i+D - July/August 2021 - 14

Chicago Style
If Chicago is on your agenda this fall, be sure to add the
Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) to your schedule.
Running from September 17-December 18, 2021,
the theme for this year is The Available City. Installations
across the city of Chicago and via digital platforms will
address ideas and possibilities for unused urban spaces
via 18 projects created by more than 68 contributors.
Sites range from community gardens and historic sites
to schools and vacant lots.
Editor's
Letter
Creating
Respite
As human beings on the same planet, there are certain aspects of life
we all share. After the past 18 months, one thing we certainly all
have in common is a need for a break. With that in mind, we planned
this issue of i+D as a bit of a visual vacation-still packed with all
the important design decision details you've come to expect from us,
but with a distinct reminder that sometimes, the greatest thing good
design can offer us is an escape from our every day.
On these pages, we examine the idea of design as a reprieve in many
forms. We dig into the increasing trend in and creative options for
outdoor living and entertaining ( " Outside Is the New Inside, " p. 30),
and we speak with hospitality designers about how they weave the
idea of an escape into all they do ( " Be Our Guest, " p. 38). We also
check the design pulse of Honolulu in our ongoing destination-based
series ( " The Spirit of Aloha, " p. 16), and we take a look at two
travel-based studies-one business and one leisure-to see just how
willing we all are to get back out there ( " All Aboard, " p. 24). And
that's just the beginning.
There is so much thoughtful design gives to the world. Presently,
and one could argue always, one of design's greatest gifts is that of
inviting, comforting, enjoyable spaces that allow people to view their
own backyards as refuges or to walk into the lobby of a beautiful
hotel where they can take a deep breath and find a level of bliss.
1.
2.
3.
The call for proposals also included CAB's fifth annual
Student Ideas Competition, which asked students in
grades 7-12 to address how existing urban spaces can be
reimagined to better reflect the needs and interests
of local residents.
1. In partnership with Tsz Yan Ng and Wes McGee, professors at the
University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban
Planning, Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) is using robotic fabrication
and sustainably sourced timber to design and build an Outdoor Pavilion that
will serve as a classroom and event and performance space for Epic Academy
in South Shore.
(Image: Courtesy of SOM, 2021)
2. First place in the student competition went to The Floating Village, a
homeless shelter that reimagines Maslow's hierarchy of needs by dividing
rooms and services into three categories: Rest (basic), Revive (psychological),
and Return (self-fulfillment).
Jennifer Quail
Editor-in-Chief
14
3. Winner of the Danish Arts Foundation Open Call for a commission in
the North Lawndale neighborhood is Soil Lab. The project will include
workshops and built elements grounded in bricks, a material of significance
to the Danish architectural vernacular and to Chicago as well.
(Image: Eibhlín Ní Chathasaigh, James Albert Martin, Maria Bruun, and Anne Dorthe Vester)
i+D - July/August 2021

i+D - July/August 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i+D - July/August 2021