SAIC Partners with Chicago Architecture Biennial to Design Lakefront Kiosk

Late last year, the Chicago Architecture Biennial announced the Lakefront Kiosk Competition, organized in partnership with the Chicago Park District and the City of Chicago. The competition calls for the inventive design of a new kiosk that will be installed on Chicago’s lakefront. To parallel the competition, the Chicago Architecture Biennial is partnering with local schools of architecture to commission three additional kiosks. SAIC, the Illinois Institute of Technology, and the University of Illinois at Chicago were selected to participate in this project. The winning competition entry and the three commissioned kiosks will all aim to enhance cultural life along the shoreline of Lake Michigan, Chicago’s largest and most vibrant public space.

Each school will form a unique collaboration with an internationally renowned architecture firm to design their lakefront kiosk. SAIC’s Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects will partner with NLÉ, a firm led by architect, designer, and urbanist Kunlé Adeyemi. Based in Amsterdam and Lagos, Adeyemi’s research focuses on providing sustainable solutions for Africa and other developing regions. News of this and the other two collaborations has already begun to appear on sites like Archinect and the Chicago Architecture Blog. The project marks an exciting convergence of architectural leaders, students, schools, and city programs.