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MAS Context

@mascontext

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Publications and events of the Chicago-based nonprofit MAS Context.

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Join us on Saturday, October 24 at 5 pm for the book launch of “Isolated Building Studies” with David Schalliol (@metroblossom), Iker Gi (@ikergil), and Karen Irvine (@k_l_irvine). The program will take place at the MAS Context Reading Room (1564 North Damen Avenue, Suite 204, Chicago, Illinois 60622).
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“Isolated Building Studies” is the visual confluence of David Schalliol’s interests in urban dynamism, socioeconomic inequality, and photography. By using uniform composition in photographs of Chicago buildings with no neighboring structures, he hopes to draw attention to new ways of seeing the common impact of divergent investment processes on urban communities.

Isolated buildings are particularly useful for the exploration of neighborhood transformation and its social correlates because they are immediately recognized as unusual. As urban buildings, their form illustrates their connection with adjacent structures: vertical, boxy, an architecture confined by palpably limited parcels. When their neighboring buildings are missing, a tension emerges: the urban form clashes with the seemingly suburban, even rural, setting. Thoughtfully engaging the landscape requires further investigation to resolve this tension: Why is this building isolated? It is from this fundamental friction that the Isolated Building Studies launches.

During this program, David Schalliol will discuss the ideas and process behind his book Isolated Building Studies (MAS Context, 2026) and will be in conversation with Iker Gil and Karen Irvine.

The book includes over fifty photographs taken by David Schalliol over the last twenty years. It also includes texts by David Schalliol and Karen Irvine, Chief Curator and Deputy Director of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago.

“Isolated Building Studies” has been designed by Renata Graw and Lucas Reif of Chicago-based Normal and Iker Gil of MAS Context.
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Link in bio.
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#mascontext #isolatedbuildingstudies #davidschalliol #booklaunch #chicago by @mascontext

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2 days ago

Throughout Open House Chicago weekend, @150mediastream will feature “SHIKAAKWA: Allium Otherworld,” a new video work by artist Olalekan Jeyifous (@kidcadaver), who won the Silver Lion for his installation in the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. The project is made in partnership with MAS Context.

The artwork unfolds as a continuous architectural cross-section through a Louis Sullivan–inspired office tower, following an elevator descent through ornate corporate interiors to the building’s mechanical systems, then geological strata, and finally emerging into a mythical landscape far below.
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“SHIKAAKWA: Allium Otherworld” will remain on view until March 31, 2027.
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Link in bio.
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Images: Olalekan Jeyifous and 150 Media Stream.
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#mascontext #150mediastream #olalekanjeyifous #shikaakwa #openhousechicago by @mascontext

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5 days ago

New in Observations: “St. James Commons: A Significant Modernist Building Quietly Anchoring River North.” Essay by @ikergil.
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Walking through River North, the neighborhood immediately north of Chicago’s Loop, one can sense the changes of a city and its architecture. From an industrial area called Smokey Hollow at the beginning of the twentieth century, to a neighborhood defined by urban decay and crime in the mid-twentieth century, its reinvention into a prominent gallery district in the 1980s, and its current focus as a nightlife and entertainment destination, River North is home to many buildings that capture each of its distinct periods. Historic landmarks, banal residential buildings, and significant contributions by SOM, Bertrand Goldberg & Associates, Tigerman McCurry Architects, Minoru Yamasaki, Kenzo Tange, Ross Barney Architects, Perkins&Will, and John Ronan Architects coexist with a certain degree of easiness.

In the block limited by Wabash Avenue, Erie Street, Rush Street, and Huron Street, we find St. James Commons—originally known as the Episcopal Church Center—a beautiful modernist building designed by Hammond and Roesch from 1968. Connected to St. James Cathedral, its neighbors are the 1883 Nickerson Mansion and the 1926 Murphy Auditorium—now home to the Driehaus Museum—and the 1875 McCormick Double House. In an area constantly evolving, it is a welcome surprise that this building has survived almost six decades of change. An elegant, refined, and quiet building, it is an understated but significant present in the area worth celebrating and preserving.
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Link in bio.
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Images courtesy of the Richard R. Seidel Archives of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago and Iker Gil.
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#mascontext #stjamescommons #hammondandroesch #architecture #ikergil by @mascontext

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6 days ago

💚 This Thursday in Barcelona!!! 💚

Join us on Thursday, October 15 at 7 pm for the Barcelona book launch of “Casa Gomis Bertrand / La Ricarda” with Iker Gil (@ikergil), Jordi Roig (@jordiroig_arquitectes), and Marita Gomis. The program will take place at @lacapell_com (Plaça Nova, 5, Ciutat Vella, 08002 Barcelona).
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The Casa Gomis Bertrand—commonly known as Casa Gomis and La Ricarda— completed in 1963, is one of the key midcentury buildings in Spain. Working closely with the clients via letters, Bonet designed every aspect of the building, from the overall organization to the materials, interior details, and furniture. The book “Casa Gomis Bertrand / La Ricarda” includes contributions by the six siblings of the Gomis Bertrand family that grew up in the house—Inés Gomis Bertrand, Elena Gomis Bertrand, Marita Gomis Bertrand, Beatriz Gomis Bertrand, José Antonio Gomis Bertrand, and Susana Gomis Bertrand—as well as the architects that aided with the restoration of the house over the last several decades—Fernando Álvarez Prozorovich and Jordi Roig.

“Casa Gomis Bertrand / La Ricarda” has been designed by Chicago-based Normal (@thenormalstudio), responding to Florio’s photography and the design of the house. The colors of the cloth cover, inside cover, and edge stitching were all inspired by the building materials.

During this program, Iker Gil, Jordi Roig, and Marita Gomis will discuss the ideas and process behind this book as well as key aspects of the house.
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Link in bio.
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#mascontext #casagomisbertrand #laricarda #booklaunch #barcelona by @mascontext

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8 days ago

Barcelona friends!!!

Join us on Thursday, October 15 at 7 pm for the Barcelona book launch of “Casa Gomis Bertrand / La Ricarda” with Iker Gil (@ikergil), Jordi Roig (@jordiroig_arquitectes), and Marita Gomis. The program will take place at @lacapell_com (Plaça Nova, 5, Ciutat Vella, 08002 Barcelona).
• • •
The Casa Gomis Bertrand—commonly known as Casa Gomis and La Ricarda— completed in 1963, is one of the key midcentury buildings in Spain. Working closely with the clients via letters, Bonet designed every aspect of the building, from the overall organization to the materials, interior details, and furniture. The book “Casa Gomis Bertrand / La Ricarda” includes contributions by the six siblings of the Gomis Bertrand family that grew up in the house—Inés Gomis Bertrand, Elena Gomis Bertrand, Marita Gomis Bertrand, Beatriz Gomis Bertrand, José Antonio Gomis Bertrand, and Susana Gomis Bertrand—as well as the architects that aided with the restoration of the house over the last several decades—Fernando Álvarez Prozorovich and Jordi Roig.

“Casa Gomis Bertrand / La Ricarda” has been designed by Chicago-based Normal (@thenormalstudio), responding to Florio’s photography and the design of the house. The colors of the cloth cover, inside cover, and edge stitching were all inspired by the building materials.

During this program, Iker Gil, Jordi Roig, and Marita Gomis will discuss the ideas and process behind this book as well as key aspects of the house.
• • •
Link in bio.
• • •
#mascontext #casagomisbertrand #laricarda #booklaunch #barcelona by @mascontext

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12 days ago

MAS Context and 150 Media Stream (@150mediastream) co-present “SHIKAAKWA: Allium Otherworld” by artist Olalekan Jeyifous (@kidcadaver). The installation is on view between October 5, 2026 and March 31, 2027.
• • •
Chicago takes its name from Shikaakwa, an Algonquin word commonly translated as “wild onion,” “garlic,” or “striped skunk,” referring to the pungent ramps that once flourished in the marshlands long before the city was built. Before its river was reversed and its land engineered, the region was a mosaic of peat bog, prairie, and shallow wetland.

SHIKAAKWA unfolds as a continuous architectural cross-section through a Louis Sullivan-inspired office tower, descending from ornate corporate interiors through mechanical systems, geological strata, and into a mythical landscape far below. Floor slabs dissolve into sewers, soil, and root systems before giving way to an alliaceous dreamworld of bioluminescent fields, mycelial transit networks, and cathedral-like chambers of wild grasses and luminous wetland flora.

Rendered in a saturated, retro-futurist palette of deep greens and blues, luminous corals, ochres, and lavender, the landscape takes on the graphic quality of a psychedelic architectural illustration. Designed for the extreme horizontal format of the 150 Media Stream, the work becomes an ethereal sectional drift through an otherworldly reimagining of Chicago’s submerged ecological past.
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Link in bio.
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Images: Olalekan Jeyifous and 150 Media Stream.
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#mascontext #150mediastream #olalekanjeyifous #shikaakwa by @mascontext

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13 days ago

From Observations: “Preserving the Origins of Universal Design at the ILZRO House.” Monthly column by @blaservations.
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In 1972 industrial designer and educator Marc Harrison, with the help of his students from the Rhode Island School of Design, created and built the ILZRO House, an experimental steel home in Rhode Island for usability, accessibility, and inclusivity, marking a watershed moment in the discipline that would become Universal Design. In 2021 the house was purchased by Marc’s daughter, Natasha, who is working to steward both the house and her father’s legacy.
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Link in bio.
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Images courtesy of Natasha Harrison.
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#mascontext #elizabethblasius #ilzrohouse #marcharrison #universaldesign by @mascontext

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14 days ago

Join us on Monday, October 5 at 5 pm for the Chicago book launch of “Max Bond: The Life and Work of the People’s Architect” (@princetonupress) with a talk by author Brian D. Goldstein (@bgoldst).

A Q&A with Irene Sunwoo (@_rinks), John H. Bryan Chair and Curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago, will follow the presentation.

The program, organized by MAS Context and the @illinoistecharchitecture, will take place at S. R. Crown Hall (3360 South State Street, Chicago, IL 60616).
• • •
J. Max Bond Jr. (1935–2009) was a civil rights activist, educator, and architect who shaped such iconic structures as the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in Manhattan. Driven by the concerns of the civil rights movement, he insisted on a practice centered on deep social engagement during years when his profession became preoccupied with celebrity and spectacle.
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This book was supported by the @grahamfoundation through a 2018 Research grant. A limited number of copies of “Max Bond: The Life and Work of the People’s Architect” will be sold by the Graham Foundation Bookshop at the event.
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Link in bio.
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#mascontext #briangoldstein #irenesunwoo #maxbond #boo launch by @mascontext

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16 days ago

New in Observations: “Preserving the Origins of Universal Design at the ILZRO House.” Monthly column by @blaservations.
• • •
In 1972 industrial designer and educator Marc Harrison, with the help of his students from the Rhode Island School of Design, created and built the ILZRO House, an experimental steel home in Rhode Island for usability, accessibility, and inclusivity, marking a watershed moment in the discipline that would become Universal Design. In 2021 the house was purchased by Marc’s daughter, Natasha, who is working to steward both the house and her father’s legacy.
• • •
Link in bio.
• • •
Images courtesy of Natasha Harrison.
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#mascontext #elizabethblasius #ilzrohouse #marcharrison #universaldesign by @mascontext

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20 days ago

Join us on Thursday, October 1 at 6 pm, for a lecture by Naomi Pollock (@sweathesmallstuff), author of the book “Vanishing Japan: Modern Architecture, Gone But Not Forgotten,” a visual celebration and record of Japan’s demolished postwar architectural gems and a look at why they’ve been torn down.

The program will take place at the MAS Context Reading Room (1564 North Damen Avenue, Suite 204, Chicago, Illinois 60622).
• • •
Link in bio
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Images: (1) Fukuoka City Bank Ropponmatsu Branch, Arata Isozaki, 1971-2012/13. Courtesy Arata Isozaki & Associates. (3) Fukuoka Sogo Bank Oita Branch, Arata Isozaki, Oita Prefecture, 1967-2007. Courtesy Arata Isozaki & Associates. (4) Chofu Police Box, Kazuyo Sejima, Tokyo, 1994–2008. Motoi Niki, Nacása & Partners Inc.
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#mascontext #naomipollock #japan #architecture #chicago by @mascontext

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21 days ago

🌿 DAY 3 | FLOURISHING ENVIRONMENTS

On September 26, “Shaping Contemporary Realities: Architecture and Beyond” concluded at the @chiarchitecture with Flourishing Environments, the third and final day of the three-day symposium organized by @villa.albertine and @mascontext, with leading support from @saintgobaingroup.

Bringing together architects, urban designers, writers, artists, educators, and researchers from France and the United States, the day explored how architecture and urban planning can contribute to healthier, more resilient, and more flourishing environments.

Through conversations, presentations, and a tour at the Chicago Architecture Center, participants reflected on the relationships between architecture, nature, cities, and the communities that inhabit them.

The symposium concluded with a reception and visits to “Flyway City: Architecture for a Flourishing Ecosystem“ and “Chicago’s Living Habitat.”

A look back at the conversations, encounters, and moments from the final day of “Shaping Contemporary Realities.”
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Video by @pacheco_hktr.
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#shapingcontemporaryrealities #flourishingenvironments #villaalbertine #mascontext #saintgobain by @mascontext

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22 days ago

🏙️ DAY 2 | CIVIC CHANGE MAKING

On September 25, “Shaping Contemporary Realities: Architecture and Beyond” continued at @expstation with Civic Changemaking, the second day of the three-day symposium organized by @villa.albertine and @mascontext, with leading support from @saintgobaingroup.

Bringing together architects, artists, cultural leaders, community organizers, and experts from France and the United States, the day explored how collaboration, community engagement, and new models of practice can contribute to more inclusive and sustainable urban futures.

From conversations at Experimental Station to a guided tour of the Obama Presidential Center campus, the day brought together different perspectives on the ways architecture, culture, and civic initiatives can help transform communities.

A look back at the conversations, encounters, and moments from Day 3. Join us today for Day 3 at @chiarchitecture.
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Video by @pacheco_hktr.
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#shapingcontemporaryrealities #civicchangemaking #villaalbertine #mascontext #saintgobain by @mascontext

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23 days ago