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Chicago, Illinois
Memorize the bathwater, memorize the air, there’ll come a time I’ll want to know I was here
The Open Studios Tour that I chose was more than just Moody Nolan and the Rookery. There were four firms to visit, and the biggest name one had to be usual Chicago suspects Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, famous for great big tall buildings like the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Their office did not disappoint, with study models on just about every flat surface that did not have free food and drinks on it.
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill are located in the Inland Steel Building, a SOM modern classic building in the heart of the Loop on Monroe and Dearborn Streets. And while I would normally include a picture of the Inland Steel Building lobby, instead this time I am including a picture from the lobby looking outside. Earlier that day, as I waited inside the lobby of the Radisson Blu Aqua Tower ready to start another fun filled day at A’22, news broke that the US Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe v Wade. After enjoying some free tasty snacks at an architectural firm who designed the world’s tallest building, I descended to street level and was confronted with reality. A same day protest march against the Supreme Court was taking place outside, blocks and blocks of angry Americans rightly upset that their rights were somehow now less than they were the day before. It was honestly heartening to see, and I thought of abandoning my Open Studios Night to join them, despite not knowing where the protest was actually headed, and if it was even headed anywhere in particular at all.
The protest march moved on and so did I, ending up at the last stop of Open Studios Night at Callison RTKL, located on the top floor of the building where the Chicago Architecture Foundation used to be. The building has an open atrium and clear views of multiple other operating architectural offices, including SOM, but the real treat was a view through its porthole windows over the Art Institute and all the way out to Lake Michigan.
A’22 kind of offered a shuttle bus to take visitors from their hotels to McCormick Place, but if given a choice between free shuttle buses and using local public transportation, you probably already know that I’m going to pick the second one. I am a big proponent of using local public transportation networks, not just to pretend like I’m a local, although I think that’s part of it. They always seem to be a great way to feel the character of the city, and sure beat hanging out with only fellow A’22 attendees on their phones on a bus.
From the Radisson Blu Aqua Tower, it was just a short(ish) walk to Millennium Station, an incredibly unintuitive station where Metra Electric connects with McCormick Place, although their schedules could most definitely be streamlined and made less complicated. I was able to use the Metra app to buy tickets, and use my phone to tap in to the CTA, just like the pretend local that I always wanted to be.
I took as many tours as I could, although the schedule most days really only allows for one tour most days. The idea is that everyone’s schedule opens up so that certain events, like keynotes, can be attended by all. The people at AIA tour scheduling however only partially adhere to this principle, and often the tours and keynotes technically don’t overlap but, when accounting for travel time in a busy city, wreak havoc upon one another.
I signed up for ET310 New Chicago River Skyscrapers: Case Studies in Creative Problem Solving months before the AIA announced that day’s keynote speaker, former US President Barack Obama. ET310 was actually a really impressive tour at Wolf Point and its surrounding developments, but as it went on you noticed the crowd getting smaller and smaller as attendees skipped out and started heading back to McCormick Place. I held out as long as I could, took an Uber that took twice as long as it should, and just barely got to McCormick Place in time to see the President speak. They requested no photos of that, which is why you’re not looking of a photo of that now.
As for the photos you’re looking at, you may notice that one of them is not like the others. After skipping out on ET310, I returned the next day in the rain and tried to walk the areas I missed the day before.
After cancelling A’20 and skipping a virtual A’21, it was nice to be back at A’22, and it’s always good to be back in Chicago. And it was nice to see the new home of the Chicago Architecture Foundation, even though it seems like a downgrade in a lot of ways. The new space and new gallery was nice, but its (former) main attractions, its model of Chicago, was a real disappointment. You used to be able to walk around it, see it from every angle, and now its up against a wall and coupled with an unnecessary light show. Although the little tiny working Buckingham Fountain was a nice touch.
But wait, there’s more
Now that you know all about the A’22, do you want to learn about A’19 or even A’06 (it wasn’t called A’06 back then)? If so, following this link to a landing page all about AIA conferences and the places they go to.
