Tag: architecture history

Women in Architecture: Amanda Williams

Posted on by Hunter

As part of our ongoing “Women in Architecture” series at Optima, we’re taking a look at another spearheading female figure: Amanda Williams. Similar to many of the women in this series, she is a pioneer in her field. Trained as an architect, Williams blurs the line between visual arts and modern architecture. Learn more about her remarkable life and work below. 

The Life of Amanda Williams

Amanda Williams was born in 1974 in Evanston, Illinois. However, she grew up in Chicago’s Southside Gresham neighborhood. She graduated from Cornell University in 1997, where she studied architecture and was a member of one of the nation’s most prominent honor societies. After graduating, Williams moved to San Francisco and worked for a commercial architecture firm for six years before returning to her hometown to focus on her love of painting.

Back in Chicago, Williams discovered The Center Program. The Hyde Park Arts Center’s capstone program is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for groundbreaking artists. While in the program, fellow artist Trisha Van Eck challenged Williams to take her talents a step further and paint on a larger architectural scale. Her response led to some of her most recognized and celebrated work today. 

Throughout her practice, Williams uses vibrant color to draw attention to the complexities and intersections of race, place and value within cities. Her paintings, sculptures and installations are all created to examine how the mundane can be viewed through a new lens and question the state of urban space throughout the country. 

Flamin’ Red Hot, Color(ed) Theory, 2014
Flamin’ Red Hot, Color(ed) Theory, 2014

Notable Work

In 2015, Williams debuted her most famous project, Color(ed) Theory at Chicago’s Architecture Biennial. The critically acclaimed exhibition, featured in The New York Times, examines race and space on Chicago’s South Side. With the help of family and friends, Williams repainted eight abandoned houses in the Englewood neighborhood between 2014 and 2016 as part of the exhibition. Each house was decorated with specific colors Williams found in products targeted towards Black consumers. Still standing today, the eight eye-opening houses continue to push for further discussions on the complexities of race and space Chicago and around the world.

Chicago is home to another one of William’s most well-known pieces. Located at The Arts Club of Chicago, Uppity Negress was a site-specific exterior installation created in 2017. The work investigates the claim of courtyards as either public or private areas and addresses the vast roles that gender and race play in urban accessibility. 

While much of Williams’ work is located in or near Chicago, her aptitude for creation has led her across the United States. In early 2019, Williams was chosen alongside acclaimed artist Olalekan Jeyifous to design Brooklyn’s newest monument dedicated to Rep. Shirley Chisholm, part of a larger city-wide initiative known as She Built NYC. The monument is soon to be completed and will sit at the Parkside entrance to the neighborhood’s Prospect Park. 

A rendering of Williams and Jeyifous’ Shirley Chisholm Monument
A rendering of Williams and Jeyifous’ Shirley Chisholm Monument

Alongside her transformative work, Williams has been a recipient of many architecture and art awards as well as achievements throughout her career:

  • Chicago’s 3Arts Award, 2014
  • United States Artists Fellow, 2018
  • New Generation Leader, Women in Architecture Awards, 2021
  • Obama Presidential Center Design Team

Williams has lectured at esteemed schools including Washington University, California College of the Arts, Illinois Institute of Technology and her alma mater. Today, she continues to forge a lane of her own and blend traditional visual art techniques with the complexity of architectural design.

Modernist Movements in South America

Posted on by Hunter

Countless architects and designers across the world and throughout history share the same passion and appreciation for Modernist design that we hold at Optima. One of our industry’s greatest delights is exploring how design translates through the lenses of other cultures and countries. Today, we’re exploring the ever-important Modernist movements from South America. 

Modernismo in Brazil

Modernisimo, founded in Brazil, began in the wake of World War I and influenced Modernist movements around the world. A rebellion against European artistic and aesthetic influence, Modernismo brought Brazilian life and thought into the modern era through the celebration of the culture’s rich traditions of folklore, architecture, art and style. 

By the 1930s, after decades of success, Modernisimo splintered into factions of artists, thinkers and creatives, but the movement’s influence on later art, sculpture, literature and architecture remains prominent. Brazilian architects and designers such as Lina Bo Bardi adopted concepts of Modernisimo in their own practices, creating world-renowned structures that are still celebrated and used today. 

Casa Luis Barragán. Credit: washingtonydc on Flickr Creative Commons, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Deed

Other Movements

Brazil is not the only South American country with a strong Modernist legacy. In Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico and Argentina, Modernism involved active divergence from Spanish influences and was a form of artistic and political protest. 

Architects such as Luis Barragán in Mexico and Carlos Raúl Villanueva in Venezuela began designing structures that departed from classic European designs to create a modern visual vocabulary celebrating the traditions and legacies of their home countries. These architects became globally renowned for their work and are considered among the founders of Modernism.

The Casa Luis Barragán in Mexico City, designed by Barragán, is one of the most internationally transcendent pieces of contemporary architecture in the world. Composed of smooth grey, orange, pink and brown cement façades, the structure served as Barragán’s private residence and studio and took influence from Mexican tradition and vernacular. It is the only individual property in Latin America that is listed as a United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site. 

Similarly, Raúl Villanueva’s design for the campus and buildings of the Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas utilized Modernist principles and Venezuelan cultural history combined with urban and architectural planning to construct Venezuela’s center of higher education.

Like all artistic movements, South American Modernism served as inspiration for and reflection of Modernist movements internationally, including Europe and America. Today, the impact of the postwar South American Modernist movements can be found abroad and in the work of many famed architects. 

With Optima’s strong connection to Modernism, we continue to study, admire and garner inspiration from the rich traditions that took root in other cultures and remain relevant and vital today.

Women in Architecture: Jeanne Gang

Posted on by Hunter

Perhaps one of the most well-known architects of her time, especially in Chicago, Jeanne Gang is the founder and leader of Studio Gang. Born 1964 in Belvidere, Illinois, a small town on the northern border of Illinois, she was raised with the prairies of the midwest and proximity to Chicago’s architectural legacy. 

Gang studied at the University of Illinois before going on to earn a Master of Architecture with Distinction from Harvard Graduate School of Design. After Harvard, she studied abroad in Switzerland and France as a Rotary Fellow before joining Dutch architect and design theorist, Rem Koolhaas and his architectural firm, OMA in Rotterdam. 

In 1997, she established Studio Gang, her own practice headquartered in Chicago. The studio’s mission is to use design to connect people to each other, their communities, and the environment. Soft details that reflect the light of the lake and suggest rippling columns of water can easily be identified as Studio Gang’s work.

Aqua Tower, designed by Jeanne Gang, 2009. Credit: (vincent desjardins) on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Studio Gang Around Chicago

Much of Gang’s work is a prominent part of Chicago’s landscape. Her designs can be found across the city, from O’Hare International Airport to the Loop to Uchicago dorms. Over the years, the studio’s work has become integral to Chicago’s rich architectural legacy. Gang’s 2010 Aqua Tower, situated at 225 N Columbus Dr in downtown Chicago, takes inspiration from terrestrial topography. The facade emulates the contours of a topographic map and reflects light in a way similar to the wave patterns of Chicago’s Lake Michigan. The tower combines a hotel, offices, apartments, and a green roof into a vertical community that facilitates human interaction.

In addition to the studio’s practice, Studio Gang is a strong supporter of climate action. As a member of the Active Transportation Alliance and Architects Advocate Action on Climate Change, the firm supports sustainable forms of transportation in urban environments and radical change in the building sector in regards to climate.

In effort to take climate action, Studio Gang has submitted a design to the C40 Reinventing Cities competition titled Assemble Chicago, a carbon-neutral residential community next to the main branch of Chicago’s public library. The proposed project would provide housing for the downtown workforce including those who earn as little as minimum wage. The design is also eco-conscious and works to reduce carbon pollution, minimize waste, and promote urban biodiversity. 

Studio Gang in the World

Jeanne Gang’s designs can be found across the globe from a powerhouse in Beloit, Wisconsin to the Kaohsiung Maritime Cultural & Pop Music Center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Wherever their location and whatever their purpose, the structures focus on immersing themselves in their environment both aesthetically and through their contributions to their ecosystems. Gang’s designs take inspiration from the topography and ecology of their surroundings and concern themselves with how they can bolster the environment and human communities around them, creating the perfect harmony between architecture and nature. 

The thoughtfulness of Studio Gang’s work has been recognized by receiving numerous awards. 

  • MacArthur Fellowship, 2011
  • Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s National Design Award for Architecture, 2013
  • Named Woman Architect of the year by Architectural Review, 2016
  • Royal Institute of British Architects International Fellowship, 2018

Gang currently serves as a Professor in Practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and lectures frequently around the world. Her studio continues to present unique and conscious designs to the architectural landscape, working to build a sustainable future and sustainable communities.

Eileen Gray’s E-1027 Reopens to the Public

Posted on by Hunter

Previously, in our Women in Architecture Series, we highlighted the streamlined, industrial style of the modernist designer and architect Eileen Gray, which you can read here. Of her many projects, Gray’s French Riviera villa, E-1027, remains most notable. Over time, the grandiose structure fell into ruins, but following an extensive restoration project, Gray’s Villa E-1027 has reopened to the public.  

In its prime, one of the property’s most beloved visitors was Le Corbusier. Following his death, the villa experienced neglect from numerous tenants for years. However, the property was purchased in 1999 by the French agency, Conservatoire du littoral, to oversee its protection and preservation. Later, in 2014 they established the Cap Moderne Association to manage the rehabilitation. After six years of comprehensive restoration work, the E-1027 villa mirrors the original design that was completed in 1929 by Gray and her husband, Jean Badovici. 

The project aimed to restore both the exterior environment and the interior fixtures of the villa. Inside, new built-in and free-standing furniture and artwork reflect the villa’s original lived-in state from nearly a century ago. Visitors are invited to consider how Gray pioneered an interpretation of modernist warmth with welcoming internal fixtures that contrast the villa’s sometimes cold, concrete structure. 

On the exterior, vibrant blue awnings covering the outdoor walkways offset the villa’s bright white walls. The “house by the sea” is intended to be a living organism within the structure’s larger atmosphere. Surrounded by lush greenery and landscaping on its north and south-west sides and built on pilotis just above a plunging cliff into the sea, the villa successfully fulfills Gray’s goal of being harmoniously integrated into its environment.

Timed tours of this modernist wonder are currently available for small groups looking for a getaway. You can learn more about E-1027 and how to visit it on Cap Moderne’s website here. 

Chicago History: The South Shore Cultural Center

Posted on by Hunter

At Optima, our appreciation for timeless architecture and design runs deep, and there’s no better way to feed that passion than by paying a visit to the historic South Shore Cultural Center. On the corner of 71st St and South Shore Drive sits the large, brick building with landscaped gardens, a golf course, beach access, and unbeatable lake views. Many do not know that the structure exists, and many more drive by every day without realizing the rich history of the center and its grounds. The South Shore Cultural Center is one of Chicago’s hidden gems with astounding architecture, interior design, and a wealth of history.

History

The South Shore Cultural Center was originally founded in 1905 to function as a country club similar to the Athletic and Union League clubs downtown.

Designed in the Mediterranean revival style by the architecture firm, Marshall and Fox, the club initially served the wealthy, white population of the South Shore neighborhood and offered stables, a nine-hole golf course, tennis courts, and a bowling green, along with a ballroom, and a private beach.

In the early 1960s, the demographic of the South Shore neighborhood began to change as black families integrated into the neighborhood, and white families left for the suburbs. Originally only open to white Protestants, by 1967, the club became open to anyone who wanted to join.

By 1973, struggling financially, the club liquidated its assets, and in 1975, the property was sold to the Chicago Park District.

Today

Thanks to a coalition of neighborhood activists and historic preservationists, the club’s original facilities remain standing today and are open to the public.

The Cultural Center serves as the home to the South Shore Cultural Center School of the Arts, an organization that provides community art classes, youth and teen programming, art and dance studios, a kiln, and the Paul Robeson Theatre.

The ballroom and banquet facilities can be rented for special events, and the golf course, beaches, and nature center remain open to the public.

A large chandelier is centered in the middle of a pink ceiling in a grand dining room with windows spanning the length of the wall.
South Shore Cultural Center Dining Room. Credit: on Flickr Creative Commons, CC BY-NC 2.0 Deed

Visit

The South Shore Cultural Center is easy to access from downtown on Lake Shore Drive. The Chicago Lakefront Trail also runs past the center, so it is possible to visit by bicycle. Plan a round of golf or bring the family for a beach day and picnic. 

The Cultural Center also functions as a sort of museum with plaques explaining the building’s history and architecture.

Schedule your visit and learn more about the center here. 

Chicago Architecture Spotlight: Charles M Harper Center

Posted on by Hunter

The Charles M Harper Center at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business ties the historical architecture of its neighboring structures with state-of-the-art technology and modern design. 

Completed in 2004 by Rafael Viñoly, the Charles M Harper Center sits across from the Rockefeller Chapel, a masterpiece of gothic architecture, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, considered one of the greatest feats of Prairie style architecture. The Charles M Harper Center serves as a mirror to both structures while creating its own mark on the landscape of the University of Chicago campus.

The Harper Center serves as a favorite gathering place on campus for both researchers and students alike. The building fits into the aesthetic of the university’s campus while also providing updated technology and study spaces for the community. 

Rothman Winter Garden

The Harper Center boasts a six story atrium at its center, dubbed the Winter Garden, covered with arched glass ceilings that mimic the Gothic arches of Rockefeller Chapel to the building’s south. The roof, made of light-filtering glass, serves as an ode to the glass roofs of the Robie House while also providing students with a bright, clean study space. 

Charles M Harper Center at the University of Chicago, designed by Rafael Viñoly. Credit: Michael Barera on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license

Stone

Much of the University of Chicago’s campus is composed of grey stone, and the Harper Center’s mix of glass and grey stone exterior celebrate the historic structures of the campus. Stone facades mimic the straight lines of the Robie house while also celebrating the Gothic design that composes the campus quad. 

Parts of the building are open to the public, so next time you find yourself in the Hyde Park neighborhood, make sure to experience this cutting-edge and unique piece of architecture for yourself.

The New York Times Style Magazine’s Modernist Beauties

Posted on by Hunter

The New York Times Style Magazine released an article in early August compiling a curated list of twenty-five of the most significant works of postwar architecture. Of the buildings selected, three hold deep connections to Chicago and the city’s architectural legacy; The Farnsworth House, Amanda Williams’ “Color(ed) Theory,” and the Johnson Publishing Company Building.

Farnsworth House

The Farnsworth House, considered one of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s masterpieces, sits on the isolated floodplains facing the Fox River in Plano, Illinois. Designed in 1945, the house was used as a retreat from the urban world for Edith Farnsworth, a native Chicagoan. The Farnsworth House was brought up repeatedly by the New York Times Style Magazine jury as many of its members admired the discipline displayed by the house’s design.

A vibrant blue house is surrounded by leafless trees and a blanket of white snow.
Color(ed) Theory: Ultrasheen, Amanda Williams, 2014-2015. Credit: Art Institute of Chicago

“Colored(ed) Theory”

Chicago based artist, Amanda Williams’, “Color(ed) Theory” series was also selected as one of the most significant postwar pieces of architecture.

Williams spent two years on the South Side of Chicago painting abandoned and condemned houses based on colors she found in products targeted towards Black communities. The series provokes observers to think about the many complex forces that shape cities and their relationship to color. Using vibrant violets, teals, and turquoise, Williams metamorphosed the almost destroyed houses into works of art. The eight illuminating houses continue to encourage future discussions on the complexities of race, place, and value in Chicago today.

Johnson Publishing Building, 820 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, designed by John Moutoussamy. Credit: Paul R. Burley on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Johnson Publishing Company Building

John W. Moutoussamy’s 1971 Johnson Publishing Company Building located in downtown Chicago also made the New York Times Style Magazine list. The eleven-story building housed the offices of iconic magazines including Jet and Ebony, which represented the culture and style of America’s black community in the late nineties. The interior of the Johnson Publishing Building is filled with an art collection as well as opulent colors and textures reflecting the decorating styles of the 70s. Even today, the Johnson Publishing Company Building is one of the few urban skyrises designed by a black architect.

The entirety of the article can be read here.

A Brief History of Modernist Furniture

Posted on by Hunter

The modernist architecture movement gained traction in the late 19th century and was influenced by the post-war notion of practicality and eliminating excess. 

Notable modernist architects include Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Frank Gehry, and Zaha Hadid. Along with designing structures, these architects also designed furniture that would harmonize with their buildings, while making their works more accessible to many.

Prior to the modernist movement, furniture was seen as ornamentation. Rather than taking comfort and practicality into consideration, the value of furniture was determined by the amount of time and level of craftsmanship that went into its production. The Industrial Revolution enabled the mechanization of furniture production, enabling furniture to become affordable and functional rather than ornaments reserved for the wealthy.

Modernist principles of furniture considered the interaction of the design and the user, creating designs that fit with the human form rather than forcing bodies to conform to the furniture.

Two Barcelona Chairs sit next to each other in front of glass windows.
Barcelona Chairs, designed by Mies van der Rohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s 1929 Barcelona Chair was inspired by the simplicity of ancient folding chairs. Supported on each side by two chrome-plated flat steel bars, the Barcelona Chair is upholstered in leather and combines simple elegance with comfort. Mies van der Rohe designed the Barcelona chair to sit in the lobbies of his buildings, where they accent the architecture and blend in with the surrounding space. 

The Eames Lounge Chair sits in front of a marble fire place.
Eames Lounge Chair, designed by Charles and Ray Eames

The Eames Lounge Chair, another iconic piece of modernist furniture, was released in 1956 and designed by Charles and Ray Eames. The Eames Lounge Chair is a rare example of modernist furniture that was not designed to be mass-produced and affordable. Yet, the chair still relied on the principles of simplicity, practicality, and comfort core to modernist furniture design. The chair, inspired by the English Club Chair, is composed of molded plywood and leather and became a cultural icon for its un-design-like appearance that invites sitters to rest for hours within the chair’s leather cushions.

The Noguchi Table
Noguchi Table, designed by Isamu Noguchi

Japanese-American artist and industrial designer, Isamu Noguchi, designed the famed Noguchi Table for the furniture company, Herman Miller. The Noguchi Table is a sleek glass-topped table supported by two curved pieces of wood at the base. The table became popular for its ability to fit both in the domestic and corporate spaces. 

The ability for modernist furniture to fit effortlessly into any space combined with its practicality made modernist designs into classic pieces recognized across generations. Modernist furniture can be found in suburban households and steel office buildings alike. Families gather around Noguchi Tables for chess games and curl up into Eames Lounge Chairs with long novels. Business moguls and architects meet in Barcelona Chairs and sign documents over Noguchi Tables. The versatility of modernist furniture and ease with which it is produced revolutionized how the general public views furniture and furniture’s place in the spaces it takes up.

Women in Architecture: Zaha Hadid

Posted on by Hunter

Breaking boundaries as the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004, Zaha Hadid is recognized as one of the most exceptional designers in history, forging a legacy of innovation and individuality. Despite Hadid’s unexpected death in 2016, her legacy continues through the projects she designed.

Born October, 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq, Hadid studied mathematics as an undergraduate and went on to enroll at the Architectural Association School of Architecture. Hadid was advised under Dutch architect, Rem Koolhaas, who would later describe Hadid as one of the most exceptional students he ever taught.After graduating, Hadid moved to Rotterdam where she worked for Koolhaas at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). In 1980, after becoming a naturalized citizen of the United Kingdom, Hadid opened her firm, Zaha Hadid Architects, which has developed high-profile and illustrious projects around the world. Hadid and her firm introduced audiences to a new way of conceptualizing modern architecture through extremely detailed sketches rather than postmodern designs.

After graduating, Hadid moved to Rotterdam where she worked for Koolhaas at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). In 1980, after becoming a naturalized citizen of the United Kingdom, Hadid opened her firm, Zaha Hadid Architects, which has developed high-profile and illustrious projects around the world. Hadid and her firm introduced audiences to a new way of conceptualizing modern architecture through extremely detailed sketches rather than postmodern designs.

Vitra Fire Station, designed by Zaha Hadid. Credit: Mondo79 on Flickr Creative Commons, CC BY 2.0 Deed

Vitra Fire Station

The very first building complex designed by Hadid was the Vitra Fire Station, eventually launching her career. One of Hadid’s clients, Rolf Fehlbaum, the president-director of the furniture design firm, Vitra, invited her to design a fire station for his design museum. Building from 1991-1993, Hadid used raw concrete and glass that defined the sculptural building. The station, famous for the dramatic effect of its sharp diagonals converging at its center, only remained functional for a short period and now serves as an exhibit space.

The front of the MAXXI Museum.
MAXXI Museum, Zaha Hadid, Rome, 2010. Credit: Artur Salisz on Flickr Creative Commons, CC BY-NC 2.0 Deed

National Museum of Arts of the 21st Century (MAXXI)

One of Hadid’s more recent designs, the MAXXI was built between 1998 and 2010. The structure appears to be moving and flowing through space in spots, animated by Hadid’s ambition to create movement through the design. Hadid achieved this movement through curving, white walls and the placement of the building extending precariously out over five, thin pylons. Hadid explained that she wanted the design to invoke “confluence, interference, and turbulence.”

The Aquatic Centre in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, designed by Zaha Hadid, used for the 2012 Olympics, London, England, United Kingdom. Credit: Arne Müseler on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license

London Aquatic Center

Tasked to design the aquatic center for the 2012 Summer Olympics, Hadid again turned to fluidity, this time the convergence of geometry and liquidity found in water. Hadid’s iconic design covers three stadium pools with a complex roof the shape of a parabolic arch dipping into the center that anyone would recognize. The structure was praised by critics for its success in mimicking the “floating” and “undulation” of water, as stated by Rowan Moore.

In addition to receiving the Pritzker Prize, Hadid was recognized with numerous other prestigious awards, including the Royal Institute of British Architecture’s Royal Gold Metal Award, an honor approved by Her Majesty The Queen, and the Jane Dew Prize; she was also appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire and was honored with a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum.

The Career of Helmut Jahn

Posted on by Hunter

The Life of Helmut Jahn

The German-American architect Helmut Jahn, who passed away in May 2021, holds a special place in the hearts of Chicagoans, as he made the city his home throughout his stellar international career. He was also a close friend and colleague of Optima founder, David Hovey Sr., FAIA.

Born in 1940 near Nuremberg, Germany, Jahn witnessed the destruction — and later reconstruction — of the town where he grew up during and after World War II. Because of this intimate and personal experience, he was inspired to study architecture and design as a way to participate in the process of stabilizing and beautifying the places where people live.

Jahn moved to Munich to study architecture, and relocated to Chicago in 1966 to further his studies under renowned architects Myron Goldsmith and Fazlur Khan at IIT. His career was forged when joining C. F. Murphy Associates, which was renamed JAHN in 2012 following Charles Murphy’s retirement. 

Much of the work Jahn created took inspiration from the modern aesthetic he adopted while at ITT; he also pulled from the influences of postmodernism, the Art Deco style of the ‘30s and eclecticism throughout his career. In the late 1970s and early ‘80s, Jahn’s mark on architecture really began as he transitioned from smaller projects to legacy-defining skyscrapers.

The Works of Helmut Jahn

James R. Thompson Center, Chicago

In 1985 Jahn designed the State of Illinois Building (renamed the James R. Thompson Center in 1994), located in Chicago, which serves as the second home to the Illinois state government. From the moment its doors opened to the public, it became one of Jahn’s most controversial designs, with mixed reviews that ranged from unabashed praise to outrage. 

The photos shows a rounded interior of a building fitted with bright colors of steel railings, staircases and beams.
The atrium inside the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago, designed by Helmut Jahn

The building, with a grand atrium at its center, has a distinctive circular shape that references the Illinois State Capitol building in Springfield. While the structure was considered futuristic at the time, in part due to the use of advanced architectural tectonics, it also incorporated design elements that were reminiscent of the grandeur of large public spaces of the past.

Over the years, many of Illinois’ most senior officeholders (including governors) have proposed selling the structure, much to the criticism of architects and architecture devotees concerned about the building’s future. And while the future of the building remains in question, the 17-story structure is internationally known and considered a momentous piece of postmodern architecture.

A round shaped building is lit up with lights from it's inside in the dark night.
The exterior of the James R. Thompson Center, designed by Helmut Jahn

Sony Center, Berlin

Built in 2000 at the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Germany, the Sony Center stands as one of Jahn’s more recent architectural feats. After the city’s ruin during WWII, the original site — the infamous Nazi People’s Court — was stuck in the Berlin Wall’s No Man’s Land, and was left to decay. Once the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the city looked to rehabilitate much of the forgotten architecture. 

Jahn undertook the project of this transformational urban marketplace with a desire to honor the meaning of building on and around abandoned structures. In the process, he successfully blended historic remnants and modern aesthetics to create an open, free-flowing space for all to enjoy.  

The grouping of eight buildings that makes up the Sony Center are a mix of residential, commercial and public space. Each structure is enveloped in glass, directing the flow of light and augmenting the feeling of transparency throughout the complex. The 102 meter-long roof that sits atop the complex, built by Waagner-Biro, has become an iconic feature in its own right. The medley of steel, glass and translucent fabrics, which is often illuminated in bright colors, furthers the fluid design that Jahn intended.

A wide lens photo captures four buildings faced with glass with a large fanned roof that is open above them.
A rendering of the Pritzker Military Archives Center in Sommers, Wisconsin, designed by Helmut Jahn

Pritzker Military Archives Center

The Pritzker Military Archives Center located in Sommers, Wisconsin, is one of Jahn’s final projects. The construction, which started in 2020, is taking place in conjunction with the development of a new Memorial Park Center. The center will advance the mission of the Pritzker Museum and Library to restore and preserve their ever-expanding collections. 

The state-of-the-art structure will feature an immersive 9,400 square-foot Gallery Center open to the public. The Gallery will house artifacts and exhibits provided by the parent museum and library located in Chicago. The front of the building will feature floor-to-ceiling glass frames that illuminate the interior. Brilliant red steel beams will stretch beyond the facade, creating a dramatic rooftop extending boldly beyond the building’s entrance. 

Construction on the Pritzker Military Archives Center is underway and moving swiftly; the entire Memorial Park Center will take nearly a decade to be completed.

A rendering presents a bright red steel structure with four flag poles with flags flying in its front. Around the structure green grass and trees fill the area.
The interior forum of the Sony Center in Berlin, designed by Helmut Jahn

Chicago Architecture Center Exhibit

Honoring Jahn’s accomplishments and extraordinary engineering feats, the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) has curated the exhibit Helmut Jahn: Life + Architecture. The exhibit includes an expansive compilation of ephemera including photography, sketches and models of Jahn’s most iconic works. 

For those interested in learning more about Jahn’s exemplary career in architecture and beyond, Helmut Jahn: Life + Architecture is free with admission to the CAC. The exhibit is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily until October 31. You can purchase vouchers and learn more about future exhibits here.

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