Located in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, Solstice on the Park is a twenty-six-story residential tower shaped by the angles of the sun and one of the first Studio Gang projects to explore the idea of solar carving for environmental advantages.
The design cuts into the building’s facade in response to the sun and orients surfaces to the optimum 72-degree angle for Chicago’s latitude, maximizing sunlight in winter for passive solar warming and minimizing light and heat gain during summer to reduce air-conditioning usage.
The structure—which includes 250 dwellings and a green roof—also takes advantage of expansive views of Jackson Park to the south and Chicago’s skyline to the north.
The new fieldhouse located in the Bronzeville community adjacent to the Chicago Housing Authority Dearborn Homes will replace an existing fieldhouse and will support the Chicago Park District and Chicago Housing Authority’s expanding programming needs. The single-story building includes a 3,800 square foot basketball gymnasium with spectator seating, two multi-purpose community rooms with a shared pantry, offices, reception, and storage space. The entry lobby and corridor are generously sized and will include flexible seating to provide a space for spontaneous gathering and events. The fieldhouse is situated at the center of an eight-and-one-half acre park that includes a playground, baseball and soccer fields, an interactive water spray feature, and basketball courts. The fieldhouse will be the first building in Chicago to be clad in vibrant, stainless steel shingles that respond to different light conditions and appear to change hue when viewed from different angles. This bold and elegant exterior expression enhances the visibility of the fieldhouse and establishes the fieldhouse as a community anchor for the Park District. The materiality at the interior will be limited to select materials including concrete and wood with an expressive wood structural system at the ceiling, upholding the rich historical expression of wood that is found in many historic Park District fieldhouses in Chicago.
Article source: BGD&C Custom Homes and Studio Gild
This 7500 sf single-family, 5 bedroom home designed, built, and engineered by BGD&C Custom Homes is located in Lincoln Park. The home features classic architecture and timeless detailing with a brick and limestone façade and prominent copper-clad bay windows; and boasts lavish exterior entertaining space, including a side yard, rear yard, balconies, and roof deck. The clients moving from the Chicago suburbs are empty nesters and have two children. Amongst the owner’s must haves- an urban home that could comfortably accommodate their visiting children, and spaces throughout designed specifically for entertaining. The house was already partially built when the client acquired a second lot, allowing for two additions – a conservatory-style game room and a music room – also designed and built by BGD&C Custom Homes.
When the homeowners approached BGD&C, they were primarily based in the bucolic town of Woodstock, 50 miles northwest of Chicago. The client’s second-generation, family business in metal manufacturing was based in Woodstock, and was also where they raised their children. While the family enjoyed a second home in Steamboat Springs, CO., the clients decided to embark on the project of building a permanent Chicago residence as they prepared to become empty nesters. They looked to Studio Gild and BGD&C to create an urban compound with ample space for entertaining to not only accommodate guests and their visiting children, but to also ultimately evolve into their forever home. Our collective vision was to create an environment that starkly contrasted with their Woodstock and Steamboat Springs residences, not only by virtue of its urban surroundings, but also with a refreshing and unexpected design approach that would push boundaries.
Bold, sexy and playful, Maple & Ash created a new way to celebrate with its innovative steakhouse. Unlike other Chicago steakhouses, Maple & Ash uses hints of traditional elements with contemporary applications. Greens, purples and yellows create a youthful color palette, proving that steakhouses aren’t just for your grandfather. Maple & Ash was inspired by the anatomy of fire.
Suspended between the clouds, but firmly rooted in their surroundings, the executive offices designed by Rome-based architectural firm Alvisi Kirimoto occupy the entire 32nd floor of a newly built skyscraper in the lively ex-industrial district of West Loop, Chicago. The project, designed to accommodate the client’s headquarters and showcase part of his art collection, fills an area of 2,600 sq. m, within a 224-meter high building located in the heart of the city, on the bank of the homonymous river.
The architects Massimo Alvisi and Junko Kirimoto describe the experience of encountering the space, as follows: “The moment you leave the elevators, arriving on the 32nd floor, you feel as if you were immersing yourself again in the city – at a different height and perspective, of course, but with your feet well planted in the streets of Chicago. It is precisely the layout of the city with its surprises that we strive to project within this space: we stroll through pieces of contemporary and oriental art, or archeology, surprised occasionally by strong colors or the unusual double heights of a skyscraper, guided by the tight rhythm of the walls, the light and the visual axes. In fact, our first instinct was to leave the corners free to maintain constant eye contact with the city. ”
The Foster + Epstein + JGMA design is based upon a sequence of memorable and distinctive spaces that create a gateway to Chicago with architecture that is open, transparent, inclusive, welcoming and functional, in turn resolving the sophisticated security, airport and airline requirements in a way that meets the needs of both employees and passengers. Three arches frame the landside of the building, merging into a grand single arch on the airside, thus dissolving the barrier between inside and out and allowing the spectacle of the airfield to be visible to all who pass through the gateway, and recapturing the romance associated with air travel.
The new Chicago Flagship celebrates the pure simplicity and enduring authenticity of McDonalds, welcoming both residents and visitors to a playful and informal gathering place in the heart of the city.
The site is a full city block, just steps off Michigan Avenue, occupied since 1983 by the iconic “Rock ‘n Roll” McDonalds that emphasized drive through services. The new design re-balances car-pedestrian traffic creating a city oasis where people can eat, drink and meet. Green space is expanded over 400%, producing a new park-like amenity for a dense area of the city.
A generous solar pergola visually unites the restaurant into a single volume. Beneath this “big roof”, indoor dining areas, contained in a pure glass box, are seamlessly connected to outdoor spaces. The new kitchen reuses the footprint and structure of the previous store and comprises a second concrete clad box.
The 900 North Michigan Shops in Chicago, IL has been an anchor of the Magnificent Mile since the building was completed in 1988, and the luxury mall recently underwent a renovation process to modernize both exterior and interior spaces. To complete the main entrance redesign on North Michigan Avenue, Ellison Bronze custom balanced doors provide the perfect complementary entrance to the central revolving doors.
SkB Architects is the collaborative design architect on the exterior of this significant new development, including the design of how the tower base meets the street, and the design of the tower’s three main entries. The design goal is to evolve the tower’s base to create an inviting and vibrant pedestrian experience, while honoring Willis Tower’s role as a unique Chicago and American icon: to create a sense of place, not just a place to work.
A luminous ceiling basks a sunroom in waves of light
Having grown tired of Chicago’s humid summers and cold winters limiting their use of an existing screened porch, the clients requested an enclosed sunroom, uplifting and full of light, to be enjoyed year round. The architect, Matt Flynn, wanted a fluid presence to soften the rectangular space. The result: a curvilinear, translucent, backlit, full-room suspended ceiling that bathes the sunroom in relaxing, diffuse light.
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