Archons of Chicago

THE ARCHONS OF CHICAGO

Architecture is Chicago. The Kiosk is Architecture.

THE COMMONS INC. Chicago Architecture Biennial Lakefront Kisok Competition Entry March 2015

THE SIGNS Icons in the city Designed to be recognizable (and distributable) agents within the cityscape, the Archons act as signs and symbols of the city’s relationship to architecture and its people - actively defining pathways, view narratives, or points of attraction (within the context of the Biennial, the lakefront, or the city at large).

THE LENSES Framing architecture and urbanity The Archons are designed to frame and reflect architectural views and elements, reinforcing the identity of the city through its architecture, and highlighting architecture as an explicit dimension of urban experience (and the Biennial’s cultural programming).

THE SPACES Inviting interaction Housed within the Archons are intimate relational spaces – to be occupied, appropriated and used by citizens and visitors of the city (and Biennial).

Providing punctuated moments for rest, contemplation, conversation, shelter and personal and/or civic communication within the urban realm.

THE ARCHONS OF CHICAGO

Architecture is Chicago. The Kiosk is Architecture.

We propose a kiosk for which architecture is its medium, its subject, and its function. We propose a kiosk that can be atomized and deployed throughout the city when not functioning as a commercial entity. A kiosk comprised of modular architectur-

al elements – the Archons. The Archons are agents of architecture, derived from the city’s architecture itself, with the capacity to engage iconically, didactically and programmatically within its urban, civic and psychic fabrics.

© THE COMMONS INC 2015

Original entrance arch in situ and as fragment (by the Art Institute)

Summer Lakefront Kiosk

Chicago Architecture Biennial

(aggregated)

(distributed)

Chicago Stock Exchange building Louis Sullivan, 1893

Spring Lakefront Installation (aggregated or distributed)

F/W/Sp Urban Installation (distributed)

or

Summer Lakefront Kiosk (aggregated)

= maintenance & installation Chicago Cultural Center Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, 1897

BIANNUAL CYCLE

LEGACY THROUGH MODERNIZATION ... and vice versa The Archons are derived directly from the Chicago Cultural Center, a landmark building, that has historically been the seat of diplomatic hospitality (as the city’s official reception venue), the repository of civic knowledge (as the Central Library Building)

and now the primary venue of the Architecture Biennial. Our intent is to quote all of these dimensions of its architecture – from form to proportion to symbol to function to usership, in the belief that these are the essential facets that define civic architecture.

DEPLOYABLE AGENTS Migrating through time, space and public interest It is our hope and intention that the Archons of Chicago might have a cyclical life within the city, possibly even growing in numbers. This, so that they might continue to attest to the city’s commitment to its architecture and its people by exploring and

framing new sites and urban moments, reconfiguring and locating according to public interests, and fulfilling their architectural agency by their participation in the civic fabric through multiple scales and means. © THE COMMONS INC 2015

Photovoltaic Panels

Moulded Fibreglass Shell

Photovoltaic Panels

LED lighting elements Reflective Anodized Aluminum Cedar lining (and shelving system) arch (distributed) formation

arch (distributed) formation

Shelves

Aluminum Structure

Moulded Fibreglass Shell

Moulded Fibreglass Shell

Operable Louvred Panels Operable Louvred Panels (cedar) Anodized Aluminum Skin kiosk (aggregated) formation

kiosk (aggregated) formation

PROGRAMMATIC SURFACE

FUNCTIONAL SURFACES

MATERIAL ASSEMBLAGE

THE ARCH Materials and Assembly The Archons will be built by local fabricators – combining new technologies (3D (mould) milling; high-efficiency solar panels; and LED lighting) with classic craft-based fabrication processes indigenous to the city and the water, including metal welding, fibre-glass moulding and weather-resistent wood construction.

The arch will be declined in different depths (three) to allow for

multiple micro-programmatic opportunities. The surfaces of the arches (interior translucent fiberglass, side louvred panels, front aluminum, and roof PV cells) become active functional and programmatic surfaces depending on their configuration as stand-alone elements or aggregated elements. Š THE COMMONS INC 2015

800 mm

400 mm

1600 mm

800 mm

400 mm

1600 mm

800 mm

400 mm

1600 mm

800 mm

400 mm

1333 mm

1600 mm

3000 mm 750 mm

Elevation (closed panels)

Archway (closed)

Elevation (open panels)

Archway (open)

Section (interior view)

Section (interior view)

1727 mm

927 mm

527 mm

1727 mm

927 mm

13052 mm

527 mm

1727 mm

927 mm

527 mm

1727 mm

1333 mm

927 mm

527 mm

4000 mm

1500 mm

1333 mm

750 mm

Plan

THE KIOSK Aggregated arches The modularity, self-containment and design detailing of the Archons will allow them to be (re)combined into a catalogue of configurations to serve specific needs (such as the summer commercial kiosk). The surfaces of the arches (interior translu-

cent fiberglass, side louvred panels, front aluminum, and roof PV cells) become active functional and programmatic surfaces depending on their configuration as stand-alone elements or aggregated elements.

Š THE COMMONS INC 2015

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INHABITNG THE ARCHONS Distributed Formation - Micro-Programs The interior moulded fiberglass surfaces of the Archons are designed to provide open-ended appropriation and use. Though rationalized into a series of forms (for production efficiency purposes) these surfaces can act as seats, steps, shelter, displays,

signage, et al, providing different opportunities for interaction - between people, people and objects, objects and information, and between these micro-programs and the larger public sphere.

Š THE COMMONS INC 2015

THE SERIOUS ARCHITECTURAL FOLLY Within the landscape

CITY IN THE PARK The Secret Garden

The arches will be deployed throughout the grounds of Millenium Park, mediating between the scale of Chicago skyline and the human experience at ground level.

The arches will superimpose a new geography in Millenium Park, composed of different points of intensity, views and activities to be discovered while wandering in the open and integrated into the Biennial cultural programming.

ARCHONS IN THE CITY I Chicago Architecture Biennial - Millenium Park Installation The Archons are designed such that they can migrate and install in a multitude of public spaces in the city (lakefront, streets, squares, parks). Their first defining moment however, will be there installation in millenium park as part of the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial. This is where they will start to gather their ‘aura’ - through formal reference, operative functionality and programmatic purpose.

As archetypal forms they will become symbols and beacons of the event, as formal reference they will signal a connection to its epicentre, as operative lenses they will include the city’s urban fabric and architecture into the exhibition and as public moments of intimacy they will provide a different character, scale and opportunity for civic engagement to the Biennial’s roster of ‘cultural programming’.

© THE COMMONS INC 2015

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31st

Cermak

Roosevelt

Harrison

Randolph

Chicago

Division

North

Fullerton

Belmont

Addison

Irving Park

Montrose

Lawrence

Foster

Bryn Mawr

Illinois

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A NEW SYMBOL FOR THE LAKEFRONT defining space and human comfort The Archons will not only provide visual identity to the lakefront, but also a visual narrative, anchoring views, pathways and trajectories. In the colder seasons, or heat of the sun, they will equally provide moments of human comfort and interaction in the landscape.

ARCHONS IN THE CITY II the lakefront, and beyond...

It is our hope that the Archons might become a system of spatial identity for the city of Chicago, providing new modes for recognition and relational connection between its iconic urban spaces and architectural elements. The lakefront is in active definition as a truly public space within the city. Rather than a

singular kiosk, we propose to contibute a new symbolic identity that can give definition to this ‘space’ and tether it to Chicago’s architectural and design legacy, through visual identity at the macro-scale, and spaces of human comfort and appropriation at the micro-scale. © THE COMMONS INC 2015

DRINK

EAT

EAT

RENT

RENT

CHOOSE

CHOOSE

CHOOSE

BUY

BUY

Sample exterior configurations

Sample cluster and privacy configurations

ARCHONS IN THE CITY III The kiosk The individual arches are modular components designed to easily aggregate so as to provide larger spaces that can accept and conform to different functions. When aggregated, the exterior operable louvred panels become activated - providing, through their opening or closing, custom opportunities for display

surfaces, service counters, signage, shelving, storage, etc. When open, the panels also provide shading, as do the aggregated archways themselvs. The archways are also designed so that they can be open or closed to allow for public or private spaces within the interior. Š THE COMMONS INC 2015

THE ARCHONS OF CHICAGO

Architecture is Chicago. The Kiosk is Architecture.

THE COMMONS INC. Chicago Architecture Biennial Lakefront Kisok Competition Entry March 2015