When you can join Omar
Start times are local to Chicago, IL.
- Design a Building with an Architect-EngineerStarts 9 AM, 6 hours
- Architecture Walk Through Downtown ChicagoStarts 10 AM, 2.5 hours
What Omar hosts
Design a Building with an Architect-Engineer
Sketch to structural model: site visit, drawings and the engineering behind the design.
- Length
- 6 hours
- Group
- 1–3 guests
- Price
- $220
Architecture Walk Through Downtown Chicago
Read the Loop’s buildings with an architect-engineer: how they stand up and why they look the way they do.
- Length
- 2.5 hours
- Group
- 2–8 guests
- Price
- $75
About Omar
Omar Haddad trained as both an architect and a structural engineer, a combination that let him work on both the design and the structure of a building. He spent the early part of his career on high-rise structures in the Loop.
He now runs a small design firm focused on mid-rise residential and adaptive reuse projects. His week includes site visits, sketching sessions with his team, structural calculations and coordination with clients, contractors and the city. He also teaches a structures studio at a local university.
Omar hosts because most people never see how a building goes from a rough sketch to a drawing set, or how often design and engineering have to compromise along the way. Client project details stay confidential.
What you’ll learn from Omar
- How zoning, sunlight and context shape a building on a real site
- How to sketch massing options by hand
- How a structural grid and beam sizes are laid out
- What licensing and running a small firm involve
