Chicago warehouses were once built with architectural flair, but today’s industrial structures don’t come close.

"The next time an Amazon package arrives at your door, think of where it came from: A sprawling warehouse that’s a miracle of logistics and a piece of architecture with as much personality as a cardboard box," writes Blair Kamin.
Kamin looks back at Chicago’s long history of architecturally significant warehouses and other industrial buildings, including the Marshall Field Wholesale Store from 1887. "Designed by Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson to sell wholesale goods, the Field store projected the austere authority of a Renaissance palace. Graceful Romanesque arches punctuated its load-bearing exterior walls, which were made of huge pieces of highly textured Missouri red granite and red sandstone from Massachusetts."
Such a commitment to quality design and materials no longer exists, Kamin laments. "The problem is that Amazon’s architects are designing cookie-cutter buildings that are the very opposite of the Chicago warehouses that engaged the streets around them, combined efficient function with powerful form, and reflected the pride of their local owners."

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

California High-Speed Rail's Plan to Right Itself
The railroad's new CEO thinks he can get the project back on track. The stars will need to align this summer.

Santa Clara County Dedicates Over $28M to Affordable Housing
The county is funding over 600 new affordable housing units via revenue from a 2016 bond measure.

Why a Failed ‘Smart City’ Is Still Relevant
A Google-backed proposal to turn an underused section of Toronto waterfront into a tech hub holds relevant lessons about privacy and data.

When Sears Pioneered Modular Housing
Kit homes sold in catalogs like Sears and Montgomery Ward made homeownership affordable for midcentury Americans.
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