Par­al­lel His­to­ries was a com­mis­sioned instal­la­tion at the 2023 Chica­go Archi­tec­ture Bien­ni­al. Two ​“draw­ings” explore the nat­ur­al and built sto­ries of Chica­go. A tra­di­tion­al map cat­a­loging the geo­graph­ic move­ment of the Chica­go Riv­er, on view at the Chica­go Cul­tur­al Cen­ter, is paired with a rein­ter­pre­ta­tion of Jean Bap­tiste Pointe DuSable’s estate on the site of the park named in his hon­or. Both pieces reflect on the past, present, and future sto­ries of the land that birthed a mod­ern metropolis.

The sale of DuS­able’s land, build­ings, live­stock and house­hold goods in 1800 pro­vide a glimpse into the sophis­ti­cat­ed enter­prise he oper­at­ed. DuS­able’s suc­cess was due in part to his com­plex iden­ti­ty: Hait­ian, French, African, and Potawato­mi kin.

Par­al­lel His­to­ries rein­ter­prets DuS­able’s estate as ​“line draw­ings” on the park site. The Frame­house (pri­ma­ry res­i­dence) is wrapped in a pat­tern that over­lays Chicago’s prairie land­scape with the live­stock DuS­able kept and two questions:

Who was DuS­able?
Who found Chicago?

This call and response between the past and present builds momen­tum for Chicago’s newest civic space — DuS­able Park. 

Client: The Chica­go Archi­tec­ture Bien­ni­al
Pro­gram: Tem­po­rary Installation

Project Fea­tures 
Chica­go Read­er— ​“Dis­cov­er Chicago’s lay­ered his­to­ry“
Archi­tiz­er—​“Par­al­lel His­to­ries receives a Spe­cial Men­tion in the Archi­tiz­er A+ Awards in the Pop-Ups and Tem­po­rary Cat­e­go­ry“
World-Archi­tects—“ ​‘Par­al­lel His­to­ry’ at DuS­able Park: A Step Toward a Future Park“
Dezeen—​“Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects cre­ates pavil­ion explor­ing ​“lay­ers” of ear­ly Chicago”

Par­al­lel His­to­ries was designed by Car­ol Ross Bar­ney, and col­lab­o­ra­tors Ryan Gann and the DuS­able Park Design Alliance. 

Spe­cial thanks: Chica­go Park Dis­trict and DuS­able Her­itage Association

Project team: Annie Ball, Simon Peschong, Vic­tor Alexan­der Tor­res, Lau­ren Eaton, Jen­ny Che­man­sky, Calen Hey­dt, Moni­ka Plio­plyte, Stel­la Brown, and Car­lye Frank

Pho­tog­ra­phy cred­it: © Kendall McCaugh­er­ty / Hall + Mer­rick + McCaugherty