Jason KunkelApril 22nd, 2016
Earlier this month, Autodesk held a conference for partners in the Windy City. The conference covered a wide range of new software, tips, and some great networking, but of course one of the best reasons to hit the road is to spend some time learning about a new town. And if you are a fan of architecture (and pizza), you can't beat Chicago.
The conference lasted all week, but our evenings were free to poke around town and see what's what. Monday night, Jason Kincaid, CADD's Director of Professional Services, and I headed into Oak Park to do our own walking tour of some Frank Lloyd Wright works. His studio was closed, but the weather was great. And like many of the technical folks at CADD, Jason and I both come from an architectural background (and yes, we are both named Jason K. so that gets plenty confusing around the office) so we had a great time strolling up and down the streets and picking out what was FLW work, what era it may have come from, and marveling at seeing so many of his projects in one place.
The following afternoon, we decided to head south from the city and check out another Wright classic, the Robie House. Tuesday happened to be the day it's closed, so we continued our fine tradition of our own personal nickel tour around the outside. Many of these works are iconic, but they truly have a different impact visiting them in person. First, you get the proper understanding of context. Secondly, the sense of volume is never really conveyed through photos. The Robie House in particular was almost intimidating, with its cantilevered roof almost unnaturally hanging in space.
The rest are from when a group of us from CADD headed up to Willis Tower and we found ourselves at several different restaurants for what was probably too many slices of deep dish pizza. No, it was definitely too many slices. The conference was really good and the camaraderie was great.
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