A Brutalist school, an Art Deco church and soaring grain silos are among the diverse array of buildings featured in the new tome, Midwest Architecture Journeys. Book editor Zach Mortice discusses five highlights.
Released in October, Midwest Architecture Journeys is a 287-page, hardcover book from Belt Publishing that explores under-recognised buildings, places and spaces in the American Heartland.
The book primarily focuses on work in the following states ? Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Buildings by famed architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan and Bertrand Goldberg are included, as are projects by lesser-known figures such as Walter Bailey and Lillian Leenhouts. Some of the featured projects linger just outside of the architectural canon, while others are simple, everyday structures that are not designed by architects.
"It's a book that's a testament to the wild diversity of architectural experimentation here, that also points to an essential character of humble utopian optimism earned through hard work," said the book's Chicago-based editor, Zach Mortice.

The book is divided into four sections ?  journeys, places, people, and vernacular ? each with a collection of essays and accompanying images.
In addition to an abundance of photographs, the tome contains 31 individual essays by writers from around the US, including an introduction by architecture critic Alexandra Lange.
The...