NEH+Landmarks+Workshop+American+Skyscraper

My second professional development experience this summer (besides the Exeter Humanities Institute) was in my beloved hometown of Chicago, Illinois. I was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop, which I attended in late July. This week-long workshop, offered by the NEH and conducted by the Chicago Architecture Foundation, was titled, “The American Skyscraper: Transforming Chicago and the Nation” and was easily the most rewarding professional development experience I have had to date! I learned all about the birth of Chicago as a metropolis and innovator in terms of architectural design, the historic context of buildings, the technical innovations that permitted the city of Chicago to take (and keep) the lead as a center for very tall buildings in this hemisphere. My understanding of the methods, materials, and the context of "Tall Buildings" (they are no longer called "skyscrapers" by architects) in the birth of the modern city was greatly enhanced and helped to illustrate some of the Gilded Age excesses which I usually cover with my students in AP U.S. History. During the workshop, we toured several buildings by leading architects – Frank Lloyd Wright’s renovation of The Rookery, Mies van der Rohe’s Federal Buildings, Louis Sullivan’s florid Carson, Pirie & Scott Building, as well as Daniel Burnham’s classic structure, The Reliance Building (now the Hotel Burnham). Among the many speakers we had were the director of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, historians from Northwestern and Loyola University in Chicago who specialized in urban history, and a partner from arguably the most prestigious architectural firm in the country, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (designers of the Sears/Willis Tower, the John Hancock Building, One World Trade Center and the world’s tallest structure – Burj Khalifa in Dubai). We also did an excellent boat tour on the Chicago River by the Chicago Architecture Foundation and since many of the participants came from different parts of the country, it was amazing to learn about the challenges facing different parts of the country as they deal with preserving their architectural integrity while at the same time creating urban spaces that are addressing a community’s needs. In the afternoons, after our "content," we would break into groups and discuss how we will be using this material in our courses and share our ideas with peers. In addition, we were often placed in the role of "student," and asked to complete many of the lessons that our peers produced or those that the Chicago Architecture Foundation had made in accordance with the State of Illinois Educational Standards (Illinois is one of the highest-achieving states nationally). I learned about sustainability, international trends in tall buildings, the conditions of workers, and the impact of urban spaces on history. Much of this was really relevant to my teaching, as not only do all of our AP U.S. History students read about Chicago’s urban underbelly in the book //Devil in the White City//, but also because Miami as a city is also struggling with how to address urban sprawl. I can hardly wait to share this with my students!!!