CHICAGO AVENUEFIRE ARTS CENTERCASE STUDY

Patrick J Moe withTakashi Chibana &Lindsey Kieffaber

Digital Skills Workshop | Summer 2014

2010

Chicago AvenueFire Arts Center 1914

Nokomis Silent Theater

1980s

Wreck Bros Auto Body

HISTORY OF USE Built as the Nokomis Theatre in 1915, the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center building has seen continual alteration over its century of use. With the advent of talking pictures, or “talkies,” the structure saw its first remodel in 1928 to accom-modate the new technology. With the closing of the Minneap-olis street car line along Chicago Avenue in 1952, the theatre was shuttered, transforming into a varnish shop, furniture store, and auto body shop. In 2006, 6 neighbors – all living within 4 blocks of the historic theatre – sought to bring life back into what had become a dying quarter. Focusing on historic preservation, community building, and fostering the arts, the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center has adapted the space for art forms involving heat, spark, and flame – leveraging the open floor plan and history as both industrial and arts use to offer stu-dio, learning, and gallery space for artists in the community.

Section

1st Floor

2nd Floor

1 5 10 20 ft

Workspace Storage Classroom Office Gallery

ElevationSECTION

1st FLOOR

2nd FLOOR

ELEVATION

To make best use of the open, industrial fl oor plan, Chicago Avenue Fire Arts has developed a cart sys-tem for storing tools—allowing for all tools required for a specifi c skill set to be housed on a cart. This mobile storage approach allows for quick space transformations, and aids in keeping a clean, orga-nized shop.