Honors Architecture II Students Visit Boutique Architecture Firm in River North

2/15/2023

On Friday, February 3, students in Honors Architecture II, taught by Mr. Carson Shearon, benefited from a unique opportunity to visit the offices of STL Architects, a prestigious boutique architecture firm in Chicago's River North neighborhood, where they enjoyed a design presentation. The visit was followed by a tour of the Williams Field House in Bronzeville, a design for which STL Architects won the 2021 Driehaus Award for Chicago Neighborhood Development. The field house tour was hosted by design principals at STL and a representative from the Chicago Park District.

The Honors Architecture II class project for the Spring 2023 semester is based on The Newhouse Architecture + Design Competition, a city-wide competition sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Center. Because the 2023 Newhouse brief is to design an 8,750 square foot field house in a park located in an underserved neighborhood in Chicago, the chance to visit the Williams Field House in Bronzeville was a wonderful confluence of opportunities.

Students had the chance to experience first hand an award-winning architecture firm and interface with founding principals about the architecture profession, education, and design process.

“The field trip to STL Architects and William Park Field House was a very insightful and valuable experience for me,” reflects Gabi Ner ’24. “It helped me realize the process to construct an amazing building that brings peace and a sense of community along with having a lasting impact.”

The field trip was chaperoned by Mr. Carson Shearon, Mr. Keith Brown, and Mr. Nathan Ward. Many thanks to our hosts at STL Architects for a wonderful visit.

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