By Blair Kamin Tribune architecture critic
Published January 1, 2006

Like the black bear in the forest, architecture usually hibernates during the winter. But there will be plenty of activity in Chicago and the Midwest during the next few months, highlighted by a new building in Cincinnati by Thom Mayne, the reigning Pritzker Prize winner. Once spring arrives, there will be more to assess, including the renovation of Wrigley Field. Here's a peek at what's ahead:

Mayne in the Midwest -- Mayne, who received the Pritzker in Chicago last spring, has designed his first building at the University of Cincinnati, an architecturally adventurous campus that boasts work by such luminaries as Frank Gehry. His boldy-geometric student recreation center is much more than a typical college sweat shop. Besides gyms and pools, it includes classrooms, dorm rooms and a dining hall. Mayne, based in Santa Monica, Calif., has called it the equivalent of five buildings pushed into one. University officials say the heart of the building, its recreation facilities, will open Feb. 6.

Gang at Lakeshore East -- One of Chicago's rising stars, Jeanne Gang, expects to show city officials her design for a mixed-use tower at Lakeshore East (a former golf course between Lake Shore Drive and Illinois Center) in January and to make it public soon afterward. Among the innovations of the tower, for which Loewenberg + Associates is architect of record: It will present different faces to different points of the compass, based on the views from the apartments and the shadows cast by nearby buildings. It's also a good bet the tower will be tall, considering the heights sketched out in the master plan for Lakeshore East.

Garofalo in Hyde Park and the Art Institute -- Doug Garofalo, whose computer-influenced designs make him one of Chicago's leading young talents, will open his first major building in the city, the Hyde Park Art Center, on April 22. The center, a renovation and expansion of a two-story structure at 5020 S. Cornell Ave., will include an experimental electronic facade 10 feet high by 80 feet long. It will allow for displays of electronic art intended to engage the surrounding neighborhood. In addition, the Art Institute of Chicago and its new architecture and design curator, Joseph Rosa, plan an exhibit on Garofalo's work. It's tentatively scheduled to open in late May.

A bigger Wrigley Field -- The grande dame of American ballparks will have grown a little plumper by the time the Cubs hold their April 7 home opener. Designed by Kansas City, Mo.-based HOK Sport + Venue + Event with help from Chicago architect John Vinci, the Wrigley expansion will add nearly 1,800 new bleacher seats to the ballpark's outer edge. The project also will leave an open space in the right-field corner, offering passersby on Sheffield Avenue a free view of the action from ground level.

Chipperfield's green-roofed library in Des Moines -- Fresh off his sleek minimalist Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, British architect David Chipperfield will open a new public library in the downtown of Iowa's state capital on April 8. The free-form, two-story building will have an energy-saving roof of dirt and sedum, a flowering plant.

Sullivan's 150th birthday -- 2006 marks the 150th anniversary of the birthday of Louis Sullivan, the great Chicago architect celebrated for his nature-inspired ornament and his gift for poetically expressing the tallness of tall office buildings. By chance, construction workers are now putting the finishing touches on the restored cornice at Sullivan's masterful Carson Pirie Scott store at 1 S. State St. The project is due to be completed early this year. Around Sullivan's birthday on Sept. 3, the city's cultural historian, Tim Samuelson, will mount a Sullivan exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.

The sprawl debate sprawls on -- Expect a highly informed argument on Feb. 15 when Robert Bruegmann, a University of Illinois at Chicago architectural historian, discusses his provocative new book, "Sprawl: A Compact History," during a panel session at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan Ave. Bruegmann argues that sprawl isn't the monster it's been made out to be. Fellow panelists from the Chicago-based Congress for the New Urbanism are likely to disagree. Their group says sprawl is ugly, energy-wasting and destructive of a sense of community. Tickets are $20, $10 for foundation members. For reservations, call 312-922-3432, extension 266.