What happened?
We see what the Chicago architecture scene has become, and it’s mortifying. Downtown is dead. What do you do there after 6 p.m.? Actually, it doesn’t matter. The issue is that Chicago has been made blind to its own condition. What used to be its feat is forgotten and buried, and made into a nice story for a documentary. “History is dead” is now the city’s manifesto. Whereas, if there is one thing architecture is capable of, it is making and writing its own history—it engages with reality by built matter. It was so good at it that, at multiple points in history, projects that were never built (paper architecture) were no different from built architecture and made up a linear development. In people’s minds, there was no difference between the actual and the conceptual. If that wasn’t the role of architecture, then what was it?
In 2026, a new hospital in Chicago at 50% design development requires 2,182 sheets and 21 consultants. One hundred years ago, a school in South Dakota required 12 sheets to build. Yes, there are discrepancies in size and program, but c’mon. Architects today, 08/18/2026, are merely glorified project managers, the general contractors of design. If you’re thinking, “I control the consultants.” Congrats—you’ve spent months wrangling them. Maybe that’s why your margins are so thin and you have to work on so many projects at once to make some money.