ADAPTIVE OPERATIONS THIRD BIRTHDAY! (observed)

WELCOME TO THE THIRD ANNUAL ADAPTIVE OPERATIONS NEWSLETTER! HERE IS A RUNNING SELECTION OF ROUGHLY 9 THINGS THAT HAPPENED SINCE THE LAST ONE, AS PARTIALLY REPRESENTED IN THE PHOTO MONTAGE ABOVE

Adaptive Operations moved into its first office/studio space in Bridgeport/McKinley Park; SAIC got a new class in the preservation department about how the destruction of buildings is a form of violence; that artist live/work/exhibition space in Pilsen is almost finished and is called Watershed now; a little food spot in Bridgeport that serves pizza, fried chicken, and ice cream - called Pizza Fried Chicken Ice Cream - managed to more or less open; a permanent retail/gallery space for Chicago artist-made objects is about to pop off in the Chicago Cultural Center at least virtually for now; a new Bucktown taproom for a Bridgeport/McKinley Park brewery started then stopped then started construction again and should be sort of open later this year; a house in Baroda, Michigan is slowly nearing design completion; the new Ford Calumet Environmental Center in Big Marsh is getting a bike rental shop in it when it opens maybe sometime in the near future; and a 100+ year old synagogue in Woodlawn that was more recently a church is being transformed into an environmentally ambitious art space and residence called Narrow Bridge. There was also a lot of furniture, light fixtures, and natural dyeing happening.

Oh what’s that? You noticed maybe some ambiguity in the description of these projects and when they’re going to be done/open etc.? Hmm, what a strange phenomenon for 2020…

Speaking of the year 2020, while existential dread has been a significant part of many of our lives since 2016, indefinite unpredictability and uncertainly as a theme was likely not the working plan for anyone. Adaptive Operations was starting out its busiest year yet and was beginning to build capacity to grow ever so slowly. As a lifelong fan of improvised music and comedy, I’ve learned that trust, thinking on one’s feet, and responding to a constantly changing environment with your collective available resources and insights is a skill set that transcends many disciplines. Not only is it a way of solving complicated problems, but it can produce the most wonderful and unexpected results. I’ve been inspired to see so many friends, collaborators, and clients embody this approach this year and consider myself privileged to be able to pivot and adapt with them in an attempt to continue to make better spaces, places, and things.

As for slowly growing, AO was happy to welcome Curt Maciver to the team earlier this year. Curt recently graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology with a Masters of Architecture, where he explored many scales of architecture from urban planning down to building furniture. Curt has made himself very useful working on the odd array of projects we have going, whether with a router or laptop in his hands.

So you keep checking the AO website for updates and new projects and it doesn’t seem to change for long periods of time, or maybe even hardly at all since the last newsletter a year ago? That’s the kind of year it has been. If you want some updates or to chat about what’s happening, drop a note to charlie@adaptiveoperations.com. Of course if you don’t want to get an annual update, smash that unsubscribe button below.