Chicago, a city known for its architecture, also has another claim to fame: hot dogs. But until now, those two points of pride have been kept mostly separate. The skyline may be filled with landmarks of architectural history, but hot dogs tend to be vended in rickety kiosks.
When plans for the Chicago Architecture Biennial started taking shape, Sarah Herda and Joseph Grima, the event's co-artistic directors, were determined to leave a lasting impression on the city. There would be temporary exhibitions, of course, but they wanted to use the biennial platform as a way to commission permanent structures. With this in mind, they set their sights on some of these modest off-the-shelf vending kiosks -'hot-dog stands,' as Herda calls them - that dot the long stretch of public space along the city's lakefront.
In partnership with the Chicago Park District, a design competition, which drew over 400 submissions, asked architects to imagine new lakefront kiosks. The winning team, Ultramoderne's Yasmin Vobis and Aaron Forrest, and structural engineer Brett Schneider, unveiled their kiosk during the biennial's recent opening proceedings. Made with cross-laminated timber, the 17m2 canopy offers shade, while an opening in the roof provides a unique way to view the surrounding horizon. Situated on the lakefront just north of the Field Museum, the pavilion is intended to operate as a library during the biennale before it becomes a commercial vending space.
The biennial organisers also commissioned three other kiosks by pairing local schools with established firms. The University of Illinois at Chicago partnered with two firms, Independent Architecture and Paul Preissner Architects, to create a light blue barrel vault, now positioned directly adjacent to Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate. IIT College of Architecture and Pezo von Ellrichshausen created a series of stacked hexagonal volume that reach upward like a telescoping ziggurat, now on view just outside IIT's Crown Hall. For the third, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago worked with NLÉ on a system of limestone and concrete elements that can be reconfigured based on need.
When the biennial officially closes on January 3, 2016, these four structures will remain, and, during the spring of 2016, the city will position them along the waterfront, where they will allow vendors to sell their products, hot dogs or otherwise. Organisers hope to repeat the process for subsequent biennials. As Herda envisions, "the grand plan would be to replace the old structures incrementally and make a trail of contemporary architecture."
The project, created in partnership with the Chicago Park District, asked participants to reimagine the lakefront kiosk
Made with cross-laminated timber, the 17m2 canopy offers shade, while an opening in the roof provides a unique way to view the surrounding horizon
The biennial organisers also commissioned three other kiosks by pairing local schools with established firms
The University of Illinois at Chicago partnered with two firms, Independent Architecture and Paul Preissner Architects, to create a light blue barrel vault, now positioned directly adjacent to Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate
INFORMATION
Photography: Tim Harris
-
The new Frederic Church Center at Olana complements its leafy Upstate New York siteTour the Frederic Church Center for Architecture and Landscape, now open at Olana, a historic site in Upstate New York, courtesy of architecture studio ARO
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper editors have been doing this weekA week of jetsetting has seen the editors in Tokyo, Milan, Vienna, Miami, New York and drinking Guinness with Jonathan Anderson in London
-
The Living Places experiment: how can architecture foster future wellbeing?Research initiative Living Places Copenhagen tests ideas around internal comfort and sustainable architecture standards to push the envelope on how contemporary homes and cities can be designed with wellness at their heart
-
The new Frederic Church Center at Olana complements its leafy Upstate New York site
Tour the Frederic Church Center for Architecture and Landscape, now open at Olana, a historic site in Upstate New York, courtesy of architecture studio ARO
-
On a sloped Los Angeles site, a cascade of green 'boxes' offers inside outside livingUnStack, a house by FreelandBuck, is a cascading series of bright green volumes, with mountain views
-
This New York brownstone was transformed through the power of a single, clever moveVoid House, a New York brownstone reimagined by architecture studio Light and Air, is an interior transformed through the power of one smart move
-
A new Texas house transforms a sloping plot into a multi-layered family homeThe Griggs Residence is a Texas house that shields its interior world and spacious terraces with a stone and steel façade
-
Light, nature and modernist architecture: welcome to the reimagined Longwood GardensLongwood Gardens and its modernist Roberto Burle Marx-designed greenhouse get a makeover by Weiss/Manfredi and Reed Hildebrand in the US
-
A bridge in Buffalo heralds a new era for the city's LaSalle ParkA new Buffalo bridge offers pedestrian access over busy traffic for the local community, courtesy of schlaich bergermann partner
-
Tour this Bel Vista house by Albert Frey, restored to its former glory in Palm SpringsAn Albert Frey Bel Vista house has been restored and praised for its revival - just in time for the 2025 Palm Springs Modernism Week Preview
-
First look: step inside 144 Vanderbilt, Tankhouse and SO-IL’s new Brooklyn projectThe first finished duplex inside Tankhouse and SO-IL’s 144 Vanderbilt in Fort Greene is a hyper-local design gallery curated by Brooklyn studio General Assembly
