Many of the world’s holidays fall at the darkest time of the year. Winter-holidays, seasonal cycles, reflection and renewal.
Opinion
Let it Go! Make this the Season of Giving, not Shopping
The holidays are one of America’s favorite times to go on a buying spree but instead we propose: Try giving to let things OUT of your life, rather than bringing them in.
Your Pumpkin Pie is a fake, but Thanksgiving will be OK
Have you heard the old joke: “When is a pumpkin not a pumpkin? When it’s a pie.” It’s true! Most pumpkin pie, or more accurately, the canned pumpkin used by most Americans, contains squash not pumpkin.
Building Materials: The 2x4s All Around Us
This ubiquitous building material lurks behind nearly every residential wall but is hardly ever seen. We may not see it, but it is busy holding the roof up over our heads.
Resilient Responses to Storm Damage: What Chicago Can Learn From New York's Big U Project
This weekend’s damage to the Lakefront Trail only underlines the need for a more environmentally resilient plan to deal with our waterfront. New York is handling this better with their “Big U” coastal infrastructure project. What can we learn from their designs? And why aren’t we on top of this already? In case the nippy weather, obsessive […]
Don't Forget To Vote TODAY: Polls Are Open Until 7PM
Why do a bunch of designers care about casting ballots? How we vote is crucial to the built environment and the people who create and live in it. Our national, state and local representatives make countless decisions that affect the potential for sustainability and for good, equitable design. For example, on today’s ballot, we choose […]
Spooky Architecture: Cemeteries to Welcome the Living
Cemeteries have a compelling history, transforming from unsanitary resting places to picturesque parks, before settling into plain, landscaped lawns, losing not a few bones along the way in the move. Knowing this, we may never look at those subterranean skeleton decorations in quite in the same way again. Our Tuesday post “Spooky Architecture: Cities […]
Spooky Architecture: Cities of the Living, Parks of the Dead
The Cemetery: spooky, somber and no picnic … spot. Wrong. We explore cemeteries past and present, looking at cities from Paris to Cahokia, and Chicago.
A Softer Alternative to Chicago’s Concrete Shoreline
Chicago has just proposed a new 6 acre extension to the shoreline park at Fullerton Avenue complete with new concrete revetment. Having recently combed the sand dunes of Indiana’s Lake Michigan shore, we wonder about softer shore styles they might have considered. Surely concrete barricades aren’t the only strategy for interfacing between land and water at the city’s edge … maybe […]
What does it mean to be "From Chicago"?
Here at moss, we proudly label our creations as made in Chicago. We support our city (and neighborhood) businesses, artists, events and activities. But are we “from Chicago”? That’s a complicated question. The Ineluctable Pull of the City Young Matt, aged 12, lived in the West Suburbs of Chicagoland but dreamed of urban living. He wrote away for a […]
Less is More: the Joy (and difficulty) of Minimalist Living
The problem of “stuff” is an American universal and no one is really in position to criticize. I’ve always had a lot of stuff; certainly I’ve had a lot more stuff than I need. I’ve dabbled in extreme minimalism while traveling over extended periods. Most recently, in 2012 I shook up my life by quitting […]
The Humble Bike Rack: Good, Bad and Ugly found in Chicago’s North Side Neighborhoods
Warning: some sign posts are designed to be easily removed and so are NOT SECURE places to lock your bike. Always check the base. The Humble Bike Rack: this under-appreciated piece of urban street furniture popped onto our radar again when Rogers Park announced its contest finalist for a new neighborhood bike rack design. The winners are all […]