Last Spring Break: Wrightwood 659

After being student for a lifetime, this is my last academic break! Nothing too special going on however, just visiting Chicago for a weekend and then going back to campus for job applications and other projects to ensure I can graduate smoothly at May and hopefully have a nice transition into work life. 

This blog post is mainly focusing on Wrightwood 659, a relatively new building in Chicago by the Architect Tadao Ando. I initially planned to visit the building in December last year, but did not know one has to book it in advanced (oops!) so that is why the visit had been postponed until this weekend. My boss Prof. Emmons also told me how amazing their current exhibit is so that was what ultimately made me do the trip this week. 

Wrightwood 659 / Architect Tadao Ando / 2018

Wrightwood 659 is a refurbishment project that turned the old 30-unit apartment building into an exhibition space. ​The venue was founded by Fred Eychaner, a media entrepreneur and philanthropist, and Dan Whittaker, an architectural historian. “I think there are some interstitial spaces that are open for new work and new viewpoints in Chicago,” Mr. Eychaner said in an interview on Thursday. “That’s not a criticism of any existing institutions. But we think there are a lot of things we can do here that nobody else is doing.” (Libbey, Peter. “A Tadao Ando-Designed Exhibition Space Opens in Chicago.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Oct. 2018)

"I think there are some interstitial spaces that are open for new work and new viewpoints in Chicago." -Fred Eychaner

I agree with the statement. I feel like aside from the educational institutions and civic infrastructures, there is not much in-between venue that can curate smaller scale architectural exhibits in Chicago. New York City has places like MoMA PS1 and Architecture Storefront to provide more exposures and opportunities for architects and architectural students. I am glad that Chicago is catching up on that.

The owner also asked Architect Ando to design his house right next to the exhibition space.

Program

The site is a rectangular strip. The architect placed the service core in the middle and the private space at the opposite side of the entrance. It is rare for me to see Architect Tadao Ando emphasized the verticality of the space, especially in an exhibition gallery. It's definitely not the first time, of course, we've seen it at the 21_21 design sight and Omotesando Hills, but ususally Ando would be given a larger site to develope such space, for example, the museums in Texas and St. Louis.

He used the vertical circulation to define the front of the building. The juxtapostition of two grids creates its iconic atrium space.

Materiality

For me, I feel like this project is well connected with the Punta Della Dogana project in Venice, Italy. I've done a blog post about that project before so feel free to click the link and check it out.  

http://www.hsunico.com/blog/venezia-17

​Lots of design decisions were transferred into this project in terms of materiality and the sense of space. The mixed of concrete, wood, and bricks really created a visually dynamic space, and it goes well with the surrounding context in Lincoln Park neighborhood in Chicago. 

Current Exhibits

They are currently showing the U.S pavilion exhibition from this past Venice Biennale. One of the highlights was the research video by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. They pointed out the lack of global awareness to power distribution with carefully edited info-graphical sequence. 

On the third and fourth level, they are currently showing Architect Ando's work. The architect himself even sketched his projects on the walls!

Half of the fourth level is a glass-box for views. It reminds me of the top level of the ​​Asia Museum of Modern Art in Taiwan, also a project by Ando. This is a design technique that Ando likes to use to liberate the visitors once they've reached the top of the building so they can re-connect with the city and contemplate after seeing all the exhibits. 

If you're currently an architecture students around the Chicago region, this is a must visit. Chicago is very fortunate to have this building and i think it is an excellent addition to the Chicago architecture scene.