Sneckdown spotting shows us areas of roadway both small and large that no one is driving on. Asphalt comes at a cost, so we should reclaim that public space. Let us tell you why.
Urban Planning
Coming Soon: New Plaza and Entrance Canopy for Park Lincoln by Reside
We’re so pleased to introduce our latest project: the updated plaza design and new entrance canopy for the Park Lincoln apartments on Clark Street by Reside.
Chicago Building Types: the Skyscraper
Chicago is a city with an iconic skyline. What makes a skyscraper work? Where did they come from and why are they central to Chicago history.
Design for Darkness: How Outdoor Lights Affect the Sky
Seeking starlight from Chicago, home of the orange glow, is hard. Here’s how you can help protect the night sky with your lighting choices.
Buildings and Climate Change: Good Design Can Help
We don’t want to belabor the often-depressing facts on climate change any more than necessary … but it does seem necessary to acknowledge the most recent report from the International Panel on Climate Change. Whether or not you’ve read anything about their findings you should be able to pass this pop quiz. Look, we know no […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Chicago’s People Spots Here to Stay … Here’s Why
People Spots are tiny parks, right along Chicago’s neighborhood sidewalks. Good for business, good for neighborhoods, good for people! Here’s why:
Chicago Building Types: the Courtyard Apartment
What sets these courtyard apartment buildings apart from other types of apartment dwellings. The answer is in the organization.
A Tale of Two Cities: Sharing the Road in Amsterdam and Istanbul
While the idea of an official “Shared Street” may be new and somewhat unsettling to Chicagoans today, the idea is anything but new or untested. We only need to look back to the pre-car dominated city to see how the streets used to be much more public territory than they are today. The image below of […]
Uptown's Proposed Shared Street at Argyle: How ADDING Uncertainty Can Make Our Side Streets Safer
Anticipating City Made festival this weekend, when Andersenville will turn Clark between Argyle and into an open air market and street party for two days has us wishing that some of our city’s streets could always be a little more integrated. Anyone who’s ever attended a block party or recalls a childhood game of kickball […]
Another One Bites the Dust: the Tiny Tragedy of Teardowns in Chicago Neighborhoods
Walking to work this morning I noted yet another pile of construction debris on the foundation of a former house just around the corner from moss HQ. Seeing an old house demolished always seems like a small tragedy. It’s true; some older buildings certainly HAVE outlived their useful lifespan, are in poor repair or structurally unsound. Sometimes the […]
50 Years On, the Wilderness Act Should Remind us that We Need to Value All Nature
Did you “get away” this weekend? Labor day weekend is traditionally celebrated outside – whether it be grilling in the back yard, picnicking in a city park, heading for a lakefront cabin in one of our neighbor states or aiming for a little slice of America’s wilderness preserved in our state and national parks and […]