As Joe Valerio sees it, architects shouldn’t just shape structures; they should interpret their times. “The most useless term in architecture is `timeless building,’ which I translate into `meaningless,’” Valerio says over lunch at the sleek Blue Water Grill at Dearborn Street and Grand Avenue. “Our job is to do cultural commentary.”
Valerio is hardly the [...]

In a move likely to upset traditionalists, cheer modernists and widen the gulf between them, the U.S. General Services Administration has bypassed classicist Thomas Gordon Smith for its influential chief architect post and instead has chosen Les Shepherd, a veteran architect at the agency.
The GSA, which has an annual construction portfolio of more than $1 [...]