CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development has added a new layer of outside experts to weigh in on major projects.
The Committee on Design, appointed by the Department of Planning and Development, is made up of two dozen unpaid members, including architects, artists, academics and real estate professionals. They’ll review major developments and will be an extra set of eyes - or 24 sets - for projects that already need approval from department staff, the Chicago City Council and, in some cases, the Chicago Plan Commission.
The members include architect Jeanne Gang, designer and artist Bob Faust, visual artist Amanda Williams, planning and design director Eleanor Gorski, and many more. Planning Commissioner Maurice Cox called it “truly an all-star cast that will offer invaluable, implementable, and realistic recommendations involving design excellence and related development concerns that will lead to better projects and improved neighborhoods."
Cox told the Sun-Times, "its contributions will be vital to long-term neighborhood vitality, resilience and livability, especially as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The group will have public meetings on the second Wednesday of every month starting in August.
Members and their affiliations are:
--Catherine Baker, partner, Landon Bone Baker
--Sara Beardsley, technical director, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
--Andre Brumfield, principal, Gensler
--Nick Cave, sculptor and performance artist
--Bob Clark, executive chairman and founder, Clayco
--Philip Enquist, partner, SOM
--Bob Faust, designer and artist
--Jeanne Gang, founder, Studio Gang
--Theaster Gates, artist and professor at the Department of Visual Arts, University of Chicago
--Eleanor Gorski, planning and design director, University of Illinois-Chicago
--Hana Ishikawa, design principal, Site Design Group
--Casey Jones, principal, Perkins & Will
--Jackie Koo, principal, Koo Architecture
--Reed Kroloff, dean, Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture
--Brian Lee, consulting partner, SOM
--Renauld Mitchell, partner, Moody Nolan
--Juan Gabriel Moreno, president and founder, Juan Gabriel Moreno Architects
--Guacolda Reyes, chief real estate development officer, The Resurrection Project
--John Ronan, founding principal, John Ronan Architects
--Lesley Roth, principal, Lamar Johnson Collaborative
--Ann Thompson, executive vice president for architecture and design, Related Midwest
--Maria Villalobos, assistant professor, Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture
--Leon Walker, managing partner, DL3 Realty
--Amanda Williams, visual artist
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