Tracing / Traces: Architecture and the Archive 2022

Elizabeth Blasius is an architectural historian and cofounder of Preservation Futures, a Chicago-based firm exploring the future of historic preservation through research, action, and design. Her work encourages people to consider placemaking through existing buildings and vintage communities, and explores the potential for historic preservation to examine more personal stories and bring them into the practice. She is an Adjunct Professor at the College of Architecture at IIT and is on the board of DOCOMOMO Chicago.

Ania Jaworska is an architect and educator. She currently is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Architecture. Her practice focuses on exploring the connection between art and architecture and her work explores bold simple forms, humor, commentary and conceptual, historic, and cultural references. Jaworska’s work has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions, notably at the 2010 Venice Biennale, 2015 and 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial, Chicago Cultural Center, MOMA, Storefront for Art and Architecture, Volume, and Chamber and Friedman Benda Galleries. She recently had the solo exhibition Chicago Works: Ania Jaworska at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and SET at Volume Gallery in Chicago. She has designed a bookstore at the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts in Chicago and the Entrance Pavilion for the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial: Make New History. She is a 2017 MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program Finalist.

Ralph Johnson is Principal and Global Design Director of Perkins&Will. Ralph grew up on the South Side of Chicago, just down the street from Frank Lloyd Wright’s R.W. Evans House. He found the design of the house fascinating, and by the time he reached grade school, he had already decided to become an architect. His designs are driven by program, human need, and an unwavering commitment to the just, resilient, and livable city. Deeply influenced by humanistic values, Johnson’s approach emphasizes process rather than a preconceived aesthetic. In this way, the design can respond to diverse cultures and urban conditions; diversity enriches a design.

Patricia Saldaña Natke is Founding Partner of UrbanWorks and as President oversees design excellence for every project. Her extraordinary record of public service imbues the firm with a strong civic ethic. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, Pat has served as Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a Facilitator at Archeworks, and as a Masters in Architecture Thesis Advisor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently a part time Professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology School of Architecture.

Kekeli Sumah is a multi-disciplinary artist and designer practicing within the fields of fine art, design, and architecture. His practice is interested in history, agency, and visual culture. Kekeli currently works as a Communications Analyst and Digital Product Designer at the RAND Corporation. Previously, he was the Driehaus Museum’s first Curatorial Fellow and the led design and programs at Experimental Design Lab (the interdisciplinary design initiative at Theaster Gates Studio and Rebuild Foundation). Working freely across disciplines and scales, he holds no allegiances to any particular method, choosing instead to engage the necessary frameworks needed to initiate ideas and solutions for himself and for others.