Chicago's Next Generation

The inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial (October 3, 2015 through January 3, 2016) is a global event. With over 60 firms or studios featured—representing more than 30 countries across six continents—it is also drawing attendees from all over the world. Titled The State of the Art of Architecture, the exhibition, curated by Sarah Herda and Joseph Grima, reaches beyond the national conversation to generate a larger discussion about the future of the built environment. But, given Chicago’s long tradition of innovation and innovators, from Louis Sullivan to SOM, we decided to look at some of the city’s own emerging practitioners. Here, we highlight a handful of designers in the Biennial who are, with optimism and humor, broadening the definition of the practice of architecture and what it means to be an architect, in both the Midwest and beyond.



	Allison Newmeyer and Stewart Hicks Design With Company Founded in 2010, the two-person Design With Company has developed a 'late entry' to Chicago's 1987 Harold Washington Library Competition for the Biennial.
	Ania Jaworska A show of Polish-born architect Ania Jaworska’s work is currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, running in tangent with the Biennial through January 31, 2016.
	Paul Preissner For the Biennial, Paul Preissner worked with students from the University of Illinois at Chicago and his sometime collaborator Paul Anderson to design a new kiosk on Lake Michigan.
	Sean Lally Weathers Sean Lally is concerned about climate change and how his profession can help address the immense environmental pressures bearing down on the globe—and has a very singular vision for the solution.
	Grant Gibson CAMESgibson, Inc. Grant Gibson, who invented elaborate life story of T.E. Cames, his firm's fictitious half-namesake, developed plans for an evolving residential high-rise with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
	Kelly Bair Central Standard Office of Design After spending more than a decade in L.A. working for boutique design firms, Kelly Bair moved to Chicago to take a tenure-track teaching position at the University of Illinois at Chicago and found her own firm.
	Conor O'Shea Hinterlands Urbanism and Landscape Operating on the fringes of architecture, landscape design, and planning, Conor O'Shea's firm takes a high-level look at exurban areas surrounding cities.
	Christopher Marcinkoski and Andrew Moddrell PORT Urbanism Though two time zones and 700 miles separate Christopher Marcinkoski and Andrew Moddrell, the two founders manage to successfully collaborate on research and large-scale public projects.

Miriam Sitz was a staff writer and editor for Architectural Record from 2015 to 2020, during which time she served as the web editor, then senior news & web editor.