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John W. Clark

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John Clark is a Chicago based architect, planner, and founding partner of the architectural firm Cordogan, Clark & Associates. The firm has multiple offices and an extensive portfolio including institutional, educational, residential, and commercial projects. John maintains an active, daily involvement in the development of the firm’s projects, focusing on architectural design, planning, and construction technology.
John is currently working on large scale mixed-use residential, institutional, and commercial master planning, sustainable, and transit oriented developments. Specific interests include metadesign; sustainable design; design and technology innovation; visual arts and their relationship to architecture; relating architecture to landscape; and applying architecture to contemporary needs.

John has won national and international design and design/ build competitions for a variety of projects, including China mixed-use development; the 41st and 43rd street bridges over Lake Shore Drive, Chicago; the bridge-based Pavilions for the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority; and the Florida Oasis redevelopment project. He has completed a wide variety of significant projects involving urban planning, municipal design, and historic and contextual design.

Speaker and Panelist: Illinois Governor's Conference on Affordable Housing; American Bar Association; SCUP (Society for College and University Planning); BITS Low Carbon Earth Summit, Qingdao, China. John Co-Chairs the AIA National Committee on Architecture for Education's Subcommittee for Alternative Architecture, and maintains a regular blog on emerging trends in architecture for education. 2012 Fulbright Specialist.

Specialties: Architecture, Planning, Urban Design, Sustainable "Green" Design; Transit Oriented Design (TOD); MetaDesign

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Papers by John W. Clark

The Harold Washington Library Decision

I was glad to see Tom Beeby at the Art Institute. He was there with his wife Kristen to see the D... more I was glad to see Tom Beeby at the Art Institute. He was there with his wife Kristen to see the David Adjaye show, which as usual he had rapidly compressed into an aphorism: "The houses are nice, but the large buildings are lousy." Tom could be a master of twitter if it interested him. I had just finished reading Witold Rybczinski's new book and told Tom about its essay on the Chicago Harold Washington Library, "A Good Public Building". The book had just come out and Tom hadn't read it yet. Rybczinski has long been one of the library's biggest supporters. While still under construction he had written that the Harold Washington Library "promises to be an exceptional piece of architecture."

Laughter in the Garden

A pair of renowned Chinese artists, the Zhou Brothers, bring joy, beauty, and a sense of whimsy t... more

Magazine of DangKou Town_JC.pdf

Growth is inevitable. New development and redevelopment will hopefully focus on practices that ar... more Growth is inevitable. New development and redevelopment will hopefully focus on practices that are economically sound, environmentally sustainable, and that encourage livable communities. How do we untangle the urban mess we are in today? How do we see ourselves today? One such way is by adopting, adapting and applying the still relevant principles of DangKou.
DangKou is a beautiful town that allows us to imagine the poetry of a different way of life. Towns like DangKou remind us what life once was, and if important what it can yet be.

The Science of Play: Playgrounds as Important Alternative Learning Environments

One of the simplest learning environments is the playground. It is also one of the most important... more One of the simplest learning environments is the playground. It is also one of the most important. Yet often its importance to children’s development, as well as the design opportunities it presents, is overlooked by architects.

Susan Solomon's new book, The Science of Play: How to Build Playgrounds that Enhance Children’s Development, takes a fresh approach to the subject of playgrounds. This important overview explores the importance of play and playgrounds for children, with special focus on play solutions that encourage risk taking, succeeding and failing, planning ahead, experiencing nature, and making friends. It is also a remarkable book because it asks us to aggressively rethink playgrounds and the need for play, despite our over-litigious society's drive to eliminate risk from life. In doing this, she stresses that parents need to recognize that some level of risk is desirable and even necessary to children's development. She is also asking us, as parents, public officials, design professionals, and those responsible for children's lives, to take risks ourselves: In short, to be more inspired and creative ourselves in the interest of childhood betterment.

From Our House to Bauhaus: Crafting the Creative Curriculum

Tom Wolfe, in his book From Bauhaus to Our House, had it backwards: The Bauhaus, rather than bein... more Tom Wolfe, in his book From Bauhaus to Our House, had it backwards: The Bauhaus, rather than being alien to the United States as Wolfe suggests, was originally home grown. The Bauhaus, established by architect Walter Gropius to promote a powerful fusion of art, technology, and craft, has renewed relevance now, when people are looking at ways in which education can stimulate creativity and innovation through learning that is more “hands on.” The Bauhaus (German for “build house”) was a “makerspace” par excellence. Far more often, architects shape the spaces in which learning occurs rather than the learning curriculum itself. Yet architects, since they straddle the fields of art and technology, have unique insight into the kinds of creative curricula now sought for STEM, and even more especially STEAM education. An overview of the Bauhaus highlights this.

Reston Revisited: The famous new town is still evolving

APA Journal, 2011

Fifty years ago Robert E. Simon fell in love with a stretch of land in Fairfax County, Virginia, ... more Fifty years ago Robert E. Simon fell in love with a stretch of land in Fairfax County, Virginia, 20 miles from Washington, D.C., and bought it for the new town whose name is derived from his initials: Reston. Now, at 97, Simon lives in Reston's Lake Anne development and remains the town's spiritual father. Although no longer directly responsible for the town's development, he approves of many of the changes that have occurred — and those that are pending in this still evolving, built-from-scratch
community.

Simon's goals for his new town were inclusive. Economic success, he felt, would flow from the harmonious way the town met peoples' needs for work and home life. The living environment should include everything needed for an entire lifetime, he strongly believed. Also, natural and architectural beauty should be primary, and — for the sake of diversity — race, age, and socioeconomic levels should be comfortably mixed (a unique idea in Virginia in the early 1960s, before the 1968 federal Civil Rights Act was adopted). It was this vision and, importantly, its execution — a town built to
serve the needs of its residents rather than evolving from a patchwork of past and present overlaid with a "look" — that has made Reston successful.

When Reston was founded in the mid-1960s, its basic concept was highly innovative. The original zoning was defined by residential density that allowed a diversity of housing types, including single family, town house, and apartment or condominium, which was unusual for the time. Fairfax County was then dominated by single-family detached housing. Reston's suburban location, and its limited access, made this a difficult precedent to break. Although much has happened since 1961, in many ways Reston's development has proceeded along the lines that Simon envisioned. In some ways, Reston has fulfilled it, by achieving a density and a live-work environment that is rare in most suburbs. Reston's Lake Anne development remains a remarkable example of architecture integrated with nature. Today, residents are still talking about some of his original ideas while facing some major changes, including a long-anticipated link to Washington Metrorail, the regional rail system.

Campfires, Holodecks, and Schools: New Paradigms for 21st Century Learning Environments

This is an inaugural blog for the Alternative Educational Environment subcommittee. In it, my co-... more This is an inaugural blog for the Alternative Educational Environment subcommittee. In it, my co-chairs Osleide Walker, Linda Nelson Keane, and I want to explore alternative designs for education. We want to focus on useful, easily accessible thinking that can be applied by architects to their own work. In a sense, we see this as developing a sort of “Pattern Language” for alternative educational environments. The Blog format corresponds to Thornburg’s “Watering Hole”: Here, we are using the Internet as a place for community dialogue.

Drafts by John W. Clark

Dangkou: Ancient Town in the Land of Streams

Growth is inevitable. New development and redevelopment will hopefully focus on practices that ar... more Growth is inevitable. New development and redevelopment will hopefully focus on practices that are economically sound, environmentally sustainable, and that encourage livable communities. How do we untangle the urban mess we are in today? How do we see ourselves today? One such way is by adopting, adapting and applying the still relevant principles of DangKou.
DangKou is a beautiful town that allows us to imagine the poetry of a different way of life. Towns like DangKou remind us what life once was, and if important what it can yet be.

The Harold Washington Library Decision

I was glad to see Tom Beeby at the Art Institute. He was there with his wife Kristen to see the D... more I was glad to see Tom Beeby at the Art Institute. He was there with his wife Kristen to see the David Adjaye show, which as usual he had rapidly compressed into an aphorism: "The houses are nice, but the large buildings are lousy." Tom could be a master of twitter if it interested him. I had just finished reading Witold Rybczinski's new book and told Tom about its essay on the Chicago Harold Washington Library, "A Good Public Building". The book had just come out and Tom hadn't read it yet. Rybczinski has long been one of the library's biggest supporters. While still under construction he had written that the Harold Washington Library "promises to be an exceptional piece of architecture."

Laughter in the Garden

A pair of renowned Chinese artists, the Zhou Brothers, bring joy, beauty, and a sense of whimsy t... more

Magazine of DangKou Town_JC.pdf

Growth is inevitable. New development and redevelopment will hopefully focus on practices that ar... more Growth is inevitable. New development and redevelopment will hopefully focus on practices that are economically sound, environmentally sustainable, and that encourage livable communities. How do we untangle the urban mess we are in today? How do we see ourselves today? One such way is by adopting, adapting and applying the still relevant principles of DangKou.
DangKou is a beautiful town that allows us to imagine the poetry of a different way of life. Towns like DangKou remind us what life once was, and if important what it can yet be.

The Science of Play: Playgrounds as Important Alternative Learning Environments

One of the simplest learning environments is the playground. It is also one of the most important... more One of the simplest learning environments is the playground. It is also one of the most important. Yet often its importance to children’s development, as well as the design opportunities it presents, is overlooked by architects.

Susan Solomon's new book, The Science of Play: How to Build Playgrounds that Enhance Children’s Development, takes a fresh approach to the subject of playgrounds. This important overview explores the importance of play and playgrounds for children, with special focus on play solutions that encourage risk taking, succeeding and failing, planning ahead, experiencing nature, and making friends. It is also a remarkable book because it asks us to aggressively rethink playgrounds and the need for play, despite our over-litigious society's drive to eliminate risk from life. In doing this, she stresses that parents need to recognize that some level of risk is desirable and even necessary to children's development. She is also asking us, as parents, public officials, design professionals, and those responsible for children's lives, to take risks ourselves: In short, to be more inspired and creative ourselves in the interest of childhood betterment.

From Our House to Bauhaus: Crafting the Creative Curriculum

Tom Wolfe, in his book From Bauhaus to Our House, had it backwards: The Bauhaus, rather than bein... more Tom Wolfe, in his book From Bauhaus to Our House, had it backwards: The Bauhaus, rather than being alien to the United States as Wolfe suggests, was originally home grown. The Bauhaus, established by architect Walter Gropius to promote a powerful fusion of art, technology, and craft, has renewed relevance now, when people are looking at ways in which education can stimulate creativity and innovation through learning that is more “hands on.” The Bauhaus (German for “build house”) was a “makerspace” par excellence. Far more often, architects shape the spaces in which learning occurs rather than the learning curriculum itself. Yet architects, since they straddle the fields of art and technology, have unique insight into the kinds of creative curricula now sought for STEM, and even more especially STEAM education. An overview of the Bauhaus highlights this.

Reston Revisited: The famous new town is still evolving

APA Journal, 2011

Fifty years ago Robert E. Simon fell in love with a stretch of land in Fairfax County, Virginia, ... more Fifty years ago Robert E. Simon fell in love with a stretch of land in Fairfax County, Virginia, 20 miles from Washington, D.C., and bought it for the new town whose name is derived from his initials: Reston. Now, at 97, Simon lives in Reston's Lake Anne development and remains the town's spiritual father. Although no longer directly responsible for the town's development, he approves of many of the changes that have occurred — and those that are pending in this still evolving, built-from-scratch
community.

Simon's goals for his new town were inclusive. Economic success, he felt, would flow from the harmonious way the town met peoples' needs for work and home life. The living environment should include everything needed for an entire lifetime, he strongly believed. Also, natural and architectural beauty should be primary, and — for the sake of diversity — race, age, and socioeconomic levels should be comfortably mixed (a unique idea in Virginia in the early 1960s, before the 1968 federal Civil Rights Act was adopted). It was this vision and, importantly, its execution — a town built to
serve the needs of its residents rather than evolving from a patchwork of past and present overlaid with a "look" — that has made Reston successful.

When Reston was founded in the mid-1960s, its basic concept was highly innovative. The original zoning was defined by residential density that allowed a diversity of housing types, including single family, town house, and apartment or condominium, which was unusual for the time. Fairfax County was then dominated by single-family detached housing. Reston's suburban location, and its limited access, made this a difficult precedent to break. Although much has happened since 1961, in many ways Reston's development has proceeded along the lines that Simon envisioned. In some ways, Reston has fulfilled it, by achieving a density and a live-work environment that is rare in most suburbs. Reston's Lake Anne development remains a remarkable example of architecture integrated with nature. Today, residents are still talking about some of his original ideas while facing some major changes, including a long-anticipated link to Washington Metrorail, the regional rail system.

Campfires, Holodecks, and Schools: New Paradigms for 21st Century Learning Environments

This is an inaugural blog for the Alternative Educational Environment subcommittee. In it, my co-... more This is an inaugural blog for the Alternative Educational Environment subcommittee. In it, my co-chairs Osleide Walker, Linda Nelson Keane, and I want to explore alternative designs for education. We want to focus on useful, easily accessible thinking that can be applied by architects to their own work. In a sense, we see this as developing a sort of “Pattern Language” for alternative educational environments. The Blog format corresponds to Thornburg’s “Watering Hole”: Here, we are using the Internet as a place for community dialogue.

Dangkou: Ancient Town in the Land of Streams

Growth is inevitable. New development and redevelopment will hopefully focus on practices that ar... more Growth is inevitable. New development and redevelopment will hopefully focus on practices that are economically sound, environmentally sustainable, and that encourage livable communities. How do we untangle the urban mess we are in today? How do we see ourselves today? One such way is by adopting, adapting and applying the still relevant principles of DangKou.
DangKou is a beautiful town that allows us to imagine the poetry of a different way of life. Towns like DangKou remind us what life once was, and if important what it can yet be.