“To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect Virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.”
Confucius

THERE ARE MYRIAD meanings and great symbolism ascribed to the number five; virtually every culture seems to give this digit special significance. The ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle believed the universe is made up of five classical elements: water, earth, air, fire, and ether. Great world religions have also incorporated the number into ritual: Christianity has the five wounds of Christ; Judaism has five books in the Torah; and the Muslims pray to Allah five times a day.

Ironically, nature strengthens the significance of the number, since there are five inhabited continents on the planet—hence five inter-locking rings are used as a logo for the Olympic Games, and biologically speaking, almost all amphibians, reptiles, and mammals have five fingers or toes on each extremity. Human beings also seem to reach a biological benchmark of physical, intellectual and psychic independence by five years of age, which is traditionally when formal schooling starts in many cultures around the world.

So when we sat down to put together our fifth Suite Sixteen issue—a meaningful anniversary in any business but especially poignant these days in published---we thought what better place to shoot our nominees than at a school? And finding a school as equally prolific as our nominees was an easy task since the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is right here in our own backyard. So our crew set out to capture this Mies van der Rohe- designed and inspired campus that has produced generations of influential architects on film, and over the course of four days we came up with a thirty two-page feature that we are very excited to share with you.

In keeping with tradition, we launched our Five-year Anniversary issue with a party at Tzar Ultra Lounge, coincidently designed by Aimee Wertepny, our very own “Rising Star” from the Suite Sixteen class of 2008. This year we invited all 80 of our Suite Sixteen nominees from the past four years to join this year’s class and be part of a reunion celebration. HGTV was on location to film the event, and all had a great time. Our special thanks to Thermador and Krome Vodka for sponsoring this epic celebration.

In addition to our Suite Sixteen feature in this issue, we also dedicated an eight-page section to the Chicago International Poster Biennial, which is kicking off a fundraiser at the Harrington College of Design on Thursday, July 18th. Now in its second year, the competition received over 1,670 posters from 43 countries. This respected competition draws work from the best designers in dozens of countries, receives thousands of entries, and most importantly, is a very public celebration of design that brings together thousands of visitors from the Chicago design community and public at large. For more information on this private event or the competition itself, which is running from July 11th-July 30th, go to www.chicagobiennial.org
Special thanks to the many people involved in this issue including the staff at IIT, our feature photographer, Tyler Kaschke and his assistant, Kaleb Yetter, our make up and hair stylist Jwan Angelopoulos, and Victoria Ketchum for making sure we knew where to go and when to be there. i4