Earlier this year, when the Chicago Architecture Biennial challenged architects around the globe to design new lakefront kiosks—those shacks where you rent kayaks and order snacks—Yasmin Vobis and Aaron Forrest (who run Ultramoderne studio in Providence, Rhode Island), along with structural engineer Brett Schneider, put their heads together. “We thought about Mies van der Rohe’s experimental long-span flat-roof structures,” says Forrest. “We updated that idea for contemporary Chicago.” 

Check out the trio’s winning design titled Chicago Horizon—one of more than 400 submissions—at Millennium Park starting October 3, along with three other full-scale models designed by professional architects in partnership with students from Chicago design schools (see renderings below).