Ex Nihilo

2012, thesis exhibition, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

An often told Chicago narrative is one of singular architects creating visionary plans for the city. I wanted to engage this idea of architect as visionary, but to reverse its course, and take the past as our subject. After finding unusual ruins buried within a forest preserve in the south suburbs, I asked 6 Chicago architects to draw their interpretation of the site's past. These drawings envision the site in a variety of ways, raising questions of how form and function are entwined and histories are constructed.