Venice Architecture Biennale
Exhibition
City Works: Provocations for Chicago’s Urban Future
Location
Venice Architecture Biennale
On View
June 7-November 23, 2012
City Works: Provocations for Chicago’s Urban Future, exhibited in 2012 as part of the 13th International Venice Architecture Biennale, re-envisions the way architecture engages with the city.
Exhibition collaborators David Brown, Stanley Tigerman, UrbanLab, and Studio Gang were each tasked with reimagining a typical urban environment in Chicago: respectively, the grid, the river, the shelter, and the industry. Together, these scenarios formed a large-scale model picturing the city’s potential for invention. Taking on multiple configurations throughout the course of the exhibition, the installation was set against curator Alexander Eisenschmidt’s panoramic drawing of a visionary city composed of historical Chicago buildings that were never realized.
Studio Gang’s contribution, Reclaiming the Edge, gives shape to a bold vision for Chicago’s waterways, which are poised for a new round of urban transformation that reclaims the water’s edge for human activity and generates a diverse ecosystem. This healthy, productive, and thriving urban waterfront unites ideas from five of our projects, demonstrating the Studio’s commitment to an urban-ecological future: Northerly Island, Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo, Ford Calumet Environmental Center, WMS Boathouse at Clark Park, and Reverse Effect.
The installation was re-presented in Chicago at Expo 72, May 24-September 29, 2013.
