Ideas/ Journal

The building would stand out in even the biggest of cities. But here, amid a sea of nearly ripe corn, a solar field and wetlands in northeastern Kenosha County, the Pritzker Military Archives Center overshadows the rural landscape. The building’s shape resembles a World War II landing craft. Its steel girders and columns are painted a bright red. Its founder is a retired colonel who happens to be a billionaire with a passion for military history. The building’s architect is world renowned, and the project serves as a unique gateway to this village of just over 9,000 people in southeastern Wisconsin.

Have you seen the giant red-accented glass building on the side of I-94? A little south of Kenosha in Somers, it’s pretty hard to miss with the bright exposed beams and glinting walls of glass. If you’re wondering what’s up with that striking structure (and you didn’t read the August issue of Milwaukee Magazine), then here’s what you need to know. It’s the Pritzker Military Archives Center, which recently completed construction after almost three years and is set to open to the public in the beginning of 2024.

A residential skyscraper designed by the late German-American architect Helmut Jahn has topped out in Chicago's South Loop. Sited in the city's Historic Michigan Avenue District, the skyscraper reached its final height of 788 feet (240 metres) after construction began in 2019. It sits on the western edge of Grant Park. Designed by architecture studio Jahn, the 73-storey skyscraper's concrete structure has been completed and work on the glass facade will complete shortly.

When Evan Jahn was growing up, his dad, famous architect Helmut Jahn, was insistent he not become an architect. And he didn’t. Jahn instead embarked on a 15-year career as a sustainability consultant for the property industry, including stints at Forum Studio and Clayco, and co-founding Ecker Green, a green office consultancy. But that hasn’t stopped him from landing in the family business. Jahn started sharing an office with his father a few years ago while doing some of his own real estate development. That evolved to Jahn working at the eponymous architecture firm and being positioned behind the scenes as Helmut’s successor. When Helmut died unexpectedly in a bicycle accident in May 2021, that plan was accelerated, and Jahn took over as president of the 60-year-old global architecture firm Jahn shortly thereafter.

A cantilever creates a dramatic sculptural effect at the 1000M residential tower in Chicago’s South Loop—the last design of the late architect Helmut Jahn. The cantilever at 1000 S. Michigan Avenue swoops over an adjacent, shorter building and makes the most of limited space.

Architect Lynda Dossey returns to the streets of Chicago for another walking tour, this time highlighting the hidden details to be found in the stylish River North neighborhood.

Today on AD Architect Lynda Dossey leads us on a walking tour of Chicago, highlighting the captivating details found in its storied architecture.

Google is set to give architect Helmut Jahn’s dazzling but troubled Thompson Center a corporate makeover. The building’s fans want its postmodern soul preserved, too.

There’s little middle ground among Chicago residents and architecture critics on the James R. Thompson Center, which Google bought for $105 million as developer Mike Reschke revamps the spaceship-shaped building in the next three years. Passerby on Randolph and LaSalle Streets either love it or hate it. The 37-year-old, 1.2-million-square-foot conical building was designed by the late Helmut Jahn, who created an open interior atrium as a symbol of government transparency because it housed state offices. Now Jahn’s only child, Evan Jahn, 43, is president of the eponymous architecture firm long helmed by his father, who died in a bicycle accident last year at 81.

Meet Lynda Dossey, a passionate Chicago architect who looks at projects as the ultimate 3D puzzles. Tune in for an inspiring conversation with a creative female leader!

Jahn announced today a new visual identity and voice. The refreshed brand celebrates a commitment to collaboration that has been at the heart of Jahn’s success, which remains named for the late architect Helmut Jahn (1940-2021), who led the Chicago-based firm for 40 years.

Internationally renowned full-service architecture studio Jahn announced a new visual identity and voice. The refreshed brand celebrates a commitment to collaboration that has been at the heart of Jahn’s success, which remains named for the late architect Helmut Jahn (1940-2021), who led the Chicago-based firm for 40 years.

The spectacular, and much maligned, James R. Thompson Center will be an office building reborn in a few years, if all goes according to plan. This is as it should be. The last three Illinois governors tried to send this postmodern icon to the scrap heap, citing the building’s nine-figure rehab costs while ignoring its architectural importance. But when preservationists and others started speaking up for the building in 2017, the most prominent voice was that of its architect, Helmut Jahn.

In Frankfurt, Germany, the 27-floor EDEN tower boasts an exterior “living wall system”: 186,000 plants that cover about 20 percent of the building’s facade. Chicago-based architecture firm JAHN, which spearheaded the facade concept, collaborated with local design firm Magnus Kaminiarz & Cie on EDEN tower.

Almost a year after the untimely death of Helmut Jahn, one of the architect’s final designs is coming to fruition. Jahn’s prolific legacy in Chicago and the surrounding area includes the Thompson Center, Terminal 1 at O’Hare International Airport, and the Mansueto Library at University of Chicago. Building on his penchant for engaging the public through wildly expressive designs, the Pritzker Military Archives Center in Somers, Wisconsin, is a jaunty 48,000-square-foot civic space for archiving and exhibiting military paraphernalia.

The State of Illinois has selected a buyer for the controversial Thompson Center located at 100 W Randolph Street in The Loop. The building, which opened in 1985, was designed by famed architect Helmut Jahn who designed other influential Chicago structures like Terminal 1 at O’Hare International Airport. The sale represents the end of a multi-year process which began in 2018 under the previous governor.