UrbanWorks is proud to join 68 design firms as part of Architects Advocate. We support the group’s mission statement that “As architects dedicated to healthy and livable communities, and guided by scientific consensus and reason, we advocate for action on Climate Change.” Architects Advocate seeks to design “healthy spaces and livable cities” as well as speaking out publicly on the issues and enacting “meaningful legislation to mitigate Climate Change.” Read more
UrbanWorks served as Associate Architects on the Ross Barney Architects team for the CTA Cermak-McCormick Place Station, which previously received two 2015 AIA Chicago Design Excellence Awards. The project is now shortlisted for a 2016 World Architecture Festival Award under the Transport – Completed Buildings category, and is competing against projects from France, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. Winners will be announced during the festival, held in Berlin, Germany, in November 2016. Read more
Robert Natke, UrbanWorks’ Principal presents «A2: Automobiles + Architecture» at PuchaKucha Vol. 39: 20×20 on September 6, 2016 at Martyrs 3855 N. Lincoln in Chicago. 8pm – 10:30 pm. PechaKucha is a presentation style which began in Tokyo. 20 images are shown, each for 20 seconds. They are informal gatherings where creative people get together and share ideas, works, and thoughts. PechaKucha Nights happen in over 900 cities. Rob will highlight the intrinsic links of automobiles and architecture in his life. Read more
Patricia Saldaña Natke was a speaker at TEDx UChicago, on April 30, 2016 at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts Performance Hall. The theme of this year’s conference was On the Margins, which focused on “the grey area between established knowledge and new theory”. Pat’s lecture, “Architecture & Design: Renewing the Social Agenda”, spoke to her view that architectural solutions can be, and ought to be, societal solutions. Her talk included highlights of UrbanWorks’ Pilsen Master Plan, La Casa Student Housing, and Re-Imagining the South Branch of the Chicago River. Video from that presentation can now be accessed online HERE.
UrbanWorks’ design for Concordia Day Ravenswood was unveiled today at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the 6,000 square foot childcare center. Located in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood, the market-rate center intends to use its net revenue to underwrite subsidized programs at its other locations. Design features include classrooms that mimic a field of daisies, low height partitions between learning spaces, and acoustic ceiling panels which provide acoustical control between spaces as well referencing the petals of a flower. The project has also been featured in recent articles in The Chicago Sun Times as well as Crain’s Chicago Business.