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'''Blair Kamin''' is the architecture critic of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', a post he has held since 1992.<ref name=AACaTIAS/> Kamin held other posts previously at the Tribune and previously worked for ''[[The Des Moines Register]]''. He is a winner of the [[Pulitzer Prize]] for Criticism. Kamin also serves as a contributing editor of ''[[Architectural Record]]''. Kamin's Pulitzer was a controversial prize with various juries referring it to other juries and the Tribune nominating him in multiple categories. Kamin has won numerous honors, has published various books and has lectured in many settings.
'''Blair Kamin''' is the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', a post he has held since 1992.<ref name=AACaTIAS/> Kamin has held other jobs at the Tribune and previously worked for ''[[The Des Moines Register]]''. He also serves as a contributing editor of ''[[Architectural Record]]''. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Critism in 1999,
for a body of work highlighted by a series of articles about the problems and promise of Chicago's greatest public space, its lakefront. He has received numerous other honors, has authored books and has lectured widely.


==Background==
==Background==
Born in [[Red Bank, New Jersey]], Kamin is a graduate of [[Amherst College]], from which he received a Bachelor of Arts with honors in 1979, and the [[Yale University]] School of Architecture, from which he received a Master of Environmental Design in 1984.<ref name=AACaTIAS>{{cite news|title=An Activist Critic and The Inescapable Art Series: The Art of Criticism. Part 3: Architecture|date=1998-05-31|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|author=Kamin, Blair}}</ref> Prior to being the architecture critic for the ''Chicago Tribune'', he served as its culture and suburban reporter from 1987&ndash;1992. He also previously served as reporter and architecture writer for ''The Des Moines Register'' from 1984&ndash;1987.<ref name=AACaTIAS/> He had once worked as an office clerk for a San Francisco interior design and architecture firm.<ref name=AACaTIAS/> He has lectured widely in forums such as [[American Institute of Architects]]' National Convention, the annual meeting of the [[Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy]], the [[Ravinia Festival]] and [[Steppenwolf Theatre]].<ref name=BKPdo/> He has discussed architecture on programs ranging from ABC's "[[Nightline]]" , [[History Channel]], [[National Public Radio]] to [[WTTW]]-Ch. 11's "[[Chicago Tonight]]."<ref name=BKPdo/><ref name=ABK/> In 2001, the [[University of Chicago Press]] published "Why Architecture Matters: Lessons from Chicago," a collection of his Chicago Tribune columns.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=7CQLnNUkMk4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Blair+Kamin+Pulitzer&source=bl&ots=Gm0eQcEpGs&sig=CncyMWd9c4hFOYQqduUxTRN5iYw&hl=en&ei=i788TOeZBIHknQf4j_nYCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Blair%20Kamin%20Pulitzer&f=false|title=Why Architecture Matters: Lessons from Chicago|accessdate=2010-07-16|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|isbn=0226423220|date=2003-06-15|author=Kamin, Blair}}</ref> He also wrote the commentaries for "Tribune Tower: American Landmark," a guide to the newspaper's neo-Gothic [[Tribune Tower]] skyscraper published in 2000.
Born in [[Red Bank, New Jersey]], Kamin is a graduate of [[Amherst College]], from which he received a Bachelor of Arts with honors in 1979, and the [[Yale University]] School of Architecture, from which he received a Master of Environmental Design in 1984.<ref name=AACaTIAS>{{cite news|title=An Activist Critic and The Inescapable Art Series: The Art of Criticism. Part 3: Architecture|date=1998-05-31|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|author=Kamin, Blair}}</ref> Prior to being the architecture critic for the ''Chicago Tribune'', he served as its culture and suburban reporter from 1987&ndash;1992. He also served as reporter and architecture writer for ''The Des Moines Register'' from 1984&ndash;1987.<ref name=AACaTIAS/> He had once worked as an office clerk for a San Francisco interior design and architecture firm.<ref name=AACaTIAS/> He has lectured in forums such as [[American Institute of Architects]]' National Convention, the annual meeting of the [[Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy]], the [[Ravinia Festival]] and [[Steppenwolf Theatre]].<ref name=BKPdo/> He has discussed architecture on programs ranging from ABC's "[[Nightline]]" , [[History Channel]], [[National Public Radio]] to [[WTTW]]-Ch. 11's "[[Chicago Tonight]]."<ref name=BKPdo/><ref name=ABK/> In 2001, the [[University of Chicago Press]] published "Why Architecture Matters: Lessons from Chicago," a collection of his Chicago Tribune columns. In 2010, the University of Chicago Press published "Terror and Wonder: Architecture In a Tumultuous Age," a collection of Kamin's columns from the Tribune and other publications. Kamin also wrote the commentaries for "Tribune Tower: American Landmark," a guide to the newspaper's neo-Gothic [[Tribune Tower]] skyscraper published in 2000.


He cites as his influences [[Paul Gapp]], [[Paul Goldberger]], [[Lois Wagner Green]], [[Ada Louise Huxtable]], [[Vincent Scully]], [[Allan Temko]], and [[Joel Upton]].<ref name=AACaTIAS/> In 1999 he was a [[visiting fellow]] at the Franke Institute for the Humanities at the [[University of Chicago]].<ref name=BKPdo>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/biography/1999-Criticism|title=Blair Kamin|accessdate=2010-07-13|publisher=pulitzer.org}}</ref> Kamin's wife is Tribune reporter Barbara Mahany and they have a son, Willie.<ref name=BKPdo/>
Kamin cites as his influences [[Paul Gapp]], [[Paul Goldberger]], [[Lois Wagner Green]], [[Ada Louise Huxtable]], [[Vincent Scully]], [[Allan Temko]], and [[Joel Upton]].<ref name=AACaTIAS/> In 1999 he was a [[visiting fellow]] at the Franke Institute for the Humanities at the [[University of Chicago]].<ref name=BKPdo>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/biography/1999-Criticism|title=Blair Kamin|accessdate=2010-07-13|publisher=pulitzer.org}}</ref> Kamin's wife is Tribune reporter Barbara Mahany and they have two sons, Will and Teddy.<ref name=BKPdo/>


==Awards==
==Awards==
⚫
When Kamin won the Pulitzer in 1999 for criticism, his work bordered on reporting. In fact, his series on Chicago lakefront development was for a time moved from the criticism category to the beat reporting category by the criticism judges, but the Pulitzer Board reversed the decision.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/daily/april99/pulitzer13.htm|title=Post Wins Pulitzer for Police Series|accessdate=2010-07-13|date=1999-04-13|work=[[The Washington Post]]|author=Von Drehle, David }}</ref> The ''[[Chicago Reader]]'' described the situation as one in which "every jury that read his stories wanted someone else to judge them".<ref name=TWP>{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-wandering-pulitzer/Content?oid=899004|title=The Wandering Pulitzer|accessdate=2010-07-13|date=1999-04-22|work=[[Chicago Reader]]|author=Miner, Michael}}</ref> The Tribune itself was not even sure how to classify Kamin's work, nominating him in two different categories: criticism and explanatory journalism.<ref name=TWP/> One of the criticism jurors described the dilemma "He seems to do some investigative reporting and some advocacy editorializing, and some members of the panel didn't quite know what to make of it. So we did the cowardly thing and sent it to another panel."<ref name=TWP/> Kamin follows a line of critics beginning with the Tribune's Pulitzer Prize-winner [[Paul Gapp]] who earned the Tribune its first criticism Pulitzer in 1979 as its first modern-day architecture critic.<ref name=ABK/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tribune.com/about/pulitzers_list.html|title=Tribune Company Pulitzers|accessdate=2010-07-13|date=2009-04|work=[[Tribune Company]]}}</ref>


Published in 1998, Kamin’s six-part series, “Reinventing the Lakefront” shed light on numerous problems along the city's shoreline, such the disparity between lakefront parks on the largely white and affluent North Side of Chicago and those on the largely black and poor South Side. Following the publication of the deeply-reported essays, Mayor Richard Daley and the Chicago Park District authorized comprehensive plans for four of Chicago’s seven lakefront parks, an area of nearly 2,000 acres and more than 10 miles of shoreline. In addition, the city altered its plan for a former U.S. Steel site on the far south lakefront, bringing the total area affected by the series to almost 2,500 acres and 12 miles of shoreline.
⚫
Kamin is the recipient of 30 awards, including the Pulitzer, which he received in [[1999 Pulitzer Prize|1999]] for a body of work highlighted by a series of articles about the problems and promise of Chicago's greatest public space, its lakefront. Among his other honors are the George Polk Award for Criticism (1996),<ref name=BKPdo/> the American Institute of Architects' Institute Honor for Collaborative Achievement (1999)<ref name=BKPdo/> and the AIA's Presidential Citation, conferred in 2004.<ref name=ABK>{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-skylineblog-bio,0,5519775.htmlstory|title=About Blair Kamin|accessdate=2010-07-13|publisher=[[Chicago Tribune]]}}</ref> Kamin was part of the collaborative team that won the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence for the ''Architectural Record''.<ref name=ABK/>

⚫
Kamin's 1999 Pulitzer entry in criticism consisted of four parts of the six-part lakefront series, plus six other works of criticism on subjects ranging from the renovation of the North Michigan Avenue Marriott Hotel to an addition to Chicago's Adler Planetarium. After the first round of the two-round Pulitzer judging, his entry was moved from the criticism category to the beat reporting category.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/daily/april99/pulitzer13.htm|title=Post Wins Pulitzer for Police Series|accessdate=2010-07-13|date=1999-04-13|work=[[The Washington Post]]|author=Von Drehle, David }}</ref> The ''[[Chicago Reader]]'' described the situation as one in which "every jury that read his stories wanted someone else to judge them".<ref name=TWP>{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-wandering-pulitzer/Content?oid=899004|title=The Wandering Pulitzer|accessdate=2010-07-13|date=1999-04-22|work=[[Chicago Reader]]|author=Miner, Michael}}</ref> One of the criticism jurors described the dilemma "He seems to do some investigative reporting and some advocacy editorializing, and some members of the panel didn't quite know what to make of it. So we did the cowardly thing and sent it to another panel."<ref name=TWP/> But the Pulitzer Prize Board, which has the ultimate authority, reversed the decision and moved Kamin's entry back to criticism. Kamin's Pulitzer Prize citation praised "his lucid coverage of city architecture, including an influential series supporting the development of Chicago's lakefront area.”

⚫
Kamin is the recipient of more than 30 awards. Among his other honors are the George Polk Award for Criticism (1996),<ref name=BKPdo/> the American Institute of Architects' Institute Honor for Collaborative Achievement (1999)<ref name=BKPdo/> and the AIA's Presidential Citation, conferred in 2004.<ref name=ABK>{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-skylineblog-bio,0,5519775.htmlstory|title=About Blair Kamin|accessdate=2010-07-13|publisher=[[Chicago Tribune]]}}</ref> Kamin was part of the collaborative team that won the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence for the ''Architectural Record''.<ref name=ABK/>


==Selected works==
==Selected works==

Revision as of 20:44, 11 November 2010

Blair Kamin
Born
Template:USCity
OccupationChicago Tribune architecture critic
Notable credit1999 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism

Blair Kamin is the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic of the Chicago Tribune, a post he has held since 1992.[1] Kamin has held other jobs at the Tribune and previously worked for The Des Moines Register. He also serves as a contributing editor of Architectural Record. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Critism in 1999, for a body of work highlighted by a series of articles about the problems and promise of Chicago's greatest public space, its lakefront. He has received numerous other honors, has authored books and has lectured widely.

Background

Born in Red Bank, New Jersey, Kamin is a graduate of Amherst College, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts with honors in 1979, and the Yale University School of Architecture, from which he received a Master of Environmental Design in 1984.[1] Prior to being the architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune, he served as its culture and suburban reporter from 1987–1992. He also served as reporter and architecture writer for The Des Moines Register from 1984–1987.[1] He had once worked as an office clerk for a San Francisco interior design and architecture firm.[1] He has lectured in forums such as American Institute of Architects' National Convention, the annual meeting of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, the Ravinia Festival and Steppenwolf Theatre.[2] He has discussed architecture on programs ranging from ABC's "Nightline" , History Channel, National Public Radio to WTTW-Ch. 11's "Chicago Tonight."[2][3] In 2001, the University of Chicago Press published "Why Architecture Matters: Lessons from Chicago," a collection of his Chicago Tribune columns. In 2010, the University of Chicago Press published "Terror and Wonder: Architecture In a Tumultuous Age," a collection of Kamin's columns from the Tribune and other publications. Kamin also wrote the commentaries for "Tribune Tower: American Landmark," a guide to the newspaper's neo-Gothic Tribune Tower skyscraper published in 2000.

Kamin cites as his influences Paul Gapp, Paul Goldberger, Lois Wagner Green, Ada Louise Huxtable, Vincent Scully, Allan Temko, and Joel Upton.[1] In 1999 he was a visiting fellow at the Franke Institute for the Humanities at the University of Chicago.[2] Kamin's wife is Tribune reporter Barbara Mahany and they have two sons, Will and Teddy.[2]

Awards

Published in 1998, Kamin’s six-part series, “Reinventing the Lakefront” shed light on numerous problems along the city's shoreline, such the disparity between lakefront parks on the largely white and affluent North Side of Chicago and those on the largely black and poor South Side. Following the publication of the deeply-reported essays, Mayor Richard Daley and the Chicago Park District authorized comprehensive plans for four of Chicago’s seven lakefront parks, an area of nearly 2,000 acres and more than 10 miles of shoreline. In addition, the city altered its plan for a former U.S. Steel site on the far south lakefront, bringing the total area affected by the series to almost 2,500 acres and 12 miles of shoreline.

Kamin's 1999 Pulitzer entry in criticism consisted of four parts of the six-part lakefront series, plus six other works of criticism on subjects ranging from the renovation of the North Michigan Avenue Marriott Hotel to an addition to Chicago's Adler Planetarium. After the first round of the two-round Pulitzer judging, his entry was moved from the criticism category to the beat reporting category.[4] The Chicago Reader described the situation as one in which "every jury that read his stories wanted someone else to judge them".[5] One of the criticism jurors described the dilemma "He seems to do some investigative reporting and some advocacy editorializing, and some members of the panel didn't quite know what to make of it. So we did the cowardly thing and sent it to another panel."[5] But the Pulitzer Prize Board, which has the ultimate authority, reversed the decision and moved Kamin's entry back to criticism. Kamin's Pulitzer Prize citation praised "his lucid coverage of city architecture, including an influential series supporting the development of Chicago's lakefront area.”

Kamin is the recipient of more than 30 awards. Among his other honors are the George Polk Award for Criticism (1996),[2] the American Institute of Architects' Institute Honor for Collaborative Achievement (1999)[2] and the AIA's Presidential Citation, conferred in 2004.[3] Kamin was part of the collaborative team that won the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence for the Architectural Record.[3]

Selected works

  • Kamin, Blair (2003-06-15). Why Architecture Matters: Lessons from Chicago. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226423220. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
  • Terror and Wonder: Architecture in a Tumultuous Age (University of Chicago Press, 2010) ISBN 978-0-226-42311-1

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Kamin, Blair (1998-05-31). "An Activist Critic and The Inescapable Art Series: The Art of Criticism. Part 3: Architecture". Chicago Tribune.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Blair Kamin". pulitzer.org. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
  3. ^ a b c "About Blair Kamin". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
  4. ^ Von Drehle, David (1999-04-13). "Post Wins Pulitzer for Police Series". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
  5. ^ a b Miner, Michael (1999-04-22). "The Wandering Pulitzer". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
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