Nov 6th 2021

Editors Jayne Kelley and Paul Preissner will discuss their new book, “American Framing: The Same Something for Everyone.” 

Presented in partnership with the Chicago Humanities Festival

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About the Book: Originating in 1832 in Chicago with a balloon-framed warehouse designed by George Washington Snow, the technique of timber framing — also known at the time as “Chicago construction” — introduced softwood construction to the world. Timber frame construction quickly came to dominate the built landscape of America because of the ready availability of the principal material required, the simplicity of construction, and its ability to be erected by low or unskilled workers. The result was a built environment that erased typological and class distinctions of architectural production, as both rich and poor live in houses that are built the same way. American Framing: The Same Something for Everyone is a visual and textual exploration of the conditions and consequences of these ubiquitous structures, the architecture which enables architecture. Archival drawings and historical images, along with newly commissioned photographs by Linda Robbennolt, Daniel Shea, and Chris Strong, in addition to plans and drawings, shed new light on this quintessentially American method of construction.

About the Editors: Jayne Kelley is an editor and writer based in Chicago. She is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Architecture, where she manages events and publications. She was previously managing editor in the publications division at the Canadian Centre for Architecture. She is co-editor of The Museum Is Not Enough (Sternberg / CCA, 2019) and co-author of The Western Town (Hatje Cantz, 2013).

Paul Preissner runs Paul Preissner Architects and is professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Architecture. He and Paul Andersen are the commissioners and curators of the Pavilion of the United States at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia. He is the author of Kind of Boring: Canonical Work and Other Visible Things Meant to Be Viewed as Architecture (Actar, 2021).

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