Articles by Zach Mortice

Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art Renovation

Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art Renovation Will Cater to a Wider Public

March 1, 2017

The $16 million project will convert 12,000 square feet of interior space into free and publicly accessible cultural and social venues.

Marion Mahony Griffin, Unbound

A new exhibition shines a light on the life of America’s most influential yet least known early 20th century female architect.

Zach Mortice

October 31, 2016

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The historical record left by architect Marion Mahony Griffin has been obscured by time, distance, and the prejudices of her age and profession.

Chicago Architecture Biennial Announces 2017 Curators and Theme

The showcase’s second edition, themed “Make New History” will focus on the relationship between art and architecture, and history and modernity.

Zach Mortice

September 22, 2016

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After the runaway success of last year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB), organizers announced plans for the 2017 edition.

Sparkling New Dorm by Jeanne Gang Opens at the University of Chicago

Studio Gang’s Campus North Residential Commons looks to build community.

Zach Mortice

September 13, 2016

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To make way for the University of Chicago Campus North Residential Commons, the school demolished Harry Weese’s 1960 Pierce Tower, who’s stacked bays and neo-mansard crown showcased some of the University of Chicago’s least confident mid-century architecture on the famously Collegiate Gothic campus.

Review of Playboy Architecture, 1953-1979

A new exhibition examines architecture’s role in mid-century America’s fantasy creation.

Zach Mortice

May 25, 2016

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For some, architecture has a unique ability to transpose fantasies into reality. And if you were an urbane heterosexual male in the last half of the 20th century, there weren’t many better fantasy generators than Playboy.

A New National Public Housing Museum Begins in the Gap Between “House” and “Housing”

Zach Mortice

October 27, 2015

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For its first home, the National Public Housing Museum in Chicago fittingly chose a local public housing architect—not a globetrotting museum designer. After funding is secured, Landon Bone Baker Architects (LBBA) will adaptively reuse the last standing Jane Addams Home—one of the first public housing projects built in the city, named after a Progressive-era reformer—for the fledgling institution. It’s a unique-meta exercise for LBBA, which has excelled at designing community-oriented dwellings in a city with a tortured housing legacy. A museum dedicated to a stigmatized building type isn’t an intuitive choice, but LBBA’s Peter Landon says a closer look reveals

Chicago Architecture Biennial Preview

Zach Mortice

September 21, 2015

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Chicago’s Architecture Biennial, kicking off October 3, will showcase a broad range of work. Artist Bryony Roberts will enlist a drill team to perform at Mies van der Rohe’s Federal Center. With more than 100 projects from every inhabitable continent descending on Chicago for the city’s first architecture biennial, the work on display might seem to be grounded in a placeless globalist ether rather than the dozen represented countries. At least nine of the participating practices are located in two or more places at once, with one partner splitting time in two locations, or two partners based thousands of miles

Chicago's 606 Elevated Park Set for Weekend Opening

Zach Mortice

June 3, 2015

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A view of Chicago's 606 park, set to open Saturday. Chicago’s 606, the nation’s second elevated rails-to-trails park, will open June 6, and its designers and client have taken pains to ensure that it’s a unique expression of the Second City, not just to be compared to New York’s High Line. In form, function, and funding, the 606’s evolution has taken a different path. “The High Line is a bridge with a garden on it,” said Matthew Urbanski, of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the project’s lead designers. “This is a landscape.”Located on the former route of the derelict Bloomingdale industrial

In Texas, Even Arts Districts are Supersize

Zach Mortice

February 9, 2009

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Correction appended on February 27, 2009 Located just north of the city center, the Dallas Arts District, established in 1983, spreads across 68 acres, or 19 blocks—making it the largest of its kind in the nation. Beyond its impressive size, it boasts Renzo Piano's Nasher Sculpture Center (2003) and I.M. Pei's Meyerson Symphony Center (1989).

Krueck + Sexton Defies Conventions in Washington, D.C.

Zach Mortice

January 20, 2009

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Although Chicago-based Krueck + Sexton is well known for projects like Millennium Park’s Crown Fountain or the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies on Michigan Avenue, the 18-year-old architecture firm is designing its first speculative office project just now. Image courtesy Krueck + Sexton Developer Tishman Speyer commissioned Krueck + Sexton to design two 12-story, glass-clad office buildings in Washington, D.C. Related Links: Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies Developer Tishman Speyer commissioned Krueck + Sexton to design two 12-story, glass-clad office buildings in Washington, D.C.’s emerging North of Massachusetts Avenue neighborhood, or NoMa. Currently one tower is under construction and will

Credits: 1 AIA LU/HSW; 1 AIBD P-CE; 0.1 ICC CEU; 0.1 IACET CEU

In this course, you will learn about the benefits of utilizing terra cotta wall cladding as well as how they are manufactured and installed.

Credits: 1 AIA LU/HSW; 1 AIBD P-CE; 0.1 ICC CEU; 0.1 IACET CEU

This course will examine how noncombustible steel deck framing makes it possible to meet stringent building and fire codes in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) zones.