Within / Without

2021—2022
Chicago, IL
Acute Angles, Inc. / Space p11
Temporary Pavilion

Within / Without exposes the material section of the Chicago underground. Chicago’s Pedway system is an immense below grade piece of infrastructure, spanning the length of approximately forty Chicago blocks. It often disappears into the background as simply a utilitarian means of sheltered travel. Massive parking structures beneath Millennium Park and Maggie Daley Park are also hidden in plain sight beneath the ground surface. The unsung hero of these infrastructural marvels is Geofoam; a lightweight structural material used to infill the void between earth and built matter without the added weight of soil. This project aims to spotlight an unseen and purely functional tool by misusing it as a spatial device.

Following the exhibition, the Geofoam blocks are recirculated into the line of production to be reused on future green roof and landscape projects in the Chicagoland area.

Within / Without was completed while a part of the design collective, table of co., and is part of Interior Landscapes, a year of programming at Space p11 supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. within / without is a Partner Program of the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2021 Edition.

Project Team: Nimet Anwar, Omar Ali, Yoojin Park, W. Austin Bower, Ethan Tsai

Photos by: Nathan Keay and Yoojin Park