Starship Chicago II Premiere

Elizabeth Blasius is an architectural historian, writer, and cofounder of Preservation Futures, a Chicago-based firm exploring the future of historic preservation through research, action, and design. She works on preservation projects at the radical forefront of the preservation movement, including buildings designed in the 1980s, 1990s, and beyond. Elizabeth advocates to bring the recognition and resources of preservation into communities that have been historically overlooked. Prior to founding Preservation Futures in 2021, Elizabeth worked in natural disaster recovery and mitigation, providing guidance on the care of historic places in the aftermath of hurricanes, floods, and other acts of climate violence. She has been a monthly columnist for MAS Context since 2022.

Frank Butterfield is the Chief Operating Officer at Landmarks Illinois. He joined the Landmarks Illinois staff in 2013, first as Springfield Office Director before taking over as Chief Operating Officer (COO) in 2021. As COO, Frank oversees Landmarks Illinois’s day-to-day operations statewide, is responsible for the organization’s sound financial management, and ensures it is hitting its strategic goals. Prior to joining Landmarks Illinois, he worked as director/field officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the Wisconsin Field Office and held positions with the Roger Brown Study Collection and DePaul University in Chicago. Frank has a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Boston College and a Master of Science in Historic Preservation from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Nathan Eddy is an award-winning American filmmaker and journalist specializing in architecture and urban planning issues. His first two films, The Absent Column and Starship Chicago, document the struggle to protect Chicago’s architectural heritage. In 2017, Eddy organized and led the successful protest movement to landmark New York City’s epochal postmodern skyscraper, Philip Johnson and John Burgee’s AT&T Building. Since then, he has directed the films Battleship Berlin, Helmut Jahn: In a Flash, and Starship Chicago II.

Stewart Hicks is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a cofounder of Design With Company (Dw/Co). His interests include how literature and architecture intersect in fiction, character, type, metaphor, etc. Dw/Co translates these themes into installations, speculative urban scenarios, temporary pavilions, and designs for buildings. The practice was recognized as a Next Progressive from Architect Magazine, Next Generation from Architectural Record, and a New Talent by Metropolis, and was featured in both Chicago Biennials. Stewart is also a MacDowell Fellow and former Hyde Chair of Excellence at the University of Nebraska.