MOMA and Columbia University's Center for the Study of American Architecture are collaborating on an exhibition entitled "Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream", in which five architectural teams tackle specific problem spots around major cities. Jeanne Gang is leading one team in re-imagining housing for Cicero. Blair Kamin discusses her vision in today's Tribune. Her designs look at the mismatch of housing type in an old bungalow 'burb that's struggling to house new immigrants, many undocumented. She answers this with the "born-again factory". Desolate industrial artifacts characterize parts of Cicero, and are obsolete obstacles to economic recovery. So Gang rebuilds them, greens them, and evolves them into live-work spaces. These new spaces bridge into housing through what Gang calls the "bungalow shuffle"— allocating uses in efficient, uplifting ways. Likely to happen? Certainly not. [Trib]
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