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GRAY’s top picks for events, fairs, and happenings on the international design scene.
AGENDA
SEATTLE DESI GN FESTI VAL AUG 21–22 | SEATTLE
CHI CAGO A RCH ITE C TU R E BIE N N IAL SEPTEMBER 17–DECEMBER 18 | CHICAGO
Embracing a collaborative, community-led design approach, the fourth edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, this year titled The Available City, will present transformative possibilities for vacant urban spaces that are created with and for area residents. Led by artistic director, designer, and educator David Brown, the multi110
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month event will employ talks, build-outs, exhibitions, and events to confront, and create a dialogue around, the often-opaque process of city design and development, and propose alternative, more inclusive design processes. Biennial programming will take place across digital platforms and throughout Chicago neighborhoods
with happenings and installations that activate community gardens, decommissioned schools, and storefronts, in addition to vacant lots. Participating design studios include Borderless Studio, Norman Teague Design Studios, architect Negin Moayer of BNMO Design, and Open Architecture Chicago. »
TREVOR DYKSTRA; COURTESY OF CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL / ROGER SHERMAN, 2014
Seattle Design Festival, the city’s annual celebration of architecture and design, is back this August with a free outdoor event. Presented by Design in Public with the theme “Emerge,” the two-day event will be held in Lake Union Park and will focus on community, creativity, and reconnection. The always-popular Block Party will consist of interactive built design installations (participants include MG2, Johnston Architects, and Olson Kundig), as well as pop-up design activities and experiences for all ages and abilities. Festival highlights include walking design tours with Seattle Architecture Foundation, printmaking, home-built-boat races, a site-responsive performance set in Freeway Park, and more.
