Chicago Study Tour

This September, I visited Chicago for a week for a study tour with other WSU students from interior design, architecture, landscape architecture, and construction management. I had a great time seeing sites I had learned about in school and learning more about Chicago while visiting these famous historic sites. The week was packed full of tours, and I want to highlight a few of my favorite parts of the trip.

Before we went to Chicago, four of my peers and I researched the Railway Exchange or Santa Fe Building. Some of the main facts about the building is that it was designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick P. Dinkelberg, and it was built in 1903-1904. The Santa Fe Building is covered in white terracotta to fit with the White City theme of the 1893 World Columbian Expo. Once in Chicago, my group members and I were placed into separate tour groups for Urban Classroom tours. Each of us were placed in separate groups and got to tell our other classmates about the Railway Exchange while inside it! It was a lot of fun to see a building I had learned so much about and share my knowledge with other students. While on our tour, I got to learn about buildings like The Rookery and the Harold Washington Library from some of my fellow students.

The Rookery Staircase

Original column in The Rookery designed by Burnham and Root visible beneath Frank Lloyd Wright's remodel

The Monadnock Building, one of the earliest skyscrapers

The Railway Exchange Interior

Another of our Urban Classroom tours was at the Illinois Institute of Technology, or IIT. On this tour, we saw many designs by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe as well as the newer McCormick Tribune Campus Center by Rem Koolhaas.

Visiting the Merchandise Mart was another highlight of my trip. I was able to tour a few showrooms like Herman Miller and Designtex.

Herman Miller Showroom

Designtex Showroom

My group and I also visited the Farnsworth House and the John Hancock Observatory.

Van der Rohe's Farnsworth House

View from the John Hancock Observatory during a thunderstorm

Our final Urban Classroom tour was in Millennium Park. Two of my favorite parts of the park were Frank Gehry's Jay Pritzker Pavillion and Jaume Plensa's Crown Fountain. Crown Fountain features two 50-foot towers with millions of LED lights to show about 1,000 Chicagoans faces spouting water out of the fountain.


Jay Pritzker Pavillion


Crown Fountain

Visiting Frank Lloyd Wright's Home and Studio in Oak Park was extremely informative and inspiring! I love that Frank Lloyd Wright continued to make changes in the house for as long as he lived in it in order to work for his growing family. He customized the house to make it fit his own family's needs rather than simply designing a building and putting his belongings into it.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Home

I also visited the Art Institute of Chicago where I was able to see famous pieces of artwork, such as American Gothic by Grant Wood and Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges-Pierre Seurat-- a painting I have wanted to see for years.

I am thankful that I was able to go on this study tour. I had a blast and learned a lot!


Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate at Millennium Park... The Bean!