Like Baking into a Dream
Ethan Lethander

As Chicago’s food sanctuary, this project enhances the sensory experience of food through a surreal atmosphere inspired by the simple process of making and breaking bread. Simple bodily experiences are foregrounded by the subconscious of the simplest life-sustaining food. The building shifts attention to the peripheries where pleasant joys emerge through the chaotic blur of urban life.

The primary form-making strategy is a 3-dimensional scatter of discrete floating volumes, each vaguely resembling familiar things associated with making bread. Each of these volumes houses different programs including a bakery, a dining space, a research facility, and an auditorium.

Passing through the threshold between the ground floor market space and the sanctuary above, visitors find themselves in a luminous field of wheat with softly shaped volumes hovering overhead; a ramp weaves upwards passing through each one. Rainwater drains down the ramp and is stored in reservoirs on the ground floor.

Ethan Lethander’s Like Baking into a Dream was awarded third place (along with Jenna Call) in the 2022 Gui Competition.