Looking at events as far back as the 1933 exhibition “Early Modern Architecture in Chicago,” Chicagoisms is remarkable for the breadth of its topics and the depth of its essays. From more abstract ventures like tracking the boom-and-bust cycle of Chicago’s commitment to architecture and the influence of the Chicago grid system of Mies van der Rohe, to more straightforward studies of the “Americanization” of Berlin, the editors have chosen essays that convey the complex and varied history and culture of Chicago’s architecture. More than simply an architectural biography of the city, Chicagoisms shows Chicago to have an important role as a catalyst for international development and pinpoints its remarkable influence around the world. The contributors explore topics as diverse as Daniel Burnham’s vision and OMA’s student center for the Illinois Institute of Technology, and show them to all be indelibly products of Chicago. This volume is published to coincide with the exhibition Chicagoisms: The City as Catalyst for Architectural Speculation opening at the Art Institute of Chicago, opening in June 2013.
Reviews
Table of Contents
Preface
Stanley Tigerman
Palace of Culture – Auditorium Building, Adler & Sullivan, 1889
Robert Bruegmann
Self-Equilibrating Spectacle – Ferris Wheel, George W. G. Ferris, 1893
William F. Baker
Introduction : Chicago as Idea
Alexander Eisenschmidt and Jonathan Mekinda
Upstream – Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, Isham Randolph and the Sanitary District of Chicago, 1900
Sandy Isenstadt
Accelerated Grid – Plan of Chicago,
Daniel H. Burnham and Edward H. Bennett, 1909
Winy Maas
That ‘70’s Show
Penelope Dean
The Portfolio as Architectural Material – Wasmuth Folio, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1910
Brett Steele
Perverted Monument – Chicago Tribune Tower Project, Adolf Loos, 1922
Sam Jacob
Alvin Boyarsky’s Chicago-London Axis:
An Architecture Critic in the City of Strangers
Igor Marjanović
The Big Gizmo – Dymaxion House at Marshall Field’s Department Store,
Buckminster Fuller, 1929
Bart Lootsma
Chicago Frame as Picture Frame – 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments,
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1951
Barry Bergdoll
The Rational, International Occult:
Konrad Wachsmann
And the Experimental Digitization of Architecture
John Harwood
Automatic Urbanism – Circle Interchange,
Illinois Department of Transportation, 1962
Alexander Eisenschmidt
Stacked Suburbia – Marina City, Bertrand Goldberg, 1967
David J. Lewis
Banham’s Mieses
Mark Linder
American Aesthetic – John Hancock Center, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 1970
Kazys Varnelis
Titanic Rising – The Titanic, Stanley Tigerman, 1978
Aaron Betsky
Megalopolis is Everywhere
Albert Pope
Folding Before Digital – Stranded Sears Tower, Greg Lynn, 1992
Mirko Zardini
Thick Thin- IIT McCormick Tribune Campus Center, OMA, 2003
Sarah Whiting
American Modern:
The Chicago School and the International Style
At New York’s Museum of Modern Art
Joanna Merwood-Salisbury
Chicago Style – Hyde Park Art Center, Garofalo Architects, 2006
Ellen D. Grimes
Absorbing Attention – Cloud Gate, Anish Kapoor, 2006
Sylvia Lavin
Admiration and Apprehension of the American Metropolis: European Responses to the Plan of Chicago
David H. Haney
A Tale of Two Pavilions – Burnham Centennial Pavilion, UN Studio, 2009
Mark Lee
Neither Duck Nor Shed – Aqua Tower, Studio Gang Architects, 2010
Andres Lepik
No Failure Too Great
Alexander Eisenschmidt
Waterworld – Free Water District, UrbanLab, 2011
John McMorrough
Generative Atmosphere – Environmental Typologies, Weathers, 2013
Pedro Gadanho
Acknowledgements
Contributors
Illustration Credits
Index