On Wednesday, April 11 from 5–9 p.m. IIT College of Architecture, the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship, and En Mi Cuadra Pilsen La Cultura Vive will host PILSEN: Arte Arquitectura Cultura, a roundtable conversation in Hermann Hall – North Upper Level Core.

Illinois Tech’s campus is a part of the fabric of the Pilsen community. Pilsen is a neighborhood located in Chicago’s lower Westside. Pilsen is rich in art, architecture, and culture. Every corner of Pilsen embraces these elements that address the life of the neighborhood. The spaces in every “cuadra” (block) in Pilsen have allowed for new design strategies that respond to the multidimensional character of the community.

About

En Mi Cuadra Pilsen La Cultura Vive is a project initiated and founded by Julio Cesar Reyes in June 2017. Julio is an artist, architect, and designer candidate pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and a Minor in Construction Management at Illinois Tech. This mural project initiative is a collaboration with Reyes’ colleagues from Illinois Tech, Monterrey Institute of Technology (Queretaro Campus), and St. Xavier University. This project is being be developed as part of an Interprofessional Projects Program (IPRO). The project, En Mi Cuadra Pilsen La Cultura Vive aims to understand the political, social, economic, geographical, and territorial dynamics of Pilsen to design strategies that respond to the multidimensional character of the community.

The project also aims to investigate and contextualize community art, such as murals. and produce narratives that discusses the role murals and architecture have in Pilsen’s transformation. Narratives like this will allow communities to learn about the relationship between architecture and murals while preserving community history.