Marking resideny's 50th anniversary, Ragdale presents the 13th and 14th Ragdale Ring Design-Build Competition and Performance Series in 2026 and 2027, respectively, continuing its interdisciplinary platform for dialogue between architecture, design, and performance.Through an open call, designers are invited to create an inventive, site-responsive temporary structure sited on either a platform at the location of the original Ragdale Ring open-air theatre or elsewhere on Ragdale’s historic campus. Each selected design is realized on site and serves as the centerpiece for a summer-long performance series featuring leading Chicago-area music and dance artists. Presented annually from June through October, the Ragdale Ring expands how audiences experience architecture as a living, performative space, engaging approximately 700 visitors of all ages while honoring the architectural legacy of Howard Van Doren Shaw. Front of House responds directly to Ragdale House, the summer home built by architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, as both an architectural reference and a cultural presence on the site. Rather than producing a singular pavilion or stage, the project breaks apart a recognizable architectural figure—the front of Ragdale House—into a series of elements that can be occupied, activated and recomposed. Brightly colored and recontextualized, Front of House treats both the House and the Ring stage(s) as something adaptable and alive.

The selected winner of the 2026 Ragdale Ring Competition is Front of House, submitted by Gluten, a collaborative architecture practice led by Paige Davidson and Julia McConnell, based in Blacksburg, Virginia. Their work spans film, installations, renovations and structures that treat overlooked systems, routines and spatial norms as material. Gluten pushes the edges of what architecture is expected to do by rethinking the usually unseen parts of everyday environments and using them to unsettle familiar ideas of use, comfort and public life. This proposal responded directly to Ragdale House, the summer home built by architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, as both an architectural reference and a cultural presence on the site. Rather than producing a singular pavilion or stage, the project breaks apart a recognizable architectural figure—the front of Ragdale House—into a series of elements that can be occupied, activated and recomposed. Brightly colored and recontextualized, Front of House treats both the House and the Ring stage(s) as something adaptable and alive.

The selected winner of the 2027 Ragdale Ring Competition is Stage Prop, by Patrick Geske and Cody Miner. The proposal reimagines the Ragdale Ring as a flexible, transformable performance environment, capable of accommodating a wide range of artistic performances and practices while remaining rooted in the garden theatre tradition established by Howard Van Doren Shaw. Rather than introducing a fixed pavilion or singular stage condition, the project centers on a hinging stage element that can shift spatial relationships between performer, audience, and landscape in response to the scale and nature of each event. With Stage Prop, architecture becomes an instrument for performance rather than a static backdrop, and it is effective precisely because it performs many roles without unnecessary complication: as a platform for theatre in the round; as a backed stage for a proscenium presentation; and as a funnel stage for more intimate presentations.

As Ragdale’s deputy director, John Rich oversees the programmatic operations of the organization. His extensive professional history supporting creative engagement includes his role as dance and theater subject matter expert for the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), manager of performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), director of the Guild Literary Complex, administrative director for the architecture, designed objects and historical preservation programs at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), company manager for Goat Island Performance Group and founder of the Chicago Book Expo for independent publishers. He earned an MFA in writing from the SAIC, where he taught for nearly ten years, and a BFA in painting from Grand Valley State University.

Ragdale’s mission is to steward an inspirational environment that fosters courageous creativity and inclusive community through its artist residencies. For over 125 years, Ragdale has been a site where artists come together to create works that shape and define American art and culture. Originally designed and built in 1897 by Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw as a retreat for his wife, poet and playwright Frances Wells Shaw, and a gathering place for the larger artists’ community, Ragdale has evolved into one of the largest artist communities in the United States. Established as a multidisciplinary nonprofit artist residency program in 1976 by Shaw’s granddaughter, poet Alice Judson Hayes, Ragdale now welcomes over 200 artists, designers, and scholars from around the world annually in residencies and in performances and appearances. In addition to our Residency program, Ragdale engages over 1,000 patrons annually through public programming, tours, performances, and arts education.