Urban Planner and MacArthur “Genius” Emmanuel Pratt’s Vision for Chicago Is Radically Simple

Emmanuel Pratt first erected this timber structure on a vacant lot in Chicago’s South side.  The form riffs off the worker cottage, a single-family vernacular popularized in the 19th century. In the span of six hours, he tore it down and rebuilt it here, inside the Chicago Cultural Center, as an exhibit for the architecture biennial. It’s meant to start conversations surrounding affordable housing in redlined neighborhoods.