Toronto and Chicago are sister cities. They share similar geographies. Both front onto a Great Lake, have a dense urban core and an expansive suburban region with few natural boundaries to contain sprawl. However, from an architectural and urban design standpoint, Toronto and Chicago are very different.
Chicago is renowned for its architecture, being the hub for some of the greatest American architecture of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. It is commonly referred to as the birthplace of the skyscraper. With this legacy, Chicago today continues to carry forward a culture of appreciation for architecture and urban design. This is evident in the way it has developed its waterfront, public realm, public art and buildings.
As one of the world’s most vibrant and culturally rich cities, an exemplar of urban living, what can Toronto learn from the way Chicago approaches city-building? What can we do to become a more beautiful metropolis? How can we develop a culture that celebrates excellence in architecture and urban design?
For the upcoming Pug Talk at the Pug Awards Closing Ceremony, Jennifer Keesmaat, Chief Planner for the city of Toronto, will be joined by Lynn Osmond, President and CEO of the Chicago Architecture Foundation, to discuss the two cities’ divergences and similarities and shed light on how to build an architectural legacy. The discussion will be moderated by Anna Simone, Pug Awards Co-Founder and Principal of Cecconi Simone.
The Pug Talk is a key component of the overall Pug Awards Closing Ceremony where the following awards will be presented:
• People’s Choice Awards for Architecture – Commercial and Institutional / Residential
• Paul Oberman Award for Adaptive Reuse and Heritage Restoration
• Best of the Best Architecture in Toronto of the Past Ten Years – Commercial and Institutional/Residential
• Pug Ed Awards
The Pug Awards Closing Ceremony, including the Pug Talk, is free and open to the general public. To RSVP, please visit www.pugawards.com/pug/talk/pug-x-closing-ceremony.
The Pug Awards 2014 Closing Ceremony takes place at 6:00pm in Baillie Court at the Art Gallery of Ontario on Wednesday, June 18, 2014.