Antonio Gaudí. Teshigahara's eye for texture, shape and sensual detail meets Gaudí's whimsy in the cinematic exploration of such masterpieces of visionary architecture as the cathedral of the Sagrada Familia. The contemporary of artists such as Picasso and Joan Miró, Gaudí drew on Barcelona's medieval Romanesque architecture and ancient Arab culture for his inspiration. This film reveals the intricacy and
hallucinatory richness of his concepts through camerawork alone. Forgoing narration, Teshigahara accompanies his images with a brilliantly eclectic selection of music, ranging from baroque harpsichord to glass orchestra. Newly struck 35mm print.
3:15, 4:45, 6:15, and 7:45 PM - Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 North State
Sponsor: Gene Siskel Film Center
$9.00, $7.00 for students, $5.00 for Film Center members
Just a year after its last engagement in December of 2005, the Film Center is again showing Antonio Gaudi, the 1985 film by Woman of the Dunes director Hiroshi Teshigahara, See December 15th entry for details.
12:15 - 1:00 PM - Claudia Cassidy Theater on the second floor of the Cultural Center
Sponsor: Landmarks Illinois
Free Event
Lecture by Stephanie Johnson, City of Aurora Preservation Commission. A survey of existing Sears homes in Aurora has authenticated 136 such homes constructed in forty-two different styles, making the city’s collection of Sears homes one of the largest in the country. Ms. Johnson will discuss the methods used to identify and authenticate this collection, the many styles of Sears houses in Aurora, as well as the stories behind the homes.
Antonio Gaudi
6:15 and 7:45 PM - Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 North State
Sponsor: Gene Siskel Film Center
$9.00, $7.00 for students, $5.00 for Film Center members
photographs taken during the fifties, sixties and seventies. Nickel was an architectural photographer who is remembered for his brave and lonely stand to protect Chicago’s great architecture, and for his dramatic 1972 death in the rubble of Adler and Sullivan’s Stock Exchange Building. He is remembered, too, for the photographs he left behind. Including more than 200 never-before-seen photographs of Nickel’s Chicago, this is a book about one man’s relationship with his city, a remarkably personal story told through compelling photographs.
this type of renovation project include a geothermal heat pump system,
an ungraded building envelope, permeable pavers, a green roof, and a solar/thermal
hot water system, and many other cutting edge features. Special attention will be
paid to the project’s planning process and overall financing which included
numerous financial incentives for building green.
Chicago America's most livable city. In this position, he coordinates policies on land development, architecture, urban design, and sustainable development. Previously, he served as deputy chief of staff to Mayor Daley, and as head of urban design and interim head of the Zoning and Land Use Division at DPD. Mr. Assefa is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Master’s in City Planning, and the University of Illinois, Chicago, with a B.A. in Architecture. 
Visions and Revisions). The 1909 Plan of Chicago is better known as the Burnham Plan, after its principal author, the legendary architect and city planner Daniel Burnham. Full of stirring ideas, vigorous prose, and breathtaking images, the Plan proposed many of the city’s most distinctive features, including its lakefront parks and roadways, the Magnificent Mile, and Navy Pier, and it established the concept of urban planning in the United States. Smith’s concise, accessible, and richly illustrated book incisively examines the background, creation, contents, implementation, and continuing presence of Burnham’s vision of his beloved Chicago and modern urban America.
of the Blackstone Hotel. As announced in 2005, the hotel is undergoing a $112 million renovation with a planned opening in 2007 in a deal between Marriott Renaissance and Sage Hospitality, a Denver-based company. Named for Timothy B. Blackstone, a prominent railroad executive and the founding president of the Union Stock Yards whose mansion had stood on the site, it is planned that the new building will retain its historic name.
"protecting" private property rights from regulation is again at the forefront of public debate. 
showing 
existing 
