The Bittertang Farm

Bainbridge Island and Chicago, United States

The Bittertang Farm looks forward to a future world full of inventive and playful opportunities founded by Antonio Torres and Michael Loverich. Their recent work includes constructing a permanent ecological outdoor classroom for CAB 5, designing two new restaurants in Mexico, and researching dynamic forms and environments that float in the open ocean. The Bittertang Farm has received numerous architectural awards—including the Architectural League Prize and the New Practices Award from AIANY—and was also a finalist in the MoMA PS1 Young Architects Competition. Antonio Torres explores expressions and sensations through various media and architecture. He has taught at Columbia University–GSAPP, as well as internationally. He is currently an assistant professor and the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies at the UIC School of Architecture. Michael Loverich lives on an island, where he experiments with edible and living materials. He has taught graduate design studios at Columbia University–GSAPP, the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, Lawrence Tech, and Cornell.

2025 Biennial Project

Project Overview

Louie

Inspired by Chicago’s ecological and material history, Louie is a living installation that blends the natural and the synthetic to explore what happens when architecture grows wild. The installation mixes structure with decay—leaking, sprouting, and transforming over time. The project draws on the legacy of architect Louis Sullivan, but instead of casting nature in iron, it lets nature take over. Combining past and future, art and ecology, Louie invites reflection on how buildings and cities are connected to the ecosystems around them. This experiment resists clean lines and control, embracing messiness and change. As a “feral” form of architecture, it challenges traditional design by creating space for new ways of thinking about nature, materials, and the life of a city.

Venue

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840 N. Michigan Avenue

Address

840 N. Michigan Ave

Description

The Biennial expands its footprint downtown with the opening of its fifth site at 840 N. Michigan Avenue, transforming more than 65,000 square feet of space on the Magnificent Mile into a dynamic hub for art, design, and dialogue. 

Chicago Architecture Biennial at 840 N. Michigan Ave. Photo: Pablo Gerson.
Chicago Architecture Biennial