A dozen graduate design students studying with Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) Urban Design Partner Philip J. Enquist spent a semester investigating issues and opportunities for a stretch of the Chicago River’s South Branch from Wolf Point to Pilsen.
Waterline presents their proposals for this critical stretch of urban waterway in a summer-long exhibit at the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum.
The diverse group of students, representing concentrations in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and urban planning developed a broad variety of solutions to ponder. Waterline proposals include using underutilized riverfront land to create a new micro-economy, re-visioning post-industrial properties as a riparian habitat that could leverage public and private investment into a new kind of development, reclaiming Pilsen’s vacant industrial corridor as a Chicago Water Institute and extending the existing River City development into a more naturally cohesive “Water City.”
The Chicago River was the city’s superhighway in the early decades of Chicago’s existence. Its initial development was neither pedestrian-friendly, civic in nature nor environmentally smart. The designs of Waterline showcase why the Chicago River should once again be considered the city’s most important asset and sets the stage for increased awareness, education and reinvention of the River.
Waterline opens to the public on June 22, 2012 and continues at the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum through August 31.
OPENING RECEPTION
Waterline opens with a reception from 5 to 7 PM on June 21, 2012 and will be on display at the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum through August 31. Previews and press availabilities will be provided by appointment starting June 11, 2012.
Please request appointments through Ed Keegan at (312) 360-4557 or Edward.keegan@som.com. If you are planning to attend the opening reception, please RSVP to beth.murin@som.com or by phone (312) 360-4179 and be sure to mention that you’re a member of the media.
PARTICIPANTS
Participating students in Waterline include Adriana Chavez, Aleksandr Nizhikhovskiy, Cameron Barradale, Catherine Tang, Evelyn Zwiebach, Nina Chase, Roger Weber, Sadatu Dennis, Stephanie Saltzman, Suemac Hatcher, and William Dibernardo. Instructor Philip Enquist was assisted by Teaching Assistant Conor O’Shea. +
Related Stories
| Oct 5, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Award Bronze Winner: Pomeroy Senior Apartments, Chicago, Ill.
The entire interior of the building was renovated, from the first floor lobby and common areas, to the rooftop spaces. The number of living units was reduced from 120 to 104 to allow for more space per unit and comply with current accessibility requirements.
| Oct 5, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Award Bronze Winner: Walsh Group Training and Conference Center, Chicago, Ill.
With its Building Team partners—architect Solomon Cordwell Buenz, structural engineer CS Associates, and M/E engineer McGuire Engineers—Walsh Construction, acting as its own contractor, turned the former automobile showroom and paperboard package facility into a 93,000-sf showcase of sustainable design and construction.
| Oct 5, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Award Silver Winner: 220 Water Street, Brooklyn, N.Y.
The recent rehabilitation of 220 Water Street transforms it from a vacant manufacturing facility to a 134-unit luxury apartment building in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood.
| Oct 5, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Award Silver Winner: Residences at the John Marshall, Richmond, Va.
In April 2010, the Building Team of Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio, Stanley D. Lindsey & Associates, Leppard Johnson & Associates, and Choate Interior Construction restored the 16-story, 310,537-sf building into the Residences at the John Marshall, a new mixed-use facility offering apartments, street-level retail, a catering kitchen, and two restored ballrooms.
| Oct 4, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Awards Silver Winner: Allen Theatre at PlayhouseSquare, Cleveland, Ohio
The $30 million project resulted in three new theatres in the existing 81,500-sf space and a 44,000-sf contiguous addition: the Allen Theatre, the Second Stage, and the Helen Rosenfeld Lewis Bialosky Lab Theatre.
| Oct 4, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Awards Gold Winner: Wake Forest Biotech Place, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Reconstruction centered on Building 91.1, a historic (1937) five-story former machine shop, with its distinctive façade of glass blocks, many of which were damaged. The Building Team repointed, relocated, or replaced 65,869 glass blocks.
| Oct 4, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Awards Gold Winner: Rice Fergus Miller Office & Studio, Bremerton, Wash.
Rice Fergus Miller bought a vacant and derelict Sears Auto and converted the 30,000 gsf space into the most energy-efficient commercial building in the Pacific Northwest on a construction budget of around $100/sf.
| Oct 4, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Award Platinum Winner: Building 1500, Naval Air Station Pensacola Pensacola, Fla.
The Building Team, led by local firms Caldwell Associates Architects and Greenhut Construction, had to tackle several difficult problems to make the historic building meet current Defense Department standards having to do with anti-terrorism, force protection, blast-proofing, and progressive collapse.
| Oct 4, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Awards Platinum Winner: City Hall, New York, N.Y.
New York's City Hall last received a major renovation nearly a century ago. Four years ago, a Building Team led by construction manager Hill International took on the monumental task of restoring City Hall for another couple of hundred years of active service.
| Oct 4, 2012
BD+C's 29th Annual Reconstruction Awards
Presenting 11 projects that represent the best efforts of distinguished Building Teams in historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and renovation and addition projects.
