West Monroe St. & South Throop St., Chicago
Midrise, Lofts
Client: Thrush Development

The careful analysis of the existing site conditions, usage of existing structures and augmentation of Cityfostered planning initiatives, lead the Project Team to draft this proposal sympathetic to the context of the site.

Existing Conditions:
A single story commercial building on Madison Street in a commercial area, lacked the physical arrangement to accommodate larger retailers and provided minimal potential for significant parking in any adjacency. The structure was outmoded and lacked the scale and presence to lure a desired tenant.

Several large deep one- and two-story warehouse buildings occupied much of the site interior. These masonry buildings were inappropriate for rehabilitation due to a large amount of non-windowed, non-street fronted spaces. The usability of multi-floored industrial buildings became obsolete due to increased mechanization, the invention of electric lighting and the inefficiency of multi-floored manufacturing.

One well maintained mill building at the west edge of the site was attractive as a candidate for loft conversion with its Chicago common brick and heavy timber construction. The building lacked adequate frontage to create units with much amenity, however, it was retained for conversion to residential lofts because of its desirable loft aesthetics.

One larger building to the east, while having limited historical significance, provided a needed connection with the communityÕs past and was retained. The smaller, heavily designed structure on the east block was targeted for an addition. Masonry and heavy timber mill buildings converted to lofts have attracted residents to the community.

Streetscape and Green Spaces:
The primary shopping streets intentionally provided curb-to tobuilding paving to encourage active pedestrian usage while maintaining commercial tenant visibility necessary to draw the interest of sizable retail tenants.

Green relief and shading are provided by canopy street trees. Secondary streets fronted by town homes were restored with parkways. Definition of the town home private yards, public streets, and walks are delineated through the use of ornamental iron fences. The maximum number of dwelling units were oriented toward public streets and the landscape courtyards to promote safety.

Each block contains a sizable interior green space. The west block provides a 20,700 square foot Japanese garden, complete with koi pond. The easterly block provides a green buffer between the rear of the streetfronting town homes and the larger six story building.

Automobiles carefully accommodated:
The necessity to enclose parking for all building types was realized by combining parking uses into garages creating the open spaces needed to make a quality urban environment. Parking access for each was carefully located to minimize the impact of the multiple users' different needs. Residential users' needs for parking in proximity to users, especially in context of the harsh Chicago winters lead to the proposal of the pedestrian bridge between buildings 1 and 2. Commercial users' needs for clear usability and close adjacency were accommodated. Town homes contain two vehicles with one each unit, a feature necessary for units at this price point.

Architecture with a clear sense of location, place, building practice:
The block-long Madison Street elevation used masonry materials sympathetic to the massing and material uses of the surrounding 19th century mill buildings, the building is broken down in scale through the use of different balcony railing enclosures and brick color. Lower building types were located to the east of the site to create view corridors toward the Chicago skyline and to the south toward Skinner Park. The understanding of archaic construction techniques, coupled with a careful evaluation of the potential to reuse structures, allowed for the careful alteration of familiar buildings which help maintain the areas unique sense of place.

The patchwork of existing mill buildings, commercial food distribution and night clubs created a twenty four hour urban atmosphere with the authenticity city dwellers find attractive. The insertion of new buildings and new uses, carefully studied in terms of the needs of each user allowed the team to weave the project into a dynamic patchwork of food distributors, night clubs and loft dwellers by carefully juggling these concerns.