Illinois

Writers Theatre Rewrites the Theater Experience

Writers Theatre, Glencoe., Ill.

Since it started in the back room of a bookstore in 1992, the hallmark of Chicago’s Writers Theatre has always been intimacy. That feeling is retained in WT's new permanent home in Glencoe, Illinois. The 36,000-sq.-ft. facility, designed by Studio Gang Architects, offers an open, welcoming space that galvanizes the potential of theater to unite people through shared experience. Signage and graphics by Thirst support the architecture and celebrate Writers’ unique history and spirit.

Museum of Science and Industry Wayfinding

This Way to Science

Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry needs to inspire a new generation of scientists. But first, it needs to show them the way through a colossal space.

If you ever wondered how 27 million people could have attended the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, then perhaps you haven’t set foot inside the Museum of Science and Industry. Housed in Burnham and Root’s Palace of Fine Arts—the only one of approximately 200 World’s Fair structures still standing—it encompasses 1.3 million square feet.  

McDonald's

Honor Award
McDonald's, Gensler

Two McDonald's restaurants in two states received a new design treatment integrating architecture, graphics and space. The corporate identity is expressed through both as part of the interior and exterior architecture. At Colorado Springs, the giant box of French fries beckons customers; larger than the golden arches sign outside, it is both sign and sculpture. Inside the store, menu graphics become part of the décor. Instead of squinting to see one giant menu board over the clerks' heads, patrons can look at the small menu board posted by each cash register.

Gensler

Witnesses

Honor Award
Witnesses, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Community Architexts

This multidisciplinary site activation involved the projection of large-scale texts from and on to two buildings that face each other on Chicago Avenue. These dynamic, historic billboards suggest a dialogue between factions in the community: elderly survivors of the 1932-33 Ukrainian Famine (Us) and outsiders such as Soviet Officials and recent Latino immigrants (Them) represented by the voices of Soviet propaganda and local Chicago schoolchildren.

Community Architexts

Chicago Streetscape Signage

Merit Award
Chicago Streetscape Signage, City of Chicago Dept. of Planning and Development, Two Twelve Harakawa

Chicago Streetscape Signage Standards Manual.

When Two Twelve was first asked to design standards for public signs on all Chicago streets, the city suffered from having no guidelines for the placement of signs, and no useful design standards. As a result, the streetscape had become confused, unappealing and difficult to navigate.

Two Twelve Harakawa

Levi's Original Spin Store Design

Merit Award
Levi's Original Spin Store Design, Levi Strauss & Co., Morla Design

Morla Design created the total brand identity for Levi's Original Spin including logo development, store design, consumer brochures and all point-of-purchase collateral. Designed to appeal to a 15-24 year old audience, Levi's Original Spin is based on the consumer as the creator of their own jeans. Store design and brochure layouts enhance the spirit of individuality with black and white photographs of "personalities" that illustrate the various style options.

Morla Design

Strands of History

Merit Award
Strands of History, BJ Krivanek Art + Design

Working with historians and archivists, BJ Krivanek researched California history and recent social contexts to develop an environmental art program that builds upon the urban design of the campus, siting a program of environmental elements within a metaphoric landscape.

BJ Krivanek Art + Design

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