The Chilean firm Pezo von Ellrichshausen, whose Poli House received the 2014 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize for Emerging Architecture, have been commissioned to build a lakefront kiosk as part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial.
The firm Pezo von Ellrichshausen, currently conducting a Cloud Studio at CoA, was curator of the Chilean Pavilion at the 2008 Venice Biennale. Their work has been widely published and has been featured in exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Arts (London), the Biennial of the Americas (Denver), and the Museum of Modern Art (New York).
“This collaboration provides an unprecedented opportunity for students to work with leading architects from around the world. These works of micro-architecture represent both the forefront and the future of the field, and will enrich our lakefront for years to come,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a press announcement from the Biennial.
Cent Pavilion, the commissioned kiosk from IIT College of Architecture, and two others from other local architecture schools are separate from a competition among architectural firms announced late last year by the Biennial in partnerships with the Chicago Park District and the City of Chicago. The competition calls for firms to submit entries for the inventive design of a new kiosk that will be installed on Chicago's lakefront. The winner of the competition will receive the BP Prize which includes an honorarium for design development and a construction budget to realize the design.
The winning entry, announced on August 15th 2015, by Rhode Island-based team Ultramoderne, Chicago Horizon features a large, flat roof of cross-laminated timber that will house an architectural lending library and shelter in the city's Millennium Park.
Two other local architecture schools are taking part in the unique collaboration between architectural leaders, schools, and city programs. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects will partner NLE, led by Kunle Adeyemi, an architect with firms in Amsterdam and Lagos. The School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago will partner with Paul Andersen of Denver-based Indie Architecture and Paul Preissner, principal of Chicago-based Paul Preissner Architects.
The structural frame for Cent Pavilion will premiere outside S. R. Crown Hall, the home of IIT Architecture, during the opening week of the Chicago Architecture Biennial where it will remain through the month of October. These three commissioned kiosks, along with the competition-winning kiosk, will be installed on the lakefront in the spring of 2016.
Collaborators: Paul Endres (Structure), Tip Top Builders / SVI Themed Construction Solutions (Construction), IIT Faculty and students: Dirk Denison, Rick Nelson, Agata Siemionow, Claudia Cabrera, Man Hu, Luis Marrero, Lisa Palm, Jorge Serra, Yuanchen Shi, Jenna Staff, Lova Strindberg, Felix Zdrojkowski