On Saturday, November 12, 2022, Pat Natke will participate in MAS Context’s sixth edition of Tracing / Traces, which gives readers the chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at selected items from the Ryerson & Burnham Art and Architecture Archives located at the Art Institute of Chicago.
UrbanWorks teamed up with Tandem Inc. and BASE Engineering for the 2018 Canstruction Chicago design competition. The competition is a “design/build event which benefits the Greater Chicago Food Depository,” featuring “colossal structures made entirely out of cans of food.” The structures are then judged by a celebrity chef, members of the AEC industry as well as the public. UrbanWorks’ entry, DNA_Societies, consisted of 3,843 cans of food, and spoke to how the food we eat (and our access to healthy food) modifies human DNA over time. Go team!
UrbanWorks’ La Casa Student Housing design is featured in Making Room: Housing for a Changing America, hosted at the National Building Museum from November 18, 2017 – September 16, 2018. The exhibition highlights new housing models, which reflect America’s shift away from nuclear households and includes “alternatives at all levels of the market, from micro-units, tiny houses, and accessory apartments to cohousing, co-living, and beyond.” The exhibit explores cutting-edge typologies through case studies. La Casa is an innovative model in student housing run by The Resurrection Project in Chicago. Read more
Galewood Elementary School in Chicago was one of 74 buildings awarded the 2016 American Architecture Award. This award program, organized by the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, highlights “the best new buildings designed and constructed by American architects in the U.S. and abroad and by international architects for buildings designed and built in the United States,” and includes projects of every type, from skyscrapers to parks. This year’s awards program will culminate in an Awards Presentation/Gala Dinner in Chicago, an exhibition of winning projects in Athens, Greece and the publication of all winning projects in New American Architecture, published by Metropolitan Arts Press. Read more
UrbanWorks is featured 50 Designers, 50 Ideas, 50 Wards exhibit at the Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF). 50 architects and designers were invited to submit transformative design proposals. The exhibit, curated by URBANLAB and Reed Kroloff, focuses on innovative ways to improve the quality of life of Chicago residents over the next 50 years. UrbanWorks proposed a speculation for the 25th ward, which includes Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. The plan envisions lasting change by reinvigorating its manufacturing community and enhancing its residential and educational community. The exhibit is now open and located in the CAF’s Atrium Gallery at 224 S. Michigan Avenue. Read More
The UrbanWorks concept ORIGAMICS was featured in the AIA Chicago Small Projects exhibition at Architectural Artifacts in Chicago, Illinois. UrbanWorks examined Origamics as a new paradigm, exploring the mathematical theory behind folding and the resulting algorithms those folds create. Structural folding planes respond to the physical and environmental needs of the residents creating a spatially engaging atmosphere that offers dynamism. The UrbanWorks design competition team members were Jose Esquinca, Tim Wang, Tej Varpe, Ameera Ashraf O’ Neil, Maria Pellot, and Patricia & Robert Natke. The international design competition launched in November 2015 solicited speculative design proposals that would provide housing for Chicago’s youth experiencing homelessness. It was organized by AIA Chicago, the AIA Chicago Foundation, Landon Bone Baker, Windy City Times, Pride Action Tank and funded by the Alphawood Foundation.
In celebration of the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s 50th Anniversary, UrbanWorks partnered with the Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) and Thirst to develop an icon representative of the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Cathedral. UrbanWorks joined other local architecture firms to design graphic icons for 50 of the most significant Chicago buildings, parks and events together. The Chicago Architecture “Periodic Table” Icon Poster is available for purchase at the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Read More
UrbanWorks staff members Patricia Saldaña Natke, Maria Pellot, Erick Roldan and Jose Esquinca were featured in the Arquitectos 30X30 Perspectives exhibition at Open Center for the Arts located at 2214 South Sacramento Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. The exhibition showcased UrbanWorks projects spanning from educational facilities to multi-family housing. Arquitectos 30X30 Perspectives was the first annual architecture exhibition by Arquitectos and celebrated the organization’s 30th anniversary. Arquitectos, Inc. is a non-profit, 501c (3) organization, whose mission is to provide development, mentorship, community assistance and further enrich the architectural profession through different cultural views and practices.
Two UrbanWorks projects, La Casa Student Housing and Galewood Elementary School, were featured in the exhibition “New Chicago Architecture” curated by the Chicago Athenaeum. The week-long exhibition was attended by several thousands of people in Chicago, before traveling to Milan and Athens. This survey of New Chicago Architecture, featuring over 100 architecture practices – local, national, and international, offers new insight to the contemporary direction of Chicago Architecture today, highlighting the ambitions, challenges, and possibilities which are fueling the architecture profession. An accompanying book, “New Chicago Architecture” will be published in February 2016. The Chicago Athenaeum is an International Museum of Architecture and Design dedicated to the Art of Design. The exhibition took place from November 12-17, 2015 and was located at 332 S. Michigan, Chicago, Illinois.
As part of the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Arts Incubator in Washington Park is holding an exhibition titled Forms of Imagination, exploring “the way Arts + Public Life creates ambitious public design and architecture projects that foster creative communities in Chicago’s mid-South Side.” Among works by other notable firms, Productura/UrbanWorks’ vision for the Green Line Art Center is on display. Productora from Mexico City and local firm UrbanWorks have teamed in an invited design competition for a new arts center to support the ambitions of artists and creative entrepreneurs. Led by artist and faculty member Theaster Gates and his team at Arts + Public Life, the new arts center will demonstrate the commitment to design excellence and creative reuse of existing vacant buildings. Read more
