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Next Stop –

Chicago Architectural Club's Burnham Prize Competition 2013

A Pop-Up exhibit held in the Santa Fe Building atrium alongside the Chicago Architecture Center’s 400-block city model featured all nine awarded entries.

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The 2013 Burnham Prize, Next Stop: Designing Chicago BRT Stations, was a single-stage, international ideas competition to envision iconic, sustainable, and context-responsive designs for Chicago’s emerging Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. Conceived and launched by Strawn Sierralta as Presidents of the Chicago Architectural Club, the competition capped a two-year civic effort involving more than a dozen institutions and non-profits.

Rather than a one-size-fits-all prototype, the brief challenged entrants to develop system-based solutions adaptable to diverse neighborhoods while establishing a cohesive identity for Chicago’s BRT. Working closely with the Chicago Architecture Center and the BRT Steering Committee, the team framed a competition that addressed both infrastructure and urban experience.

Participants were tasked with designing stations for three distinct sites: downtown’s Loop, Bucktown/Logan Square, and Pilsen. The competition and companion exhibition fostered broad public dialogue, advancing ideas for a world-class transit system uniquely tailored to Chicago’s character. Since 1885, the Chicago Architectural Club has championed design innovation and critical debate, making Next Stop part of a legacy of competitions that both reflect and shape the city’s architectural culture.


For: Chicago Architectural Club

Type: Design Competition

Partners / Collaborators: Chicago Architecture Center, Rockefeller Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago Department of Transportation, Active Transportation Alliance, Metropolitan Planning Council, Urban Land Institute Chicago, Civic Consulting Alliance, Institute for Transportation & Development Policy, and AIA Chicago.

Competition Jury: Monica Chadha, Civic Projects; Gordon Gill, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture; Cheri Heramb, AECOM; Gabe Klein, Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT); Pat Natke, UrbanWorks Architecture; Peter Osler, Illinois Institute of Technology; Carol Ross Barney, Ross Barney Architects; Rebekah Scheinfeld, Chicago Transit Authority (CTA); Charles Smith, Cannon Design & Chicago Loop Alliance; Stanley Tigerman, Tigerman McCurry Architecture

Winning Entry: Winning Entry – Form vs. Uniform by Toronto architects Hesam T. Rostami and Bahareh Atash earned first place for its “simple elegance, subtle adaptability, and full accessibility.”

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0031

Next Stop –

Chicago Architectural Club's Burnham Prize Competition 2013

The 2013 Burnham Prize, Next Stop: Designing Chicago BRT Stations, was a single-stage, international ideas competition to envision iconic, sustainable, and context-responsive designs for Chicago’s emerging Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. Conceived and launched by Strawn Sierralta as Presidents of the Chicago Architectural Club, the competition capped a two-year civic effort involving more than a dozen institutions and non-profits.

Rather than a one-size-fits-all prototype, the brief challenged entrants to develop system-based solutions adaptable to diverse neighborhoods while establishing a cohesive identity for Chicago’s BRT. Working closely with the Chicago Architecture Center and the BRT Steering Committee, the team framed a competition that addressed both infrastructure and urban experience.

Participants were tasked with designing stations for three distinct sites: downtown’s Loop, Bucktown/Logan Square, and Pilsen. The competition and companion exhibition fostered broad public dialogue, advancing ideas for a world-class transit system uniquely tailored to Chicago’s character. Since 1885, the Chicago Architectural Club has championed design innovation and critical debate, making Next Stop part of a legacy of competitions that both reflect and shape the city’s architectural culture.

HIGHLIGHTS A Pop-Up exhibit held in the Santa Fe Building atrium alongside the Chicago Architecture Center’s 400-block city model featured all nine awarded entries.

DATA + –

For: Chicago Architectural Club

Type: Design Competition

Partners / Collaborators: Chicago Architecture Center, Rockefeller Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago Department of Transportation, Active Transportation Alliance, Metropolitan Planning Council, Urban Land Institute Chicago, Civic Consulting Alliance, Institute for Transportation & Development Policy, and AIA Chicago.

Competition Jury: Monica Chadha, Civic Projects; Gordon Gill, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture; Cheri Heramb, AECOM; Gabe Klein, Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT); Pat Natke, UrbanWorks Architecture; Peter Osler, Illinois Institute of Technology; Carol Ross Barney, Ross Barney Architects; Rebekah Scheinfeld, Chicago Transit Authority (CTA); Charles Smith, Cannon Design & Chicago Loop Alliance; Stanley Tigerman, Tigerman McCurry Architecture

Winning Entry: Winning Entry – Form vs. Uniform by Toronto architects Hesam T. Rostami and Bahareh Atash earned first place for its “simple elegance, subtle adaptability, and full accessibility.”