“I look at design as a creation of how humans interpret the natural world. I think there is this connection between the natural world and the built environment, and it is up to us—those in the design field—to interpret what that is, and to create our own values on how we intersect the natural world and the built environment,” said Ernest C. Wong, PLA, FASLA, APA, founding principal and president of site design group, ltd. “I think the general public takes design for granted. They go to places—the parks we design—and say ‘oh, it was just here.’ Nobody really thinks about the effort it takes to design this space. They…
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En Masse
Set amid a row of iconic Greystone buildings along California Ave. in Chicago, Illinois, the grid-like façade of concrete and glass on the En Masse Architecture and Design Ltd. studio presents a bold juxtaposition with its environment at first glance. Its poured-in place, brise-soleil creates a patterned effect where vertical fins of concrete lend an added layer of complexity to the grey-hued limestone of the historic residential building style inherent to Chicago, and bring an energy and dynamic tension to the creative conversation within its architectural landscape. Minimalist in design, the studio is more than a composition of its brise-soleil—an architectural solution popularized and initially designed for climatic challenges by…
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Refractory
For Refractory’s inaugural body of work and inception—forged at a moment of unprecedented change—its muse sings of a reverence for a frontier unbridled by time, when mountains were new, sandstone buttes clustered, continents drifted, and oceans receded. It speaks of mountain ranges, canyons, basins, and plateaus, shaped by deep-rooted geologic pressures and carved by powerful movements of rivers and wind. It gestures to the fire of transformation, the resilience of form and creature, the presence of materiality, and the harsh grace of natural forces. It embraces the rugged honesty of erosion, the celebration of unusual moments of irreverence, and a dedication to craft as integral to design—set in a region…
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Next to Lead
One of 17 ethnically diverse women selected to participate in the American Institute of Architects’, or AIA’s, leadership pilot program called Next to Lead, Ellie Ziaie, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP BD+C, senior associate and architectural designer at BKV Group practicing in the Minneapolis region, has a proven history of leadership throughout her design career. Ziaie’s interest in architecture grew from the realization that at a young age, she exceled at math and sciences and was also drawn to art, fashion, and interior design. Having considered a spectrum of future career choices—including engineering, architecture, and interiors—Ziaie noted where she landed combines those passions, ultimately being the perfect match for her. “The…
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Expressions of Life
The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, located in White River State Park on the historic lands of the Miami and Lenape peoples in downtown Indianapolis, officially debuted its reimagined Native American Galleries on Saturday, June 25, 2022. The opening, which coincided with the 30th annual Eiteljorg Indian Market and Festival on June 25 and June 26, 2022, builds on the museum’s ongoing transformational $55 million capital and endowment campaign known as Project 2021. Since 2016, the campaign has sought to not only rethink permanent galleries, highlight the art of the Native peoples of the Great Lakes region, and expand and renovate community gathering spaces on the museum…
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Design Your World returns to Chicago
In 2021, the International Interior Design Association launched an educational initiative in partnership with Chicago-based After School Matters to create early exposure and opportunities in interior design and architecture fields for a diverse group of high school students. The program, known as Design Your World, not only introduced students to the history and practice of commercial interior design, but also provided hands-on design learning and education on process, sustainability, ergonomics, materials, and business practices. This year, in the wake of its successful launch last summer, Design Your World in Chicago, or Chicago DYW, is returning for a second session in July 2022 in continued partnership with After School Matters, or…
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Designed for flight
In 1986, WACO Aircraft Corporation’s first WACO YMF Classic biplane rolled off the assembly line complete with two open cockpits, stacked wings, radial engine, and handcrafted design in faithful homage to a golden age of flight. Based on the design of the popular 1930s biplane and crafted using techniques from the 1920s and 1930s, WACO Aircraft Corporation’s WACO YMF Classic was not a rebuild or a build kit of the vintage aircraft, but rather a modern production with the latest avionics under the original WACO-type certificate, certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA. WACO Aircraft Corporation, which was founded in 1983 in Lansing before relocating to Battle Creek, Michigan,…
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Port Lands
Natural landscapes can often re-energize, bring peace of mind, and help people feel centered within their life. In larger, busier cities, where manmade infrastructure is sprawling and the population is diverse, many times nature is not as accessible to most. Though sustainable practices that help preserve nature may not often be prioritized, in Toronto, an organization known as Waterfront Toronto has set out to put people first by reconnecting them with the waterfront in the design of projects that are environmentally and economically sustainable. As part of that initiative, the organization plans to debut one of its larger-scale projects, called the Port Lands Flood Protection Project, to the public in…
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The Dayton’s Project
Buildings patinaed by time often resonate with a collective memory embedded deep within the bones of its architectural structure. Iconic places and landmark destinations have a way of allowing moments of the past to collide with the present and potentially into the future in the minds of those who have traversed its spaces. It can serve as a tool or vehicle in which stories can exist across generations, anchoring its place in the built landscape and at times the cultural and social history of a community. In Minneapolis, a 120-year-old historic structure located at 700 Nicollet Avenue that served for decades as an integral part of the downtown retail and…
