While there will be plenty to see at the Biennial, it will be important to get a taste of the Windy City as well. Whether you want to go shopping, dining, drinking, or exploring, we have insider tips from architects, designers, cultural leaders, and even the local Sheriff.
Tom Dart, Cook County Sheriff
The Architect’s Newspaper: What are you most looking forward to at the Biennial?
Hearing about the latest and most innovative approaches to altering the traditional approach to urban and suburban design, specifically as it applies to underprivileged towns and villages.
What’s your favorite way to get around the city?
Bike
What is a must-see attraction most people don’t know about?
Hotel Florence and the Greenstone Church in the Pullman area.
Stanley Tigerman, Architect and Gadfly
What are you most looking forward to at the Biennial?
Meeting the youngest generation who is participating in the Biennial.
Favorite place to take out-of-towners?
Manny’s (a great deli on South Jefferson Street)
Top five pieces of Chicago architecture?
Any five buildings by Mies van der Rohe
Which skyscraper do you most identify with and why?
Marina City
Michelle T. Boone, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events
What are you most looking forward to at the Biennial?
There’s so much to look forward to at the Biennial! I’m curious to see how the installations in unexpected places will surprise people as they move through the Chicago Cultural Center. For example, there are plans to do something creative in the hallway that connects the Washington side with the Randolph side of the building. And there is a hallway that has never been accessible to the public before that will also be used as a part of the exhibition.
What’s the best thing to eat or drink in Chicago?
I’m a sucker for a good margarita, and thankfully, there are lots of places to get good ones in Chicago, from the Loop to Pilsen to West Chicago. And my favorite thing to eat in Chicago (or anywhere, for that matter) is fried chicken. Good fried chicken is popping up on everyone’s menu these days. I like Little Goat’s fried chicken for brunch on the weekends, and you absolutely cannot beat the fried chicken at Chicago’s Chicken & Waffles in Bronzeville; they serve it around the clock so you can have it for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
Where are your favorite public spaces?
I love the Steelworkers Park in South Chicago. I live nearby in South Shore and this park was recently transformed from an old steel mill site. It’s glorious – beautiful lakefront with these majestic, old, iron ore walls that make for great “urban mountains” – really an interesting and totally unique landscape. Plus, it includes a sculpture by one of my favorite Chicago artists (Roman Villareal).
You’ve got $50 to splurge on design, fashion, food. Where do you go?
The only place in town where you can spend $50 and get all three: the Maxwell Street Market!
Zoë Ryan, Curator of Architecture and Design, The Art Institute of Chicago
What are you most looking forward to at the Biennial?
Three things: [First] The spotlight that will be on Chicago as one of the most architecturally important cities in the world with the convening of great thinkers and makers from all over the world. [Second] Learning more about and experiencing the work of the architects who are developing commissions for the Biennial. [Third] Contributing to the Biennial program with a major mid-career survey of the work of architect David Adjaye, on view at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Top five pieces of Chicago architecture?
—Monadnock Building
—Mies van der Rohe’s Lake Shore Drive apartments
—Metropolitan Correctional Center
—McCormick Tribune Campus Center
—Aqua Tower.
Which skyscraper do you most identify with and why?
Marina City is one of the most fascinating buildings in terms of its mix of uses. Incorporating boat parking, car parking, retail, restaurants, offices, and residences, it is a building that thoughtfully connects to its site and the adjacent Chicago River, as well as makes a valuable contribution to the urban life of the city.
COL (IL) Jennifer N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (Retired), CEO of Tawani Enterprises
Where’s your favorite place to take out-of-towners to give them an idea of what Chicago is really like?
The Chicago skyline view from the Shedd Aquarium fills one with awe, the newly renovated Riverwalk is a fantastic walkway on a nice summer or fall day with a variety of restaurants and recreational activities and views of some of Chicago’s most iconic buildings.
Top 5 pieces of Chicago architecture?
—The Monroe Building (104 S. Michigan Ave), designed in 1912 by Martin Roche of Holabird and Roche. It also houses the Pritzker Military Library.
—The National Guard Armory at North and Kedzie. This building is one of the last ones built prior to World War Two. It has fantastic murals depicting the Illinois National Guard in action in World War One.
—The Baha’I Temple in Chicago, Northshore (Wilmette, IL)
—Emil Bach House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (7415 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago) It was first designed in the 1900’s and is now available to visitors as a vacation rental and event space.
—Monadnock Building (53 W. Jackson Blvd)
What’s Chicago’s most architectural bar?
Cindy’s at the new Chicago Athletic Association Hotel
Which skyscraper do you most identify with and why? Willis Tower, John Hancock Center, Aqua, or Marina City?
The Aqua as it was wonderfully designed by a female architect – Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects.
Stewart Hicks and Allison Newmeyer, Partners, Design With Company
What are you most looking forward to at the Biennial?
The city is easily enamored with the masterpiece buildings that fill the street grid, and rightly so. However, this can be at the expense of fostering more experimental investigations of space in the city.
Top five pieces of Chicago architecture?
—McCormick Tribune Campus Center
—Mies van der Rohe’s Federal Center
—Inland Steel Building
—The Rookery
—Marina City
Chicago’s most architectural bar?
Cavanaugh’s in the first floor of the Monadnock Building. We’re partial because it is in the same building as our office.
Which skyscraper do you most identify with and why?
Marina City, definitely. It is a simple, modular collection that repeats to have larger effects. It has a strong image identity that comes from a core tectonic idea. So good.
Ben Nicholson, Architect and Critic
What are you most looking forward to at the Biennial?
Seeing game-changing work that I could not have imagined, from derring-do, devil-may-care 20-somethings.
Favorite place to take out-of-towners?
The three layers of streets of Lower, Middle and Upper Wacker Drive beneath the Swissôtel.
Top five pieces of Chicago architecture?
—Louis Sullivan’s Krause Music Store
—Empty Old Chicago Post Office
—Helmut Jahn’s James R. Thompson Center
—McCormick Tribune Campus Center
—Myron Goldsmith’s (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) Blue Line Stations going out to O’Hare
Chicago’s most architectural bar?
Dropping through a hole in the sidewalk of Michigan Avenue for a cheap beer in Billy Goat Tavern is the most surreal entrance to any bar I know of.
Which skyscraper do you most identify with and why?
Big John [John Hancock Center], hands down. The raw power it exudes is awe-inspiring, just one look at it gives the sense that it needs to be slopy, as otherwise it might fall over. The best way to get there is to dust off the ’69 Dodge (same age as the building) and floor it up the spiral ramps five levels, drive across the gangplank and pierce the building’s side. I have also heard there is a swimming pool way up in the residential section, from which you gaze across the city whilst paddling about. Any building that has its own zip code is going to be a good one.
James Goggin, Practice Art Director and Graphic Designer
What are you most looking forward to at the Biennial?
Lectures (like Jacques Herzog at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and Reinier de Graaf at Archeworks) and exhibitions (like David Adjaye at the Art Institute of Chicago, Ania Jaworska at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Stanley Tigerman’s sketches at Volume Gallery, and MAS Context’s Alternative Scenarios for Chicago).
What’s the best thing to eat or drink in Chicago?
Since Chicago is the most American of American cities, probably the best thing to eat is a hamburger. Even better, eat the best hamburger in America, which by many accounts is at Au Cheval on West Randolph. The best thing to drink is whatever you overpaid for in the Signature Lounge at the top of the John Hancock Center (my favorite Chicago skyscraper) right before sunset. Score a spot by the south-facing windows, sip your drink slowly (or just order a second), and enjoy the show.
Where are your favorite public spaces?
Most favorite is the CTA elevated as it runs around the loop and then back across the Chicago River. I never get tired of that view. Like just about everyone, I love the Mies and Calder combo at Federal Plaza. But I also recommend getting a coffee from Intelligentsia in the Monadnock Building across the street, then walking a few steps down Jackson to the fairly narrow, nondescript plaza behind the Dirksen Federal Building where you’ll find the surprisingly-hidden, lesser-known Sol LeWitt beauty, Lines in Four Directions, facing back at Mies.
Karen Kice, Curator, The Art Institute of Chicago
What are you most looking forward to at the Biennial?
I definitely can’t wait to see the work produced by a vast array of architects from around the world.
Chicago’s most architectural bar?
The Chicago Athletic Association and Signature Lounge in the Hancock Tower. The Athletic Association for the atmosphere. There are several bars within the recently renovated 1890s gothic building and the luxurious interior environment feels a bit like you have stepped back in time.
Which skyscraper do you most identify with and why?
I have to say all of them together. While they are individually fantastic buildings, it’s the collective of them that really defines Chicago and builds the iconic skyline.
Ania Jaworska, Architect, and Beverly Fresh, Artist and Musician
What are you most looking forward to at the Biennial?
For out of out-of-towners to see what Chicago architects are doing here and to see what outsiders will bring to the city.
Where’s your favorite place to take out-of-towners to give them an idea of what Chicago is really like?
Carol’s Pub, Max’s Place, Out of the Past Records
Top five pieces of Chicago architecture?
—Fat Johnnie’s
—Prentice Women’s Hospital (RIP)
—Aon Center
—Big Monster Door
—Pensacola Place
What’s Chicago’s most architectural bar?
Spectrum
Grant Gibson, Architect
What are you most looking forward to at the Biennial?
The number of informal discussions over dinner and drinks that always comes with these types of gatherings.
Top five pieces of Chicago architecture?
—The Thompson Center: Helmut Jahn’s best project and the last great civic building built in Chicago.
—McCormick Tribune Campus Center: OMA’s (post)modern insertion into Mies (and early SOM)’s campus gives the place life.
—Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio: The collage of a young genius offers insight to both his early influences and growth.
—Garofalo home and studio: The immersive domestic interior of (late architect) Doug and (sculptor) Chris Garofalo’s home and studios. The density and unique curation of plants, objects, and work provides a singular sensibility.
—Bruce Goff’s Ford House: Completed around the same time as the Farnsworth House, this domed home with masonry walls of coal and glass, ceilings of rope and wood, couldn’t be a better counterpoint to the stoic modernism of Chicago’s second school.
Chicago’s most architectural bar?
Located halfway between IIT and University of Illinois at Chicago, the Skylark in Pilsen (with its old sloping floor, big pink urinal and steak dinner specials) is one the few places where architects and faculty from all three schools are likely to stumble into each other.
Which skyscraper do you most identify with and why?
The Brewster Apartments by Enoch Hill Turnock. Located in the Lakeview neighborhood, this 1893 highrise with a skeleton frame contrasts its strong exterior character of heavy masonry with a bright white interior atrium filled with cast iron stairs and walkways paved with glass blocks. It is one of the earliest Chicago examples of work that ensures that what you see isn’t what you get.
Zurich Esposito, Executive Vice President AIA Chicago
What are you most looking forward to at the Biennial?
The opening of the Stony Island Arts Bank—a long-shuttered, historic neoclassical treasure that has been repurposed into a progressive arts center on Chicago’s South Side.
Favorite place to take out-of-towners?
Neighborhoods: Andersonville, Logan Square, Hyde Park…
Top five pieces of Chicago architecture?
—John Hancock Center
—The Loop Post Office at the Federal Center
—Lake Point Tower
—Poetry Foundation,
—S. R. Crown Hall
Chicago’s most architectural bar?
For good drinks in a space designed by good architects, I like Tiny Lounge, designed by Brininstool + Lynch in the Lincoln Square neighborhood. For drinking with architects, I like Club Lago, a no-frills tavern with decent Italian food. For looking at architecture while drinking, I like the bar at the Langham overlooking the Chicago River.
Which skyscraper do you most identify with and why?
The John Hancock’s formal simplicity never goes out of style
Matt Messner, Incoming Midwest Editor of AN
What are you most looking forward to at the Biennial?
Two things—somewhat related. The gathering of the architecture community in one physical place and the exposure of the general public to architecture and architects.
Favorite place to take out-of-towners?
This is tough because I have a very specific tour that starts downtown, looking at a handful of buildings. Then it takes the green line south, stopping at IIT, Washington Park area, Hyde Park, and other places around the South Side. It ends with the express bus from the Museum of Science and Industry to the Hancock with drinks at the Signature Lounge around sunset. It is a 40+ building tour. Or I just take them to the Billy Goat on Lower Michigan Avenue.
Favorite Chicago architecture?
—Monadnock Building
—Federal Plaza
—Marina City
—John Hancock
—Chicago bungalows and mail-order houses (that is sort of two)
Most architectural bar?
The Matchbox. At well under ten feet wide, it is truly architecture bringing people together. You have to make friends just to get to the toilet.
Elizabeth Smith, Former Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Programs at MCA Chicago
Most looking forward to at the Biennial?
The performance Superpowers of Ten, as well the architecturally inspired installations at the 6018 North project space.
Favorite place to take out-of-towners?
A drive around the Portage Park or Old Irving Park neighborhoods that seem quite unchanged from the way they must have looked in the ’40s and ’50s.
Top five pieces of Chicago architecture?
—Mies’ S.R. Crown Hall
—Rem Koolhaas’ McCormick Tribune Campus Center at IIT
—Bertrand Goldberg’s River City interiors
—Goldberg’s Marina City
—John Ronan’s Poetry Foundation
Most architectural bar?
Bar at the Hotel Burnham
Kelly Bair, Architect
What are you most looking forward to at the Biennial?
The sheer quantity of work being exhibited and the number of events going on. Chicago knows how to host a good party and there will be many to choose from thanks to the Biennial.
Favorite place to take out-of-towners?
Neighborhoods. To get a real sense of the city head out of the Loop and explore some of the diversity of neighborhoods such as Bridgeport (smaller galleries), to Logan Square (food and drinks), and check out some live music at any of the beautifully decrepit mid-1920s theaters that are sprinkled throughout the city (The Riviera, The Vic) or smaller venues (Empty Bottle, Thalia Hall, Schubas).
Chicago’s most architectural bar?
The Game Room in the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel—it’s not just for men anymore!
