Charlie Vinz
Founder, Adaptive Operations
Prior to establishing Adaptive Operations, Charlie was the Creative Director at Rebuilding Exchange, a building materials reuse non profit, where he ran the in-house custom design and fabrication shop in conjunction with a jobs training program for people with barriers to employment, established an artist-in-residence program, and helped salvage and reinstall the facade of the Madison & Wabash elevated train station. He joined the RX team after years spent designing and managing projects for Theaster Gates and Rebuild Foundation in St. Louis, Omaha, and around the South Side of Chicago. Prior to working with Gates, Charlie was a Project Architect with Tom Brock Architect, a Designer with Antheus Capital, and Junior Project Architect with Holabird & Root.
Starting in 2008, Charlie established two different design/build programs with After School Matters (Learning in the Built Environment and Design Build Grow Eat), which got Chicago teens involved in their communities through design. Charlie has been an adjunct professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a guest teacher at the University of Chicago. He is currently adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he graduated from with a B. Arch in 2004. He is also currently architect in residence at Ox Bow School of Art and Artist Residency in Saugatuck, MI, focusing on the development of Ox Bow House. He serves on the board of Preservation Chicago and is a licensed architect in Illinois.
On his work with Stockyard Institute and Jim, Charlie first met Jim through his involvement in AREA Chicago and Pedagogical Factory at Hyde Park Art Center (HPAC). When Charlie was at Rebuilding Exchange, he established an artist in residency space, and Jim was the first to use it. Jim was developing his next show at HPAC, Public School, at the time, and they collaborated on a number of elements for the show. The most recent work Charlie did with Jim was on his show at DPAM, specifically designing and fabricating the radio station structure*.
*Images of structure available throughout site, including Press page, November 12, 2021.
