It’s been nearly three weeks since the Chicago Architecture Biennial kicked off on Oct. 3. Reviews have been generally positive, from the Chicago Tribune’s Blair Kamin calling it a “mixed bag” with a vaguely titled, though well executed, theme, to The Wall Street Journal’s Julie V. Lovine, writing that the inaugural event has “just the right proportion of earnest effort to razzle-dazzle.”
But as Lovine puts it, the event’s title, “The State of the Art of Architecture” is indeed fitting, as it “is a pulse-taking of contemporary architecture as it could be—creative responses that suggest solutions to some of the intractable, quotidian challenges of our times.”
One thing that stood out for BD+C was the experimentation with new building materials and methods, drafted by both established and up-and-coming talents in the architecture world as a response to today’s environment, societal behavior, and business demands. Here are some highlights:
1.Dried Leaves in “The S House” by Vo Trong Nghia Architects
The Vietnamese firm is well known for incorporating nature into its projects, weaving green space in and out of the built area such as seen in their multifamily residential project, and designs for FPT University’s administrative and classroom buildings.
To the Chicago Architecture Biennial, Vo Trong Nghia brings another sustainable concept, The S House, which aims to make easy to build affordable homes that can be sheathed in locally sourced, renewable material.
According to Dezeen, the design was first released in 2012 and has been refined ever since. Each home should cost around $1,000 and can provide relief in countries struck by natural disasters.
The frame is a galvanized steel structure where each components is 130 pounds or less, and can be erected in under three hours. The frame is then sheathed in dried leaves, as displayed at the Biennial, but any other material that is locally available can substitute. The house is one of four full-sized houses on display at the event’s main exhibition in the Chicago Cultural Center building.
2. Cross-Laminated Timber in “Chicago Horizon” by Ultramoderne
The Rhode Island-based architecture firm Ultramoderne was the winner of the biennial’s Chicago Pavilion competition.
Dezeen reports that the Chicago Horizon pavilion was built “using the largest lengths of timber that can be shipped across North America.”
The structure is constructed near the Museum Campus by Lake Michigan, offering views of the Chicago skyline from the south east. The entire structure was built using cross-laminated timber.
The design uses cues from legendary German architect who later made Chicago home, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
3. Wooden Pallets in Low-Cost House by Tatiana Bilbao
Using wooden pallets to create a rustic, industrial look in interior design has been gracing the pages of design websites for a while, but Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao is giving the shipping tool a greater purpose.
The architect’s low-cost home design relies on the lightweight yet sufficiently sturdy pallets to establish rooms. They can be shifted around as the household grows or shifts needs.
4. Rocks and Strings in “Rock Print” by Gramazio Kohler and Skylar Tibbits
Towering over attendees in the Chicago Cultural Center is the Instagram-ready, three-legged structure designed by Gramazio Kohler Research of ETH Zürich and Skylar Tibbits of MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab.
According to Archdaily, the structure was created by robotic hands that laid down strings, and between the layers of strings, rocks were placed by hand. A video is the best way to explain this:
The tower of rocks isn’t just an artistic sculpture. As The Wall Street Journal’s architecture writer Julie V. Iovine puts it, “the process has untold potential for sustainable and economic construction using the cheapest materials imaginable.”
Related Stories
| Mar 9, 2011
Winners of the 2011 eVolo Skyscraper Competition
Winners of the eVolo 2011 Skyscraper Competition include a high-rise recycling center in New Delhi, India, a dome-like horizontal skyscraper in France that harvests solar energy and collects rainwater, and the Hoover Dam reimagined as an inhabitable skyscraper.
| Mar 9, 2011
Igor Krnajski, SVP with Denihan Hospitality Group, on hotel construction and understanding the industry
Igor Krnajski, SVP for Design and Construction with Denihan Hospitality Group, New York, N.Y., on the state of hotel construction, understanding the hotel operators’ mindset, and where the work is.
| Mar 3, 2011
HDR acquires healthcare design-build firm Cooper Medical
HDR, a global architecture, engineering and consulting firm, acquired Cooper Medical, a firm providing integrated design and construction services for healthcare facilities throughout the U.S. The new alliance, HDR Cooper Medical, will provide a full service design and construction delivery model to healthcare clients.
| Mar 2, 2011
Design professionals grow leery of green promises
Legal claims over sustainability promises vs. performance of certified green buildings are beginning to mount—and so are warnings to A/E/P and environmental consulting firms, according to a ZweigWhite report.
| Mar 2, 2011
Cities of the sky
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Silk Road of the future—from Dubai to Chongqing to Honduras—is taking shape in urban developments based on airport hubs. Welcome to the world of the 'aerotropolis.'
| Mar 2, 2011
How skyscrapers can save the city
Besides making cities more affordable and architecturally interesting, tall buildings are greener than sprawl, and they foster social capital and creativity. Yet some urban planners and preservationists seem to have a misplaced fear of heights that yields damaging restrictions on how tall a building can be. From New York to Paris to Mumbai, there’s a powerful case for building up, not out.
| Mar 1, 2011
Smart cities: getting greener and making money doing it
The Global Green Cities of the 21st Century conference in San Francisco is filled with mayors, architects, academics, consultants, and financial types all struggling to understand the process of building smarter, greener cities on a scale that's practically unimaginable—and make money doing it.
| Mar 1, 2011
How to make rentals more attractive as the American dream evolves, adapts
Roger K. Lewis, architect and professor emeritus of architecture at the University of Maryland, writes in the Washington Post about the rising market demand for rental housing and how Building Teams can make these properties a desirable choice for consumer, not just an economically prudent and necessary one.
| Mar 1, 2011
New survey shows shifts in hospital construction projects
America’s hospitals and health systems are focusing more on renovation or expansion than new construction, according to a new survey conducted by Health Facilities Management magazine and the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE). In fact, renovation or expansion accounted for 73% of construction projects at hospitals responding to the survey.
| Mar 1, 2011
AIA selects 6 communities for long-term sustainability program
The American Institute of Architects today announced it has selected 6 communities throughout the country to receive technical assistance under the Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) program in 2011. The communities selected are Shelburne, Vt., Apple Valley, Mn., Pikes Peak Region, Co., Southwest DeKalb County, Ga., Bastrop, Tx., and Santa Rosa, Ca. The SDAT program represents a significant institutional investment by the AIA in public service work to assist communities in developing policy frameworks and long term sustainability plans.
