The visual appearance of a street can be greatly influenced by the quality and the quantity of signs there. The Chicago Loop Alliance, in cooperation with the city of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development has worked to put guidelines and ordinances in place to preserve the aesthetic appeal of the Loop for the benefit of all who visit, shop, live and work there.
The purpose of the council's guidelines and the city ordinances are to promote an attractive and gracious pedestrian environment along State Street, Wabash Avenue and the Michigan Avenue Commercial Corridors, to reinforce the distinctive, historic and architectural character of those streets, to promote animated retail/street activity and an enhanced pedestrian experience, as well as to encourage creative graphic design solutions and the use of high-quality materials.
State Street Signage | Wabash Avenue Signage | Michigan Avenue Signage
Placemaking Initiative
With the emergence of social networks, cell phone applications, and intuitive user interfaces streaming information in real time and altering the way we perceive and experience the everyday, why not explore the ability to interact with and even manipulate the Loop’s built environment? On March 12, 2010, a diverse group of scholars, designers, property owners, developers and retailers convened at a workshop sponsored by Chicago Loop Alliance to contemplate this very intersection of technology, commerce, and human imagination.
Led by Studio/lab’s Marcia Lausen, Anijo Mathew from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Carlos Martinez and Elva Rubio from Gensler, participants were encouraged to share their personal vision for the Loop and explore how signage and graphics could be utilized to create a sense of place and personality. A group of University of Illinois Chicago School of Art and Design graduate students documented and compiled the impressions, weaving them into a presentation of insights and design ideas to be shared with CLA constituent audiences.
Placemaking Workshop Presentation |
