Erie on the Park
Chicago
Lucien Lagrange Architects

High-rise defined by its steel bracing

© Nathan Kirkman

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Erie on the Park sits on a 10,000-square-foot land parcel shaped like a parallelogram. At 24 stories, containing 125 housing units, the high-rise symbolizes Chicago’s rapidly transforming River North neighborhood. It also reflects an increasingly common trend in cities where astronomical land prices and a lack of available sites are forcing multi-family developers to build skyward.

The tower’s three-story base incorporates cast-in-place concrete shear walls that enclose a landscaped plaza. To accommodate a lobby with high ceilings and a parking deck in this base, the first residential units begin 60 feet above grade. In the tower, the structural system consists of closely spaced steel joists and three-story mega-braces. A series of irregular setbacks culminates in a 2,500-square-foot penthouse with a wraparound terrace that provides excellent views of Lake Michigan and downtown Chicago.

Along the building’s north-south axis, the architect moved the structural mega-braces from the interior of the floors to the exterior. Although this move was necessary to relieve torsion stresses, it presented the opportunity to make an architectural statement. The bracing, telegraphed onto the enclosure using exposed steel, emphasizes the tower’s individuality within its urban context. It also allows people to perceive the structure’s strength and visually trace loads to the ground.

Moving the mega-braces to the exterior of the shaft provided other design benefits. It creates large, clear span from the core to the exterior walls that provide for column-free, open floor plans. This in turn allowed the architect to design 24 different unit plans, some duplexes and some with expansive terraces. The steel framing also allowed for faster construction time, lower project costs, and more energy efficient ventilation systems.

Formal name of Project:
Erie on the Park

Location:
Chicago

Gross square footage:
290,750 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$27 Million

Owner:
Smithfield Properties, LLC

Architect:
Lucien Lagrange Architects
605 North Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
312-751-7400 (tel.)
312-751-7460 (fax)
www.llarch.com