Colombia: Transformed at the Instituto Cervantes, 31 West Ohio, through May 27, 2012

Loop Value: The How Much Does It Cost Shop at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, opening February 17

The Navy Pier Competition Exhibition at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, through Mid-May, 2012

Ceci n?est pas une rêverie: The Architecture of Stanley Tigerman at the Graham Foundation,through May 19, 2012

American City: St. Louis Architecture: Three Centuries of Classic Design at Willis Tower, through May 12, 2012

Architectural Drawing: From Europe to America at ArchiTech Gallery, through April 28, 2012

Neighborhoods Go Green! at the Chicago Architecture Foundation

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First Tuesday Happy Hour and CSI Architectural Trivia Night

5:30 - 8:00 p.m., - Pazzo's Cucina Italiana, 23 East Jackson Boulevard
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Young Architects Forum, CSI Chicago
$5.00 per person. Cash bar. Food and snacks available for purchase. Cash prizes. No wagering.

Architecture Trivia is back! If you were at the Green Door Tavern in 2010 you probably had a blast at this event so we are excited to join with the Construction Specifications Institute again for its Annual Trivia Night. Bring your wits, your worldliness, your history notes, and your dark-rimmed glasses. Let’s have some fun and learn some new things. Details are on the CSI Chicago Web site. And check out thee YAF page at Meetup.com.

Information online.

Colombia Tranformed: Exhibition opening and lecture by David Escobar & Fernando Villa

6:00 p.m. - Instituto Cervantes, 31 West Ohio
Sponsor: Instituto Cervantes
Free event

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition, Columbia: Transformed, on view at the Instituto Cervantes through May 27, 2012

David Escobar is the current Planning Department Commissioner of the City of Medellin, Colombia where he is responsible for the strategic orientation, as well as the urban, social, and economic policies. He studied engineering at EAFIT, Medellin and holds Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge. He has fifteen years of experience in private and public organizations in Colombia. As Chief of Staff for Mayor Sergio Fajardo (2004–2007), the current Governor of the State of Antioquia, he led the Strategic Projects that are responsible for the urban and social transformation of Medellin. He was the campaign manager for Sergio Fajardo for the 2010 presidential race and he leads Smart City strategy program for Colombia.

Fernando Villa, AIA, works in New York City as an architect. He was trained at the Pontificia Bolivariana University in Medellin, Colombia. He lectures internationally on sustainable design and is the international representative of the Colombian Society of Architects in NYC. He will be a juror at the XXIII Colombian Biennial of Architecture this year.

Information: on-line.

Lunch Talks@CAF: How Much Does it Cost?
Chicago’s 7 Most Threatened Historic Places 2012--What is the Cost of Preservation?

12:15 - 1:00 p.m. - Lecture Hall Gallery, Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan
Sponsor: Chicago Architecture Foundation
Free event - arrive early, seating is limited. Guests are welcome to bring a bag lunch.
AIA/CES: 1

Presentation by Jonathan Fine, Executive Director of Preservation Chicago

What is the cost of losing or saving Chicago’s past? In this widely anticipated annual event, Preservation Chicago reveals its list of Chicago’s 7 Most Threatened Historic Places of 2012. The purpose of this program is to draw attention to the importance of the chosen historic buildings and districts, and to indicate how the efforts of Preservation Chicago and neighborhood residents will be directed toward preserving them. Past Chicago 7 announcements have played no small part in the eventual landmarking of irreplaceable buildings and spaces such as The Richard Nickel Studio, 444 N. LaSalle Street, and the Wicker Park Commercial District.

Information: 312/922.3432 or on-line.

Marina City

12:15 - Millennium Room, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 East Washington
Sponsor: Friends of Downtown
Free event

Presenter: Igor Marjanovi?

As Chicago's legendary Marina City approaches its 50th Anniversary, Friends of Downtown will host a talk with Igor Marjanovi?, associate professor of architecture at Washington University in St. Louis who will draw from his book Marina City: Bertrand Goldberg's Urban Vision.

Information: on-line.

Commission on Chicago Landmarks

12:45 p.m., City Hall, 121 North LaSalle, Room 201-A.

Monthly meeting, open to the public. Immediately following the meeting, the Permit Review Committee will hold is regular meeting in Room 1600, 33 North LaSalle.

Information and agenda on-line

Urban Farm and Food Pantry Prototype for the 21st Century

6:00 - 7:30 p.m., - AIA Chicago, 35 East Wacker, #250
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Community Interface Committee
Free event.
Learning units: 1.5 LU/HSW

Based on his teaching and research, Andrew Metter, FAIA, Senior Vice President and Principal Designer at Epstein Global, will discuss a more sustainable method for the production and distribution of food for the hungry in the city of Chicago. Most of the existing large scale urban food depositories and Pantries are based on a model of food production and distribution which has not changed in the last forty years. It is essentially the same model used by large private grocery chains, involving off-site food and dissemination to large distribution centers. In some cases, these distribution centers are then accessed by either individuals or organizations, which truck the goods to smaller, local urban distribution points. In other cases, patrons are required to visit the large facility, which is typically in a suburban, less accessible, location. Moving forward, this model will be unsuitable, and requires rethinking and re-design, from food production techniques and location, to more innovative, mobile, and finer-grained distribution strategies.

Learning Objectives: (1) Describe the structure and operation of the current food bank system. (2) Strategize about ways to make the current system more serviceable and sustainable for an urban population, and flexible enough to adapt to local demographics and needs. (3) Identify the technical constraints and opportunities associated with food production. (4) Understand food distribution typologies, from fixed sites such as urban infill lots, to mobile distribution centers via existing urban network systems such as the CTA, alternative, finer-grained distribution networks will be explored. (5) Appreciate the differing scales of various proposals, such as a vacant infill lot, the recycling of existing building stock, and entire citywide infrastructural systems.

Information and registration online.

Light & Air in Chicago Skyscraper Planning 1879-1934

5:30 - 7:00 p.m. - AIA Chicago, 35 East Wacker, #250
Sponsor: APT Western Great Lakes Chapter, AIA Chicago Historic Resources KC
Free event - RSVP
1.5 CEU, LU/HSW

The light court was among the most important features of Chicago skyscrapers throughout the era between the Great Fire and the Great Depression. Despite its grave implications for lettable area and volume, designers and writers from John Root to William Le Baron Jenney recognized the necessity for sacrificing large areas of floor plates in the name of light and air. While these features have traditionally been understood as primary elements in pre-electrical illumination strategies, their persistence in building plans past the 1912 introduction of affordable tungsten-based electric lighting shows their parallel importance as elements in ventilation schemes.

Thomas Leslie, AIA, Pickard Chilton Professor in Architecture at Iowa State University, will examine the long life and sudden demise of the light court as a barometer of illumination and ventilation technologies in pre-Depression Chicago.

Information and registration on-line.

Bernard Tschumi: Concept and Material

6:00 p.m. - Illinois Institute of Technology, MTCC Auditorium, 3201 South State
Sponsor: College of Architecture, Illinois Institute of Technology
Free event

Lecture by Bernard Tschumi. Principal, Bernard Tschumi Architects, New York

Information: 312/922.3432 or on-line.

Kersten Geers / David van Severen

6:00 p.m. - Gallery 1100, Arts and Architecture Building, UIC, 845 West Harrison
Sponsor: School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago
Free event

Lecture by Kersten Geers / David van Severen, Principals, OFFICE Kersten Geers David van Severen, Brussels

Information: 312/922.3432 or on-line.

Chicago Community Development Commission

1:00 P.M., City Council Chambers, 121 North LaSalle
Open to the public

Monthly meeting.

Meeting schedules and agenda's on-line

Healthcare KC planning meeting

5:30 - 6:30 p.m., - AIA Chicago, 35 East Wacker, #250
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Healthcare KC
Free event

Please join us if your are working in the field of healthcare design or you'd liek to learn more about it. Visit our LinkedIn page.

Information online.

The Role of Designers in Post-Disaster Scenarios: Talca, Chile

12:00 - 1:00 p.m., - AIA Chicago, 35 East Wacker, #250
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Regional & Urban Design KC
Free event. Bring your lunch, a special Chilean treat and beverages provided.
Learning units: 1 LU

This program presents academic work focusing on the reconstruction of post-disaster Talca, Chile, a small historical agricultural town located 300km south of Santiago, in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake which devastated central Chile. Establishment of the COM(M)A studio within the Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects (AIADO) department of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, was fueled by an exploration into the role of designers in post-disaster scenarios. Our speakers will describe the process and results, and how design professionals, social activists, professors, and students combined their skills and their agendas to create a meaningful space and time for the community that they chose to serve.

COM(M)A was conceived in the wake of the two devastating earthquakes in Chile and Haiti during 2010. COM(M)A is a project of the GFRY Studio, an ongoing partnership between SAIC and the Motorola Foundation. COM(M)A was conceived by SAIC Faculty members Odile Compagnon, AIA and Paul Tebben.

Information and registration online.

Seismic Design of Bridges

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., UBS Tower, Michigan I Room, 1 North Wacker
Sponsor: Structural Engineers Association of Illinois,
$300.00 members, $400.00 non-members by April 4, $375.00 and $475.00 respectively, after. Continental breakfast and lunch included.
7.5 hours continuing education credit.

A full-day seminar on the topic of Seismic Design of Bridges using AASHTO LRFD. Topics to be addressed include the AASHTO LRFD Approach to Dynamic Analysis, the AASHTO LRFD Approach to Seismic Loads, Analysis and Design Example using AASHTO LRFD Approach to Dynamic Analysis, and Analysis and Design Example using IDOT Bridge Manual Approach to Seismic Design, (both 1000 years and 500 year EQ)

The seminar will be led by Tony Shkurti, Ph.D., SE, PE, is Senior Structural Engineer and a principal engineer in HNTB’s Chicago office and a nationally recognized authority in structural engineering. His research includes seismic retrofit of bridge substructures, redundancy of bridge superstructures, bracing systems, fatigue and fracture behavior of steel bridges, infrastructure security risk assessment and mitigation

Reservations are required and may be made by calling Donna Childs at the SEAOI office at (312) 726-4165 x200. Registration on-line. Registration form and detailed information on-line.

Lunch Talks@CAF: How Much Does it Cost?
Housing + Transportation Affordability Index

12:15 - 1:00 p.m. - Lecture Hall Gallery, Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan
Sponsor: Chicago Architecture Foundation
Free event - arrive early, seating is limited. Guests are welcome to bring a bag lunch.
AIA/CES: 1

Presentation by Scott Bernstein, President, Center for Neighborhood Technology

How much does it cost to get around? We may know where to buy the cheapest gas or how much a bus ride costs, but it is the built environment that has an enormous and primarily hidden influence on people’s transportation costs. The Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Housing + Transportation (H+T®) Affordability Index uncovers and quantifies transportation costs by location. The Index demonstrates how living in a compact, walkable, transit-connected neighborhood can lower a household’s expenses and its environmental impact. This lunch hour presentation walks through the newly updated H+T Index and explains the implications its findings have on the housing market, sustainability, and quality of life.

Information: 312/922.3432 or on-line.

Katherine Rinne: Plumbing Rome

6:00 p.m. - Illinois Institute of Technology, MTCC Auditorium, 3201 South State
Sponsor: College of Architecture, Illinois Institute of Technology
Free event

Lecture by Katherine Rinne
Project Director, Aquae Urbis Romae: The Waters of the City of Rome, Adjunct Professor of Architecture, California College of the Arts.

Information: 312/922.3432 or on-line.

Tour: Monroe Building Reborn - Tour Full - waitlisted

12:00 - 1:00 p.m., - 104 South Michigan
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Historic Resources KC
Free event for members; $15.00 non-members
1 LU/HSW

Designed by Holabird and Roche and constructed in 1912, the Monroe Building is a significant contributing building in the Michigan Avenue Historic District. The building recently underwent a comprehensive renovation and restoration, led by Holabird and Root. The project included the exterior restoration of the façade and the roof, and interior rehabilitation and modernization. The completed project received the Chicago Architecture Foundation Patron of the Year Award. Project architect Tom Lassin will lead a lunchtime tour of the building explaining the restoration process and challenges faced during the course of the project.

Limited to 20 participants; preference given to AIA Chicago members.

Information online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Mendelsohn's Incessant Visions and South Pond

6:00 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

The first showing in this festival of films on architecture and design is a cinematic meditation about the untold story of Erich Mendelsohn whose life and career were as enigmatic and tragic as the path of the century. In English, directed by Duki Dror. Also on the program is a Sprit of Space's short film, South Pond, on Studio/Gang's Lincoln Park Nature Boardwalk. The program is repeated Saturday, April 14, at 7:15 p.m.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Unfinished Spaces

8:00 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

Cuba's ambitious National Art Schools project, designed by three young artists in the wake of Castro's Revolution, is neglected, nearly forgotten, then ultimately rediscovered as a visionary architectural masterpiece.

In 1961, three young, visionary architects were commissioned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to create Cuba's National Art Schools on the grounds of a former golf course in Havana, Cuba. Construction of their radical designs began immediately and the school's first classes soon followed. Dancers, musicians and artists from all over the country reveled in the beauty of the schools, but as the dream of the Revolution quickly became a reality, construction was abruptly halted and the architects and their designs were deemed irrelevant in the prevailing political climate. Forty years later the schools are in use, but remain unfinished and decaying. Castro has invited the exiled architects back to finish their unrealized dream.

Unfinished Spaces features intimate footage of Fidel Castro, showing his devotion to creating a worldwide showcase for art, and it also documents the struggle and passion of three revolutionary artists .

This program will be repeated April 15th.

The film will be followed with a Question and Answer session with director Benjamin Murray. The program will be repeated April 15 at 7:00 p.m.

Information and purchase tickets online.

BIG BIM Bang – Enterprise BIM and BIG Data – Sharing Data

12:00 - 1:00 p.m., - AIA Chicago, 35 East Wacker, #250
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Practice Management KC, Skender Construction
Free event
Learning units: 1.24

Attend this seminar from your own location or join others, including speaker Timothy Blatner, AIA, at the chapter office. Bring your lunch – beverages provided. The building industry and architecture is going through a transformation. The sharing of data in an interoperable format enables collaboration across multiple teams. This webinar will demonstrate how project data from two owners, the Foundation for California Community Colleges and Kaiser Permanente, share project data from early design, through construction and into the life-cycle. Sharing project data is commonly seen as a challenge, but the reality is that it is possible to move data between BIM and other tools and effectively use it on projects today. Learn how the building industry can effectively use big data and BIM. In a recent BIMStorm, 155 teams used over 35 tools to collaborate with BIM. This webinar will show some of the results.

Information and registration online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Detroit Wild City and The Landfill

5:00 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

Florent Tillon's film begins with familiar but inevitably arresting images of Detroit's decay into postapocalyptic pastoralism, but doesn't end there. While most cinematic pilgrims have portrayed the Motor City as a giant canvas onto which they project their outsider fantasies, Tillon has greater ambitions and greater respect. The obligatory urban tour of empty factories and the abandoned Michigan Central station quickly gives way to a contemplative, nuanced discussion of what futures might actually be possible. As we visit with a variety of Detroiters, we realize that most of what we think we know about Detroit is superficial, and begin to question easy assumptions about urban agriculture, urban pioneering and Detroit’s reversion to a "natural” state. While urban farmer Shirley Robinson suggests "a lot of people would go back to a simple life if they had a choice," outsider historian/pundit Black Monk questions the long-term effect of today's urban pioneering movement. "Urban pioneers find the edge, but don't occupy it," he tells us. "Cities are built by settlers, not pioneers." Tavern proprietor Larry Mongo, on the other hand, likens today's young inbound migrants to those who originally settled Detroit 300 years ago. A minimalist but intelligent travelogue that resists sensationalism, Detroit Wild City focuses on people rather than ruins. It suggests that while macronarratives may help us understand the past, micronarratives will describe the future, and Detroit's destiny will be the product of many individual, small-group and localized efforts.

Also being screened is the short film The Landfill, profiling a small landfill in upstate New York.

This program also screens April 14 at 9:15 p.m.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Architect of Dreams, plus Passive Passion, and The Man Who Built My Childhood

5:15 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

Ian Athfield's architectural designs dot the New Zealand landscape and are keenly sought after by home owners. Intelligent, outspoken, amusing, opinionated and passionate, Athfield, considered by many to be a maverick, is one of New Zealand’s most influential creative figures who bring a unique vision in his practice of almost 40 years.

His buildings and his personality have helped shape our cities and the world we live in. He has a unique highly personal process- he works closely with clients in an interactive way, creating sites that speak to the landscape and to cultural and social needs. His work reflects a distinctly New Zealand identity.

Athfield eschews iconic buildings in favour of an organic approach which respects the sun, the site and existing structures. Architect of Dreams is a film that celebrates a life making buildings that work for people.

Also being screened is are the short films, Passive Passion, and The Man Who Built My Childhood.

This program also screens April 14 at 3:00 p.m.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Eames: The Architect and the Painter, plus Elephant Safaris - Into the Wild

7:00 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

The Architect and the Painter is the first film about Charles and Ray Eames since their deaths and the only film to peer inside their collaboration, their marriage and the "Renaissance studio" they created in a gritty warehouse in Venice, CA. Narrated by James Franco, the film draws from a trove of archival material, primarily the stunning films and photographs produced in mind-boggling volume by Charles, Ray, and their staff during the hyper-creative forty years of the Eames Office. Family members and design historians help guide the story, but it is in interviews with the junior designers swept into the "24-7" world of "The Eamery", that a fascinatingly complex picture of this husband and wife creative team really emerges.

Also being screened is the short film Elephant Safaris - Into the Wild.

This program also screens April 14 at 7:00 p.m.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Mission Statements, plus American Homes

7:15 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

In 1991 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands decided to promote national architecture abroad. All over the world new embassies were realised by prominent Dutch architects. The buildings not only marked the highly original outcome of Dutch architecture, but represented the modern approach of Dutch diplomacy as well. International critics wrote enthusiastically about this new line up of mission architecture and rewarded many of the designs with prices. In 2007 the embassy in Addis Ababa received the most prestigious one: the Aga Khan Award. After 20 years the Dutch government stopped the project for economic and political reasons. The Ministry of Foreign affairs declared on April 8th 2011: “We will move away from the traditional image of an embassy as a building with a flag and a mission staff.”

The film Mission Statements tells the story of four of the most outspoken new embassies. Paramaribo (Suriname) by Lafour & Wijk architects, the first in the row and the most vulnerable as it was built in the former colony Suriname. The Berlin embassy by Rem Koolhaas, that went 4 times over budget and became a hot spot for tourists. The embassy in Maputo (Mozambique) by Claus and Kaan architects, built in a country that just survived a bloody civil war. The embassy in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) by Bjarne Mastenbroek and Dick van Gameren, strongly referring to the Ethiopian monolithic rock hewn churches.

Mission Statements shows the background of the buildings and presents a stunning view behind the curtains of daily life in the embassies. Did the architecture really add to the diplomacy the Netherlands stand for? Mission Statements unveils the underestimated cultural aspect in international diplomacy and the misunderstanding that comes with it.

Also being screened is the short film American Homes, offering an animated history of 1800 years of residential architect in North America.

A Q&A with Director and architect Jord den Hollander follows the films.

This program also screens April 14 at 7:00 p.m.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Pecha-Kucha

3:30 - 4:30 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport, ADFF tent lounge
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

A special edition of Pecha-Kucha - presentations consisting of 20 images, projected for 20 seconds each - hosted by Peter Exley. Presenters to include Jord den Hollender, Brad Lynch, Rujanee Mahakanjana, Ben Murray, Obi Nwazota and Paul De Santis.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: The Pruitt-Igoe Myth, plus Mudgee Tower

9:00 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth tells the story of the wholesale changes that took place in the American city in the decades after World War II, through the lens of the infamous Pruitt-Igoe housing development in St. Louis. At the film's historical center is an analysis of the massive impact of the 1949 Housing Act, which built Pruitt-Igoe and other high-rise public housing of the Fifties and Sixties. This critical piece of legislation also initiated the so-called urban renewal program and prompted the process of mass suburbanization, which emptied American cities of their residents, business and industry. Those that were left behind faced a destitute, rapidly de-industrializing St. Louis, parceled out to downtown interests and increasingly segregated by class and race. The residents of Pruitt-Igoe were among the hardest-hit. Their gripping stories of survival, adaptation and success are at the emotional heart of the film. The domestic turmoil wrought by punitive public welfare policies, the frustrating interactions with a paternalistic and cashstrapped Housing Authority, and the downward spiral of vacancy, vandalism and crime, led to resident protest and action during the 1969 Rent Strike, the first in the history of public housing. And yet, despite this complex history, Pruitt-Igoe has often been stereotyped, with help from a world-famous image of its implosion, and used as an argument against Modernist architecture or public assistance programs. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth seeks to set the historical record straight, to examine the interests in Pruitt-Igoe’s creation, to re-evaluate the rumors and the stigma, to implode the myth.

You can read our post on this documentary here.

Also being screened is the short film Mudgee Tower, which looks at the inspiration, design and construction of this unique and totally sustainable shelter. A beautiful combination where the raw natural materials and elements have created a stylish structure..

This program also screens April 16 at 7:15 p.m.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Pool Party, plus Gather Give Grow

9:15 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

Pool Party is the surprising story of an abandoned swimming pool, the largest in New York City that became the most significant music venue since CBGB's. Both an indie music showcase and an urban history lesson, Pool Party traces the process of gentrification of Williamsburg, Brooklyn through the story of McCarren Pool.

McCarren Pool opened during the Great Depression in 1936 - one of eleven public pools envisioned by New York's first Parks Commissioner, Robert Moses. The largest of its kind, McCarren is the size of a football field, with the capacity to hold a staggering 6800 bathers. Built on the border between Williamsburg and Greenpoint, one of the most diverse corners of Brooklyn, McCarren is the only Depression era pool no longer functioning today.

With a changing neighborhood and hard economic times, McCarren closed in 1983 and quickly became a haven for gangs, junkies, graffiti artists and the homeless. During that time, Williamsburg was a dangerous community but offered cheap rent to artists who could no longer afford Manhattan. Much like the histories of TriBeCa, SoHo, and the East Village, this migration of artists brought life, art and music into the neighborhood eventually making Williamsburg one of the most vibrant places to live in the world.

Abandoned for nearly 25 years, in a now gentrified neighborhood boasting an international music scene, McCarren hosted some of the most beloved music acts for three short summers. Weaving stories of neighborhood residents with never-before-seen archival footage of the New York public pools, the transformation of Williamsburg and McCarren Pool easily translates to gentrified neighborhoods all over the world. Featuring music and performances by Aesop Rock, the Beastie Boys, Black Lips, the Breeders, Deerhunter, The Hold Steady, the Liars, Les Savy Fav, Matt and Kim, MIA, Sonic Youth, Tall Firs, the Ting Tings, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Yo La Tengo,we chronicle the colorful history of McCarren Pool as we celebrate this unique music venue during its final season.

Also being screened is the short film Gather Give Grow, on Archework's Mobile Food Collective

This program also screens April 15 at 9:00 p.m.

Information and purchase tickets online.

St. Wenceslaus Church: A Modern Religious Masterpiece

1:30 - 3:30 p.m., - 3400 North Monticello Avenue
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture KC, Art Deco Society of Chicago, Institute of Sacred Architecture
$10.00 admission, benefiting renovation of this historic church
Learning units: 1.5

Dominic Pacyga, PhD (Columbia College) will speak on the development of Chicago's network of Polish Parishes. Victoria Granacki, AICP (Granacki Historic Consultants) will give a lecture comparing the Architecture of St. Wenceslaus with other Ethnic Churches, and Jacob Kaplan (Forgotten Chicago) will give a lecture comparing the architecture of St. Wenceslaus with other Art Deco churches.

Complimentary issues of Sacred Architecture Journal will be offered to the first 50 guests.

Information and registration online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Architect of Dreams, plus Passive Passion, and The Man Who Built My Childhood

3:00 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

see April 13th entry for details.

A Q&A with director of Passive Passion, Charlie Hoxie, follows the films.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: John Portman: a Life of Building, plus Louis LeRoy, and Into the Garden of Glass and Steel.

3:15 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

Once a maverick who was nearly run out of the American Institute of Architects, John Portman is now recognized as one of the most innovative and imitated architects ever. Over 45 years, Portman's iconic urban statements and eye-popping interiors have risen in 60 cities on four continents to redefine cityscapes in America, and skylines in China and the rest of Asia. The film captures Portman’s approach in an intimate portrait that, by turn, assesses and appreciates Portman's work. Dramatic time-lapse footage shows off Portman's buildings at their best—often in moving sunlight that washes over his facades and spaces.

Also being screened is the short films Louis LeRoy - Endless Work in Time and Space, Into the Garden of Glass and Steel.

A Q&A with director Ben Loeterman follows the films.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Panel Discussion - Architects as Filmmakers

3:30 - 4:30 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport, ADFF tent lounge
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
Free event - no tickets required.

Executive Director of the Graham Foundation Sarah Herda moderates a discussion with Jord den Hollander and Ben Murray.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival:Opera - Architect: A Chamber Opera in Six Scenes.

5:00 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

ARCHITECT, a chamber opera by Lewis Spratlan, was inspired by the work of Louis I. Kahn (1902-1974), a major figure in twentieth-century architecture.ARCHITECT is a meditation on creativity and the inner life of the creator. Events are set in motion by the Trickster god, Momus. The council of gods has expelled this impish minor deity down to earth, where he seeks to inspire mortals to create buildings.

A Q&A with director Jenny Kallick follows the film.

This program is repeated on April 15th.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Biophilic Design: The architecture of Life, plus Minka

5:00 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

Biophilic Design is an innovative way of designing the places where we live, work, and learn. We need nature in a deep and fundamental fashion, but we have often designed our cities and suburbs in ways that both degrade the environment and alienate us from nature. The recent trend in green architecture has decreased the environmental impact of the built environment, but it has accomplished little in the way of reconnecting us to the natural world, the missing piece in the puzzle of sustainable development. Come on a journey from our evolutionary past and the origins of architecture to the world’s most celebrated buildings in a search for the architecture of life. Together, we will encounter buildings that connect people and nature - hospitals where patients heal faster, schools where children’s test scores are higher, offices where workers are more productive, and communities where people know more of their neighbors and families thrive. Biophilic Design points the way toward creating healthy and productive habitats for modern humans.

Also showing is Minka, a short documentary about a remarkable Japanese farmhouse. This program repeats at 9:15 p.m. on April 15th.

A Q&A with director Bill Finnegan follows the films.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Panel Discussion - Architect as Diplomat: Embassies and What They Communicate

5:30 - 6:30 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport, ADFF tent lounge
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
Free event - no tickets required.

WFMT's Victoria Lautman moderates a panel with Jord den Hollander and Eric Keune AIA.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Eames: The Architect and the Painter, plus Elephant Safaris - Into the Wild

7:00 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

see April 13th entry for program details

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Mendelsohn's Incessant Visions and South Pond

7:15 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

See April 13th entry for program details.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Pool Party, plus Gather Give Grow

9:00 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

see April 13th entry for program details

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Detroit Wild City and The Landfill

9:15 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

See April 13th entry for program details.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival:Opera - Architect: A Chamber Opera in Six Scenes.

3:00 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

See April 14 entry for details of this program.

A Q&A with director Jenny Kallick follows the film.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: The Gruen Effect: Victor Gruen and the Shopping Mall

3:15 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

In The Gruen Effect, an architect's life, work, and critical humor become a means to make sense of the cities we live in today. The Viennese architect Victor Gruen is considered the father of the shopping mall. His ideas about urban planning, both influential and abused, have led to cities that serve the new gods of consumption. By tracing Gruen’s path from prewar Vienna to 1950s' America and back to Europe in 1968, the documentary explores the themes and mistranslations that have come to define urban life.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Panel Discussion - Erick Mendelsoh, Architect: Berlin, London, Jerusalem, San Francisco

3:30 - 4:30 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport, ADFF tent lounge
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
Free event - no tickets required.

Michael Rosen AIA of Michael B. Rosen moderates a panel with Kevin Harrington, Robert Nevel and Martha Pollak

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Mission Statements, plus American Homes

4:45 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

See April 13 entry for program details. A Q&A with director Jord den Hollander follows the film.

Information and purchase tickets online.

National Public Housing Museum Gala - An Afternoon of Good Times, A Place Called Home

5:00 to 7:00 p.m. - Salvage One, 1840 West Hubbard
Sponsor: National Public Housing Museum
$150.00, sponsorships also available

The Founding Chair's Award will be presented to Kenny Gamble, Universal Companies, Philadelphia; Keep of the Vision Award to Luis Ubinas of the Ford Foundation, and President's Award to Julia Stasch, The MacArthur Foundation. Keynote speaker will be Steve Pemberton, Author, A Change in the World, Chief Diversity Office and Divisional Vice President, Walgreens.

Buy tickers on-line. Information: on-line.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Robert A.M Stern: 15 Central Park West and the History of the New York Apartment House

5:15 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

Even during the Great Recession of 2008, one new apartment house in New York City continued to set the bar for real-estate prices: 15 Central Park West. Designed by Robert A. M. Stern Architects, the lavish, limestone-clad structure from 61st to 62nd streets is arguably one of the most luxurious residential buildings to rise in the city in decades. Stern deliberately evokes the grand era of New York apartments designed in the 1920s and 1930s, especially the intricately planned architecture of Rosario Candela. Stern, Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, with his own practice in New York, has written a series of books on the history of New York City architecture, in which the high-rise apartment house plays a prominent part. In this film shot in high-definition, Stern explains why apartment buildings of past decades appealed to so many affluent city dwellers and the lessons learned by examining the houses' design and construction.

Also in this program are the short films Up to the Sky - Hearts Tower, New York, Public Form 1, and High Line Phase 2.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Panel Discussion - The Edge of Gruen: Tracing the Influence of the Shopping Mall on the American Landscape

5:30 -6:30 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport, ADFF tent lounge
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
Free event - no tickets required.

Lee Bey, Executive Director, Chicago Central Area Committee moderates a panel with John Macsai, AIA, Anthony Rubano, AIA and Peter Schlossman, AIA.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Unfinished Spaces

7:00 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

See April 12th entry for details.

The film will be followed with a Question and Answer session with director Benjamin Murray.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Lioness Among Lions - The Architect Zaha Hadid

7:15 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

Winner of the prestigious Pritzker prize in 2004 and the Praemium Imperiale in 2009, the English-Iraqi architect and designer Zaha Hadid (born in 1950) has long been controversial. This film spotlights a leading figure in deconstructivism and her visionary achievements around the world: the MAXXI contemporary art museum in Rome, the CMA-CGM tower in Marseille, the Guangzhou Opera and a performing arts centre in Abu Dhabi. It provides an overview of her main projects from London to Hong Kong and in the United Arab Emirates and features commentaries by Tom Krens of the Guggenheim Foundation, architect Patrick Schumacher, photographer Hélène Binet, publisher Francesco Dal Co and stylist Karl Lagerfeld.

Also on this program on the short films School #9 Coop Himmelb(l)au and Studio Gang Architects: Columbia College Chicago MPC.

This program repeats on April 16th at 9:00 p.m.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Mission Statements, plus American Homes

9:15 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

See April 14th entry for details.

Also being screened is the short film American Homes, offering an animated history of 1800 years of residential architect in North America.

A Q&A with Director and architect Jord den Hollander follows the films.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Volume Zero: The Work of Charles Correa

9:30 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

Having built prolifically in India, architect Charles Correa is less known in the west, but nevertheless has received the highest awards worldwide for his work. Born in India and trained in the United States, Correa's architecture incorporates the philosophies of both traditions. Although often austere and modern, Correa's work is never cold or alienating; it is based in the concerns of daily life, culture, and climate and he frequently collaborates with other artists, including his wife Monica, a textile artist. The film examines Correa's life and work, presenting many interviews with Correa himself explaining his concepts, as well as stills, diagrams, animation and archival footage. Connections between film and architecture abound in Correa's work, describing both as a succession of images, and generous footage of his buildings allow the viewer to experience his beautifully conceived spaces. This rich overview brings the warmth and care in Correa's work to life, and clearly expresses his central obsessions and ideas. Designing at numerous scales, from the family house to urban planning, Correa's continuing themes include the ritualistic pathway, the metaphysics of open air spaces, and the concept of the "non-building". The film captures the delicate qualities of his work and opens up Correa's humanistic thought process to generate architectural space and form.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Lecture with Giancarlo Mazzanti introduced by Vladimir Belogolovsky

6:00 p.m. - Instituto Cervantes, 31 West Ohio
Sponsor: Instituto Cervantes
Free event

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition, Columbia: Transformed, on view at the Instituto Cervantes through May 27, 2012

Giancarlo Mazzanti studied architecture at the Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá (1987), and History and Theory of Architecture and Industrial Design at the University of Florence, Italy (1991). He has taught widely in South America and the United States. His most recent built works include the Timayui Kindergarten in Santa Marta, School Flor de Campo in Cartagena, the sports complex for the 2010 South American Games in Medellin, and España Library Park also in Medellin. In 2006 winner of the Colombian Biennial of Architecture on the category of Public space design, in 2008 he won the Best Work award at the 6th Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urban Planning and in 2010 winner of the Global Award for Sustainable Achitecture 2010, Paris - France along with Steve Baer, Junya Ishigami, Snohetta, Troppo Arch. His work is featured in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The lecture will be introduced by exhibition curator Vladimir Belogolovsky, founder of the New York City-based Intercontinental Curatorial Project, curates architectural exhibitions worldwide. Trained as an architect at Cooper Union, he is the author of books: Felix Novikov, Green House, Soviet Modernism: 1955-1985, and Harry Seidler (Rizzoli, 2014). His Harry Seidler exhibition will travel to Europe, North America, and Australia from 2012 to 2014.

Information: on-line.

Dennis Doordan Lecture - Organic Design and Classical Architecture: A Chicago Story

6:00 p.m. - Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 40 East Erie
Sponsor: Institute of Classical Architecture & Art Chicago Midwest
Free for members, $25.00 non-members. RSVP required.

In his autobiography Frank Lloyd Wright describes an offer from Daniel Burnham to send him to Paris for four years to acquire a Beaux Arts education. As fantastic as the idea of Frank Lloyd Wright at the French École may seem today the intriguing question remains: what did Burnham see in the young Wright to prompt such a generous offer? Beyond this episode, what points of contact existed between the organic ideal championed by Sullivan and Wright and the classical tradition?

Dennis Doordan is an architectural and design historian, museum consultant and co-editor of Design Issues, a journal devoted to the history, theory, and criticism of design and recognized as one of the leading academic journals devoted to design studies. He has a Ph.D. from Columbia University and a B.A. from Stanford University. He holds a joint appointment in the School of Architecture and the Department of Art, Art History and Design at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to joining the faculty at Notre Dame in 1990, Doordan taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Tulane University. In 1999 and again in 2006, Doordan received the John A. Kaneb Award for Undergraduate Teaching at the University of Notre Dame.

RSVP on-line. Information: on-line.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: The Pruitt-Igoe Myth, plus Mudgee Tower

7:15 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

See April 13th entry for details.

You can read our post on this documentary here.

Also being screened is the short film Mudgee Tower, which looks at the inspiration, design and construction of this unique and totally sustainable shelter. A beautiful combination where the raw natural materials and elements have created a stylish structure..

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Robert A.M Stern: 15 Central Park West and the History of the New York Apartment House

7:00 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

see April 15 entry for details.

Also in this program are the short films Up to the Sky - Hearts Tower, New York, Public Form 1, and High Line Phase 2.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: Lioness Among Lions - The Architect Zaha Hadid

7:15 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

See April 15th entry for details.

Also on this program on the short films School #9 Coop Himmelb(l)au and Studio Gang Architects: Columbia College Chicago MPC.

Information and purchase tickets online.

Architecture & Design Film Festival: The Gruen Effect: Victor Gruen and the Shopping Mall

9:15 p.m., - Music Box Theater, 3733 North Southport
Sponsor: Architecture and Design Film Festival
$11.00 general admission, $8.00 students

Information and purchase tickets online.

Passive House Projects: U.S. and International Case Studies

6:00 - 7:30 p.m., - AIA Chicago, 35 East Wacker, #250
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Environment KC
Free for members; $15.00 non-members
Learning units: 1.5 CEH/HSW/SD

George Sullivan (Eco Smart Building) will present and field questions regarding specific design considerations related to Passive House projects done in U.S. and around the world. The case studies will include a review of the Full Revolution Farm, a 7,000-square-foot private home on a 7-acre sustainable micro-farm. The structure was designed to exceed the Energy Star Version 3 and the proposed Energy Star Version 4 standards for energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality. This is the first Commercial Passive House project in the US to meet the German Passive House Standard once built, tested, commissioned, and certified by Passive House International.

George will review unique passive house design features and system including: advanced air sealing protocol, thermal bridge-free construction, SIP curtain wall system, passive horizontal geoexchange system for intake air tempering and dehumidification, earth tube supply and return for all ventilation system requirements, passive and active chilled beams and water to water heat pump energy balancing system, etc.

Learning Objectives: (1) Understand the basic philosophy behind the Passive House design. (2) Compare national and international Passive House design standards. (3) Discuss the rationale for implementing Passive House design. (4) Review case study-projects displaying Passive House design and performance.

Information and registration online.

Building the New Children’s Memorial Hospital

7:30 a.m., registration/continental breakfast, 8:00 - 9:00 a.m., program - AIA Chicago Conference Room, 35 East Wacker, 2nd floor
Sponsor: Northwestern University McCormick School of Engineering
Free event. Seating limited: RSV{

Presentation by James Gimpel, FAIA, Director, Facility Development, Children’s Memorial Hospital

RSVP via email.

Green Roof Boot Camp

8:30 a.m. - 500 p.m., - Chicago Center for Green Technology, 445 North Sacramento
Sponsor: AIA Chicago, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities North America
Learning units: 7.5 LU/HSW/SD

Get 10% off Green Roof Professional (GRP) training in Chicago, North America’s most active green roof market, and earn up to 30 Continuing Education Hours!

The Green Roof Professional (GRP) accreditation program is comprised of four full-day courses that offer participants from a diverse range of disciplines the knowledge and skills required to successfully market, design, budget, install and maintain green roofs. Green Roof Design 101, Green Roof Infrastructure: Design and Installation 201, Green Roof Waterproofing and Drainage 301 and Green Roof Plants and Growing Media 401 are recommended training for individuals preparing to write the accreditation exam. Each course also includes a 100+ page course manual. GRHC is a registered continuing education provider with AIA/CES, GBCI, LA CES, and APLD.

Register with the discount code AIAmember10.

Information and registration online.

Lunch Talks@CAF: How Much Does it Cost? The Cost of Water

12:15 - 1:00 p.m. - Lecture Hall Gallery, Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan
Sponsor: Chicago Architecture Foundation
Free event - arrive early, seating is limited. Guests are welcome to bring a bag lunch.
AIA/CES: 1

Presentation by Josh Ellis, Metropolitan Planning Council

Rain is free, but when it comes to water, everything else – treatment, pumps, pipes, drains, meters, more treatment – comes with a cost. Problems arise when the price we pay doesn’t match the cost. Whether the pipes leak, mains break, or our waterways get contaminated is up to us. We get what we pay for… so in a metropolitan region with, hundreds of sewage discharge points to our rivers, thousands of miles of pipe, millions of people, and billions of square feet of impervious pavement, what exactly should we be paying for when it comes to water? Join CAF and the Metropolitan Planning Council’s Josh Ellis for a lunchtime discussion of the dollars and cents/sense of our region’s water resources.

Information: 312/922.3432 or on-line.

Green Peril and Promise: Risk Management for Green Design

5:00 - 7:00 p.m., - AIA Chicago, 35 East Wacker, #250
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Practice Management and Environment KCs
Free for members; $15.00 non-members
Learning units: 2 CEH/HSW

Using proposal and contract-writing as a creative process that can be used in presenting a clear case for green design benefit in contractual terms, that creates contracts that share the risk and responsibility across the entire teams performance including building operations, that will encourage and define the best way to achieve a Green agenda without unduly burdening the design professional with the risks involved, and showing how to carry this throughout from beginning to end is the goals of this presentation.

Panelists: Daniel Dorfman (Harris Winick LLP) explaining the legal risks of green design; Daniel Buelow and Thomas Harkins (Willis A&E Group) speaking on risk management for green design; and Douglas Farr, AIA (Farr Associates) will present a case study to explain how his firm sets client expectations to avoid conflicts over objectives and performance

Learning Objectives: (1) Participants will be able to understand changing demands on architects in the current and future market relative to costs, scheduling, and systems of delivery for green/sustainable design. (2) Participants will be able to identify green building design elements and performance that can be promised in the proposal and contract agreement phase of defining and securing a green project. (3) Participants will be able to recognize the various legal risks associated with green design and how to manage them. (4) Participants will be able to recognize successful methodologies that maintains appropriate expectations and team participation that fosters fulfillment of green design goals set up in the agreement stage.

Information and registration online.

Are You Up to Date? ADA Standards for Accessible Design

5:30 - 7:45 p.m., - KI Furniture showroom, Merchandise Mart, Suite 1181
Sponsor: AIA Chicago
Free for members; $15.00 non-members
Learning units: 1.5 CEH/HSW

The 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design went into effect on March 15, 2012. Learn about the changes in the new ADA Standards, recognize challenges architects face in providing ADA compliant designs, and ensure that your project is ADA compliant in order to avoid potential liability. Panelists: Stacy Campbell-Viamontes and Laurie Randolph, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP; Joseph Russo, Deputy Commissioner of Compliance at the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities. All attendees will receive a printed copy of the 2010 ADA Standards. The U.S. Department of Justice has released official guidance to explain the code changes and has also prepared a Primer for Small Businesses to explain the changes

Limited to 50 participants. Light refreshments at 5:30; program starts at 6:15.
Learning Objectives: (1) Identify the changes in the new 2010 National ADA Standards for Accessible Design and how these differ from the previous ADA standards, Chicago Building Code and Illinois Accessibility Code. (2) Recognize challenges architects face in providing ADA compliant designs. (3) Ensure that your project is ADA compliant in order to avoid liability and potential lawsuits. (4) Understand architects rights and procedure if they become involved in an ADA lawsuit.

Information and registration online.

The Super-Insulated Window

12:00 - 1:00 p.m., - AIA Chicago, 35 East Wacker, #250
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Technical Issues KC
Free for members, $15.00 non-members
Learning units: 1 CEH/HSW/SD

Energy costs are on the minds of everyone. Windows have typically been the best places for air leaks to occur and worst locations for thermal performance in the building envelope. This program details the benefits of implementing super-insulated windows for architects, builders, and homeowners who demand the very best in quality, environmental, and energy efficient design. This program will be presented by Kjell Hatlehol from H Window, the first U.S. window manufacturer to be accredited as a chain-of-custody certified supplier to offer FSC Certified wood windows and doors.

Bring your lunch; beverages provided

Information and registration online.

Myth Buster: New Perspectives on the Chicago School

12:15 - 1:00 p.m. - Chicago Cultural Center, 77 West Randolph, Claudia Cassidy Theater, 2nd floor
Sponsor: Landmarks Illinois
Free event

Presentation by Jean Guarino, architectural historian

Were architects of the "Chicago School" really concerned about symbolically expressing the steel frame construction of their skyscrapers? Did these 19th century towers influence the work of 20th century European modernists? Jean Guarino will address some of the myths surrounding the "Chicago School" while examining the contemporary concerns that played a major role in the appearance of Chicago's distinctive skyscrapers during the heroic period of the 1880s and early 1890s: labor strife, height limits, sanitation, and above all, economics.

Information: on-line.

Chicago Plan Commission

Time and place tentative: 1:00 P.M., City Council Chambers 121 N. LaSalle Street
Open to the public

Commission meeting and schedule and agenda's on-line

Why Modernism Matters: Docomomo and Preserving Modern Architecture

5:30 - 7:00 p.m. - Häfele America Chicago Showroom, 154 West Hubbard
Sponsor: Häfele America Chicago Showroom, Save Prentice Coalition
Free event. Registration required
1.0 LU/HSW, AIA

As President of DoCoMoMo/US (The Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites, and Neighborhoods of the Modern Movement) and author of Preserving Modern Architecture, Theo Prudon, understands the importance of Modern buildings and sites across the US. Because of their relatively recent age, their innovative designs, and experimental materials, buildings from the mid-century often do not receive the proper recognition and respect they deserve. Copies of Mr. Prudon’s book Preservation of Modern Architecture will be available for sale and signing.

Part of the lecture series, Chicago Modern: More than Mies.

Registration beginning April 5 on-line. Information: on-line.

ARE Review Course: Construction Documents & Services

6:00 - 8:45 p.m., - AIA Chicago, 35 East Wacker, #250
Sponsor: AIA Chicago
$30.00

A review course for those preparing to take the Architectural Registration Exam (ARE) required for licensure. The course will cover each of the seven exam divisions with eleven lectures on Thursdays and nine optional tutorials on Mondays. Mike Newman (SHED Studio principal; Adjunct Associate Professor at IIT; Adjunct at SAIC) coordinates the course and teaches many of the sessions. Other architects and engineers will lead the remaining sessions.

While no lecture can cover the entire range of issues within each topic area, these classes will give you a balanced sense of the type of subject matter that is on the exam and provide a strong base for individual study and use of study guides.

Register for the entire course at the cost of ten lectures or attend only the sessions you need. Handouts for each lecture will be sent by e-mail to participants on morning of each Thursday class for printing. Sample problems and answer sheets will be distributed at each Monday tutorial.

This year we’re trying a new schedule, one with breaks between topics to encourage participants to take the ARE exams throughout the course and move forward to a successful completion of the exam process.

Beverages and snacks will be provided at all classes and tutorials.

Information and registration online.

Gordon Gill, AIA :: Form Follows Performance

7:30 p.m. - Unity Temple, 875 Lake Street, Oak Park
Sponsor: Unity Temple Restoration Foundation
$12.00 members, $15.00 non-members

Nowhere is the global nature of today's economy more evident than in the field of architecture. Gordon Gill, partner at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture and award-winning designer of supertall, super-sustainable skyscrapers -- including Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia -- discusses his groundbreaking design language.

Information and tickets on-line.

Tour: Growing Home’s Wood Street Urban Farm

10:00 - 11:00 a.m., - 5814 South Wood Street
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Community Interface Committee
$10 donation to Growing Home will be collected at the door.
Learning units: 1 CEH/HSW

The mission of Growing Home is to operate, promote, and demonstrate the use of organic agriculture as a vehicle for job training, employment, and community development. We’ll learn about its farming methods, crop rotations and community involvement. We will tour the grounds and witness the late winter/first cutting season of the farm. Over the past year, the farm has also been working on an expansion project, which will also be visited. Insights on how the City’s new zoning amendments for urban agriculture projects are effecting the planning of this expansion will be discussed.

Special projects manager Larry O’Toole is very well versed in organic agriculture and will share information that can inform many aspects of the design process in urban agriculture projects. Join us in the fifth event of a yearlong exploration of the role architects can play in the development of urban agriculture and community-centered food systems in the Chicago area.
Limited to 20 participants. This tour will take place rain or shine so dress appropriately. Street parking should be easy to find. Meet on the deck outside of the building.

Information and registration online.

Digital Design at SOM

5:30 p.m. - The Arts Club of Chicago, 201 East Ontario
Sponsor: SOM Chicago
Free event. RSVP. Reception to follow

Digital Design at SOM: The Past, The Present and the Future Experiences and Lessons from a Platform for Practice is a panel discussion with participants Nicholas Adams, Vassar College; Carrie Byles, AIA, Director, SOM; Kristine Fallon, FAIA, Former Assoc., SOM; Doug Stoker, AIA, Former Partner, SOM; Richard F. Tomlinson II, FAIA, Managing Partner, SOM; Nicholas Weingarten, FAIA, Former Assoc. Partner, SOM

RSVP via email by Thursday, April 19th.

Wiel Arets

6:00 p.m. - Gallery 1100, Arts and Architecture Building, UIC, 845 West Harrison
Sponsor: School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago
Free event

Lecture by Wiel Arets, Founder, Wiel Arets Architects, Maastricht/Amsterdam/Zurich

Information: 312/922.3432 or on-line.

Tour: Chicago Theological Seminary - Design for a 21st Century Mission

6:00 - 7:00 p.m., - 1407 East 60th Street (University of Chicago campus)
Sponsor: AIA Chicago Design, IFRAA, Education KCs
Free for members, $15.00 non-members. Limited to 30 participants.
Learning units: 1 CEH/HSW/SD

Chicago Theological Seminary, an affiliated seminary of the United Church of Christ, enjoys a proud legacy of progressive education and preparation for future religious leaders in a multitude of ministries. In 2011, the Seminary moved into a new 80,000 sf facility design by Nagle Hartray Architecture, located just south of the Midway Plaisance at the University of Chicago. The distinct architectural identity of the new building reflects a forward thinking interpretation of the mission of CTS in the 21st century. An emphasis on asymmetry with balance as a key formal strategy in developing the building's massing provided an interesting contrast not only to typical religious iconographic architecture but also to large portions of the architecture found on campus.

Nagle Hartray partner Dirk Danker, AIA and project architect Scott Cryer, AIA will lead a tour of this projected LEED-Silver building, describing its architecture, sustainable features such as the utilization of university steam and chilled-water plants, and its role in providing faculty and students a radically new environment for religious education.

Information and registration online.

Getting Off The Grid! reception

5:30 - 7:30 p.m., - bulthaup Chicago, 165 West Chicago Avenue, Ste. 200
Sponsor: AIA Chicago, Bulthaup
Free event. KBIS guests are welcome.

Latrobe Prize recipients Martin Felsen, AIA, and Sarah Dunn of UrbanLab will present a brief overview of Growing Energy/Water: Using the Grid to Get Off the Grid, an effort to develop a tool that makes it simpler for individuals and local governments to work together to reduce environmental impacts associated with energy and water consumption, for which they received this important award. Listen to Martin discuss the study in an AIA podcast.

Socialize and network over cocktails and hors d'oeuvres with industry colleagues and hear a brief overview of UrbanLab's provocative study that was supported by the prestigious $100,000 grant from the AIA College of Fellows.

Information and registration online.

Utopie: Encounters and Missed Encounters

6:00 p.m., - Madlener House, 4 West Burton Place
Sponsor: The Graham Foundation
Free event. RSVP

A lecture by Craig Buckley, who teaches at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, where he is also the Director of Publications. His research focuses upon relationships between architectural practice, new genres of publication, and politics in the postwar period.

Starting from the recent anthology of writings, Utopie: Texts and Projects 1967–1978 (Semiotext(e) and MIT Press, 2011), Buckley’s talk will focus on the production of the Utopie group, a collection of architects, urbanists, and sociologists that emerged in the cracks between several disciplines in the late 1960s. While the group’s collaboration is often seen as parallel to the simultaneous rise of interdisciplinarity within the academy and in large urban planning initiatives, for Utopie such a collaboration remained distinct from, and opposed to these larger institutional trends. The talk will reexamine the demands that such group formations placed upon the intellectual and pedagogical culture of architecture during the late 1960s in order to consider what its legacies may be today.

The talk will be followed by an open discussion moderated by Sara Knox Hunter of Summer Forum for Inquiry and Exchange. Conversation will then continue with a reception in the library and Graham bookshop where Utopie: Texts and Projects 1967–1978 and other related titles will be available for sale.

Information and RSVP online.

Lunch Talks@CAF: How Much Does it Cost?
Bus Rapid Transit: Chicago’s New Route to Opportunity

12:15 - 1:00 p.m. - Lecture Hall Gallery, Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan
Sponsor: Chicago Architecture Foundation
Free event - arrive early, seating is limited. Guests are welcome to bring a bag lunch.
AIA/CES: 1

Presentation by Peter Skosey, Vice President Metropolitan Planning Council

The money you spend at the gas pump or drop into a bus or train fare box is just a fraction of the $7.3 billion metropolitan Chicago wastes each year due to congestion. To improve transportation options and keep more money in people’s pockets (and the public coffers), cities around the world are implementing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), a cost-effective way of using existing streets to provide commuters with a fast, affordable and green way to travel. One of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s first-term priorities is to establish a BRT route, and the Chicago Transit Authority and Chicago Dept. of Transportation are exploring its potential along multiple routes. Come learn how BRT’s modern technology, sleek design, and smart implementation may make it Chicago’s best bet yet at beating congestion..

Information: 312/922.3432 or on-line.

(Poli)FORM YOUR NETWORK reception

5:30 - 7:30 p.m., - Poliform, 445 North Franklin
Sponsor: AIA Chicago, Poliform
Free event.

Are you in Chicago for KBIS, the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show? Or are you interested in networking with architects and others in the design industry? Then join AIA Chicago’s Young Architects, Small Practitioners Group, Interiors, Residential and Design KCs for this free networking opportunity at the Poliform furniture showroom, including cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. This event is open to the public.

Information and registration online.

SEAOI Midwest Bridge Symposium

7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Maggiano’s Little Italy, 111 West Grand
Sponsor: Structural Engineers Association of Illinois,
$250.00 members, $350.00 non-members by April 14, $300.00 and $400.00 respectively, after.
7.5 hours continuing education credit.

The Symposium is comprised of a single session with a continental breakfast and a delicious family-style lunch. It is anticipated that the session will include fourteen presentations, including a Keynote Lecture provided by Executive Director for Bridges of Prosperity, Avery Louise Bang. Avery will speak on her experience ‘Building Bridges to Prosperity’. Since the Symposium is limited to a single session, attendees benefit from the presentation shared in every presentation and presenters are ensured a large audience.

Registration form and detailed information on presentations on-line.

The Rebirth of the East Loop and State Street

7:45 a.m., registration, 8:15 a.m., program, 9:00 - 9:15 a.m., Q&A- the Union League, 65 West Jackson, Main Lounge
Sponsor: Urban Land Institute Chicago Chapter
$50.00 for members; $70,00 members, $15.00 student member, $25.00 student non-member, $30.00 Young Leader members

Once the ugly step-child of downtown Chicago, the East Loop has seen a dramatic revitalization over the past decade. Retail has boomed along State Street, residential developments have brought new people to the area, and office tenants are looking at the area. Please join ULI Chicago for a discussion about the future of the East Loop and State Street. We will discuss:

• What types of new developments will work in the East Loop?
• What types of office tenants want to be in the East Loop?
• How will State Street retail continue to evolve?
• How are universities shaping the real estate environment?
• Where are the biggest profit opportunities as this redevelopment continues?

Presenters will include Alicia M. Berg, Vice President, Campus Environment, Columbia College Chicago; Michael A. Klein
Principal, GlenStar Properties, LLC; David Stone, Founder & Principal, Stone Real Estate, and Ty Tabing, Executive Director, Chicago Loop Alliance

Information and registration on-line.

ARE Review Course: Schematic Design

6:00 - 8:45 p.m., - AIA Chicago, 35 East Wacker, #250
Sponsor: AIA Chicago
$30.00

Information and registration online.

Gunny Harboe Tour of Unity Temple

7:00 p.m. - Unity Temple, 875 Lake Street, Oak Park
Sponsor: Unity Temple Restoration Foundation
$65.00 members, $75.00 non-members. All proceeds benefit the restoration of Unity Temple.

Gunny Harboe, award-winning historic preservation architect, will lead an in-depth behind the scenes tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple. The tour will offer a glimpse into Wright's vision for the building and Harboe's plan for restoring and adapting it to the 21st Century. Participants will get hands-on experience with building materials including bronze lettering, light fixtures, plaster and art glass. They will develop a truly unique understanding of the Master Plan for Restoration.

Gunny Harboe, FAIA, is the author of the "Unity Temple Restoration Master Plan" (2006) and Principal of Harboe Architects. He has brought back to life some of Chicago's most iconic architecture.

The tour will include a question and answer portion with Gunny. Light refreshments will be served.

Information and tickets on-line.

The Halo Economic Effect of Historic Sacred Places

12:00 -1:00 p.m. - Pierce Hall at the Chicago Temple, 77 West Washington
Sponsor: Partners for Sacred Spaces, Loyola University
Free event. Space limited. RSVP

Since its founding in 1989, Partners for Sacred Places has worked to build a clear and convincing case for the centrality of sacred places in the life and health of communities. In 2010, Partners and the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice concluded a pilot study, The Halo Effect, of the economic impact of houses of worship. We found that the average Philadelphia congregation contributed $4.3 million annually to the economy.

In January 2012, Partners, Penn and Loyola University Chicago launched their Halo Effect research in Chicago. With preliminary data in from congregations and parishes across the city, The Halo Effect research is poised to transform Chicagoans' understanding of the role of their city's historic houses of worship in community and economic development.

Learn more about sacred places surveyed, understand how their responses translate into dollar values, hear the impact of this data on their work and their communities, and To reflect on the implications for the City of Chicago

Information : 866/796.0297 x 93 RSVP to Amy Schachman.

Doug Garofalo Memorial Event

4:00 - 7:00 p.m. - Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 South Cornell
Sponsor: Hyde Park Arts Center
Free event, open to the public

The Hyde Park Art Center is honored to host a public memorial celebrating the life and work of visionary architect Doug Garofalo.

The organization is especially grateful to Doug for his Chicago AIA- and Driehaus Award-winning design of the Art Center facility. In designing the structure’s interior, Doug demonstrated a nuanced understanding of the Art Center’s core values. His unique vision resulted in a building that embodies the central themes of the organization’s mission: accessibility between artists and the public, transparency of the process of art making and exhibiting, and active experimentation with technology and concepts.

Doug’s tremendous contributions to architecture in Chicago, and architectural practice and education the world over, will remain the remarkable legacy of an extraordinary man and a stunning career.

Information on-line.

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