The Greening of Cermak Road: Pilsen’s Industrial
Corridor Streetscape Improvements
1995
The Pilsen industrial corridor, along Cermak Road at the southern end
of this Hispanic neighborhood, has long been an important source of employment
for residents. Eighteenth Street Development Corporation (ESDC), seeking
to revitalize industrial activity along the corridor, requested design
assistance from the City Design Center. The Center sponsored an A&A
college-wide student design competition to develop proposals for streetscape
and landscape improvements. Student winners, under the supervision of
an architecture faculty member, refined their ideas for landscaped parks
and intersections, paving and banner designs, and building facade improvements.
Plans are underway to implement this work with the first of the designs
installed, a sunburst banner design by Anna Suh, a past graphic design
student, that currently can been seen in thirty-three locations throughout
Pilsen. “I wanted to create something simple and clean, and to use
bright colors that I felt reflected the community,” said Anna Suh
during the unveiling ceremony. “I think it’s wonderful that
they chose my design and it’s a great honor to have my work shown
in this way.”
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Map of Chicago with project location
Installation of banner on Canal
Street in Pilsen, designed by UIC School of Art and Design student Anna
Suh
Dedication ceremony
o finstallation of Pilsen banners attended by, from left to right, Bruno
Ast, Alderman Daniel Solis, James Isaacs, Executive Director of ESDC,
and banner designer, Anna Suh, studnet at UIC School of Art and Design
Elevation of Loop Recycling Center wall block
designed by Anna Suh
Loop Recycling Center wall block detail designed by Anna Suh
Loop Recycling Center wall block detail designed by Anna Suh
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City Design Center Affiliated Faculty
Bruno Ast, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, and Associate
Dean, College of Architecture and the Arts
Collaborating Organization
Eighteenth Street Development Corporation
Funding
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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