Zach Mortice, Next City

Zach Mortice

Next City

Chicago, IL, United States

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Recent:
  • Unknown
Past:
  • Next City
  • Chicago Reader
  • CityLab
  • Redshift
  • Chicago magazine
  • Places Journal
  • ARCHITECT Magazine
  • The Atlantic

Past articles by Zach:

In One of Chicago’s Most Affluent Neighborhoods, Hidden Stories of Resistance Unveiled By App

A new walking tour uncovers a "hidden" history of Lincoln Park. → Read More

Chicago Teens Unveil Vision for Change and Public Safety in Their Neighborhood

Even isolated by COVID-19, these teenagers have planned a "Just City." → Read More

Three walks in the woods

The Forest Preserves of Cook County, which cover 70,000 acres, are an inexhaustible source of social-distance-compliant space. → Read More

Can This Chicago Apartment Factory Make New Homes Affordable?

Skender, a builder in Chicago, is joining Silicon Valley startups in the quest to disrupt the construction industry. → Read More

A One-Stop Shop for Affordable Backyard Homes Advances in L.A.

A new program in Los Angeles seeks to finance and build accessory dwellings for homeowners who agree to rent them to Section 8 voucher-holders. → Read More

Wallpaper Design, Protests, and Mega-Plans: The Lesser-Known Products of the Bauhaus

An exhibition at the Elmhurst Art Museum shows how the Bauhaus was defined by its conflicting ideologies. → Read More

What Does Rahm Emanuel's Departure Mean for the Obama Library?

It could help South Side activists who have been pushing for a community benefits agreement. → Read More

Could Modular Wood Stadium Construction Be a Game Changer?

Stadium building is costly, both in money spent and environmental impacts. Modular stadium construction uses carbon-friendly wood and offers more flexible, multiuse—and movable—venues. → Read More

Blue Light Special: The Chicago-Area High School in an Old Kmart

In the suburb of Waukegan, Illinois, the design firm JGMA has turned an abandoned Kmart into a bright new home for Cristo St. Rey Martin College Prep. → Read More

Meet the 61,000 Transit Nerds of Facebook’s ‘New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens’

A year ago, a couple University of Chicago students started a little niche Facebook group to get weird about urban planning. Then it took on a weirder life of its own. → Read More

The Gateway Arch, a Global Icon, Reconnects to St. Louis

St. Louis’ Gateway Arch once stood in splendid isolation. A new $380-million renovation of its grounds brings it closer to downtown. → Read More

Historic and Scientific Maps Tell the Great Lakes' Story

The book Third Coast Atlas seeks to illuminate the Great Lakes—America’s “third coast”—through maps, plans, photos, and more. → Read More

Experimental City: The Sci-Fi Utopia That Never Was

With solar energy, recycling, computers, and personal mass transit, the 1960s-era Minnesota Experimental City was a prescient and hopeful vision of the urban future. A new documentary tells its story. → Read More

Architecture Beyond the A-List

Three exhibits showcase Chicago’s architectural and cultural riches outside of downtown. → Read More

From Filth to Fun: Big Designs for the Chicago River

Designers imagine everything from lush wetlands to a "swimming bowl" for the future of the Chicago Riverwalk. → Read More

Why Hip Architects Are Fascinated by the Beige and Boring

The Chicago Architecture Biennial, the biggest architecture festival in the country, reveals up-and-coming designers turning to the mundanities of everyday life for inspiration. → Read More

What Facebook Should Know About Company Towns

As the technology firm plans to build a village in Silicon Valley, history suggests what can sustain a company town long after its founders are gone. → Read More

Perpetual Neglect: The Preservation Crisis of African-American Cemeteries

The racism that plagues African Americans in life is perpetuated in death. Today there is nothing less than a preservation crisis for black burial grounds across the country. → Read More

Architect Magazine | Mesura, Elche, Spain, Single Family, Residential Architect Design Award 2016, Awards, Residential Projects

2016 Residential Architect Design Awards Custom House Less Than 3,000 Square Feet: Award Casa IV’s little bit of magic is the way it breaks down the hierarchy and division of inside and outside spaces with elements no more transparent than plaster and brick. Designed by Mesura, the house comprises a series of four roof sections: long, domestic-scaled vaults right out of Le Corbusier’s Maisons… → Read More

Baghdad Through the Lens of an Iraqi Architect

A Graham Foundation exhibition showcases the work of Rifat Chadirji, Iraq's most prolific modernist architect. → Read More