Take a Midday Break

Designed with your busy schedule in mind, our popular drop-in Lunch Talks @ CAF provide a wonderful opportunity to engage in a variety of topics that relate to Chicago’s architecture and built environment - from recent research in architectural history to current projects around the Chicagoland area.

TIME 12:15–1pm
COST Free, open to the public
LOCATION Lecture Hall Gallery, 224 S. Michigan Ave.
RSVP None required (Please arrive early; seating is limited) Guests are welcome to bring a bag lunch
AIA/CES 1

These talks are made possible in part by a donation in memory of Myra Gary, Docent Class of 1999.

Explore in-depth selected topics from Lunch Talks @ CAF!

One talk each month will be part of Lunch Talks Online, where you can: Browse videos, photographs, articles, and other resources. Listen to the mp3 of the Lunch Talk and view the presentation slides. Join the conversation and share your perspective!

May 22

Lunch Talks@CAF: Preserving the Past/Making it New
Small Projects, Big Talent

Zurich Esposito, Executive Director, AIA Chicago and Small Project Award Winning Architects

Hear from the award winners of AIA Chicago’s Small Firm/Small Project Award program who have been recognized for their high-quality work coming out of several small Chicago architectural firms. A brief overview of the competition will be followed by architects presenting on their winning work. This program is presented by the AIA Chicago Small Practitioners Group. The goal of this award program is to raise public awareness of the value that architects bring to small projects and to promote small practitioners as a resource for design excellence. All firms in the competition have fewer than 9 licensed architects & architectural interns.

May 29

Lunch Talks@CAF: Preserving the Past/Making it New
Preservation and Adaptive Reuse of the Viceroy Hotel

Hume An, Director of Real Estate Development, Heartland Housing, Inc., Jeff Bone, Principal Architect, Landon Bone Baker Architects

For individuals confronting homelessness, a permanent home with supportive services works. Harvest
Commons Apartments, formerly known as the Viceroy Hotel, is an affordable residential project and a historic, green rehabilitation on Chicago's Near West Side. After falling into disrepair and closing nearly a decade ago, this Chicago Landmark building will reopen this year to include a social enterprise café, an urban farm, and a teaching kitchen out of which Heartland Housing will provide classes to residents about nutrition and food preparation. Hume An and Jeff Bone will discuss the redevelopment team's commitment to better understand the needs of tenants and to offer relevant programming that will allow residents to rebuild and enrich their lives. Harvest Commons Apartments is part of a broader discussion on the benefits of a single room occupancy.

Watch a live-stream of this talk, view resources on this topic, and share your perspective at Lunch Talks @ CAF Online.

June 5

Lunch Talks@CAF: Favorite Spaces/Places Chicago
Chicago Sinfonietta's ChiScape

Dr. Yaniv Dinur, conductor and pianist

Goethe supposedly said, "Architecture is music frozen in time."  Join us to "defrost" this truism in a discussion about the June 9-10 Chicago Sinfonietta concerts inspired by Chicago's iconic buildings.  The Sinfonietta has commissioned four composers to create a four-movement work with each movement inspired by a Chicago landmark including Crown Hall, Pritzker Pavilion, the Aqua Building, and the Modern Wing of the Art Institute. Composers Armando Bayolo, Vivian Fung, Chris Rogerson, and Jonathan Baily Holland will discuss their work, play excerpts of what each of the movements will sound like, and share their thoughts about what inspired them.  Don't miss this rare glimpse into the creative process and be the first to hear excerpts of this world premiere composition.

June 12

Lunch Talks@CAF: Favorite Spaces/Places Chicago
Aon Plaza, An Unvisited Gem; McCormick Place (east building);The Elevated in the Loop

Ed McDevitt, CAF Docent, Ellen Shubart, CAF Docent, William Meyer, CAF Docent

Please join us to discover unexpected and unique elements of three favored Chicago Places/Spaces selected by three Chicago Architecture Foundation Docents—experts on giving tours of varied aspects of Chicago’s built environment and frequent tour leaders of many Chicago places and spaces. Drop by to learn more about the Aon Placa, a sculpture mini-gallery from the past and present that nobody knows about; McCormick Place, and examine the Elevated around the Loop.

June 19

Lunch Talks@CAF: Favorite Spaces/Places Chicago
Pullman-Creating Cultural Renaissance

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, ArtSpace, & National Park Service

Lynn McClure, National Parks Conservation Association; Arthur Pearson, PCO Artspace Committee; Mike Wagenbach, Pullman State Historic Site

This lunch program will feature presentations by principle organizations transforming Pullman into Chicago's premier far-south cultural destination. Extraordinary capital investment, robust cultural programming, creative reuse of railcar factory for artists' live/work/exhibit space and broad-based support to designate Pullman as a National HIstoric Park are steaming ahead toward neighborhood transformation.

Watch a live-stream of this talk, view resources on this topic, and share your perspective at Lunch Talks @ CAF Online.

June 26

Lunch Talks@CAF: Favorite Spaces/Places Chicago
The "Original" Sears Tower

Kristin Dean, President, Foundation for Homan Square

When people think of the “Sears Tower” rarely does a 14-story structure in North Lawndale come to mind – the original Sears Tower. When this 1906 tower was completed, it was the centerpiece of the world’s largest commercial building – a fitting home for what would later become the “World’s Largest Store.” Find out about its original design, program history and function, and the current state of the building and Foundation for Homan Square’s vision for the future for the North Lawndale community.