HOOPcycle Play Session: Bulls Fest
Lace up your sneakers and join us August 23-24 at Bulls Fest for a fun and creative play session with HOOPcycle, the National Public Housing Museum’s mobile interactive art installation!
Alexandra Lange in Conversation with Anjulie Rao
After Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program work of the playground at the Betances Houses. Courtesy of MDG Design + Construction. From the exhibition Living in the Shade: Open Space and Public Housing.
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National Public Housing Museum, 919 S. Ada Street, Chicago, IL 60607
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Explore how architecture connects to broader social issues like parenting, community, and accessibility.
In a conversation between Alexandra Lange, winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, and Anjulie Rao, a Chicago-based journalist covering the built environment, learn about the history of playgrounds and public spaces that have shaped our nation’s understanding of childhood and family.
After the talk, enjoy a light reception and continue the conversation in Edgar Miller’s enchanting Animal Court in the Alphawood Foundation Sculpture Garden.
Save the date! Please check back soon for registration information.
About the presenters
Alexandra Lange is a journalist, design critic, and author. Her essays, reviews and profiles have appeared in numerous publications. In 2025 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for a series on how urban design and architecture affect children and families. She is the author of Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall (2022), The Design of Childhood: How the Material World Shapes Independent Kids (2018), and Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities (2012).
Anjulie Rao is a journalist and critic covering the built environment. Based in Chicago, much of her work reckons with the complexities of post-industrial cities, explores connections to place and land, and exposes intersections between architecture, landscapes, and cultural change. She is the recipient of a Graham Foundation Grant to Individuals and teaches as a Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
This conversation is presented in conjunction with the National Public Housing Museum’s exhibition Living in the Shade: Open Space and Public Housing and in alignment with SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, the sixth edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, opening September 19.
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