Skyscrapers! Nervi! Nervi Skyscrapers! Several upcoming appearances to shout out…

First, on Saturday, Sept. 14, Chicago Skyscrapers, 1934-1986, will receive the Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award at the Newberry Library. The award will be part of an afternoon event celebrating storytelling in Chicago, with four storytellers and a performance by the amazing Joel Hall Dancers. I’ll discuss the book and how skyscrapers have good stories to tell with Chicago Tribune architecture columnist Ed Keegan and sign books afterward. The event is free and will be streamed online–more information and registration at the Newberry’s website.

Michelangelo Sabatino, the John Vinci Distinguished Research Fellow, and Director of the PhD program at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture, will be lecturing at the University of Illinois School of Architecture on Monday, Sept. 16. His new book, The Edith Farnsworth House: Architecture, Preservation, Culture, looks at this iconic house in new, overlapping realms of landscape, preservation, and social history. I’ll be part of a panel discussing the book, the house, and Michelangelo’s talk with UIUC faculty Kathryn Holliday and Pollyanna Rhee afterward.

On Thursday, Sept. 19, I’ll talk with SOM structural consulting partner Bill Baker about Pier Luigi Nervi’s high-rise designs for the Skyscraper Museum’s ongoing project about concrete skyscrapers. Bill and I have been working with Carol Willis, the Museum’s Director, on how concrete has emerged as, arguably, the key material in tall building design, and Nervi’s role in their engineering and aesthetics was critical. Also a free event and online-only–registration required through the Skyscrapers Museum’s website.

Sept. 28 marks the 100th anniversary of the Chicago Temple’s opening–the 555′ spire remains (depending on who you ask!) the tallest church in the world and certainly one of the most fascinating skyscrapers in Chicago. I’ll be discussing the Temple’s place in Chicago’s political, architectural, and zoning history along with historian Robert Bruegmann, the Chicago Architecture Center’s Adam Rubin, and Sun-Times architectural columnist Lee Bey in the sanctuary (Clark and Washington Streets) at 2:00 on the 28th. More information on the building and the event here.