Chicago, Illinois

An existing three-story 1920s mercantile building located in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood is extensively renovated into a house that incorporates dramatic new design gestures while maintaining a respect for the original building.

Design concept and solution:
The architects inserted an expansive window wall that extrudes upward and flows over the roof to create a highly transparent penthouse. The window wall provides a connection to a private yard, a valuable asset in such a dense urban setting. The existing eastern facade of the heavy, timber-framed, brick-clad building was unstable and had to be replaced, so the architects aimed to replicate the rhythm of the existing columns on that side, while also announcing a Modernist influence at the second level. Mirroring the triangular footprint of the building, a three-story, three-sided atrium is at the heart of the home, giving way to massive timber staircases surrounded by cedar and glass. The original beams and exposed brick juxtapose the modern Arclinea kitchen, echoing the same tension between old and new that’s created by the steel-and-glass window-wall addition.

Total construction cost:
$1.9 million

 

People

Architect
The Miller Hull Partnership
Columbia-Sixth Floor
Seattle, WA 98104
p) 206-682-6837
f) 206-682-5692

Dave Miller, FAIA, The Miller Hull Partnership

Architect of record
Studio Dwell Inc
Architects + Planners
Mark Peters, AIA
1732 West Hubbard Avenue, Suite 1B
Chicago, Illinois 60622
O. 312.666.4601
F. 312.6664602

Engineer:
Fisher & Partners Structural Engineers
1732 W Hubbard Street
Chicago Il 60622

General contractor:
Ranquist Development

Photographer:
Marty Peters

Renderer:
Miller Hull

CAD system, project management, or other software used:
AutoCad, Sketch-up

 

Products

Structural system:
Heavy Timber

Exterior cladding
Masonry:
Pre-existing brick walls

Wood:
Stained Western Red Cedar

Roofing
Built-up roofing:
Modified Bit

Windows
Aluminum:
Fleetwood

Glazing
Glass:
Fleetwood

Doors
Entrances:
Fleetwood Aluminum Store Front
Metal doors:
Industrial Metal Finish Doors

Hardware
Locksets:
Schlage

Hinges:
Schlage

Pulls:
Hafele

Security devices:
Honeywell

Cabinet hardware:
Hafele

Interior finishes
Cabinetwork and custom woodwork:
Arclinea Chicago

Paints and stains:
Benjamin Moore China White

Floor and wall tile:
Stone Source Tile (bath) Random Width White Oak (all other areas)

Lighting
Interior ambient lighting:
Lightolgy

Downlights:
Juno

Exterior:
Bega

Controls:
Lutron

Conveyance
Elevators/Escalators:
Mid American

Plumbing
Grohe
Hans-Grohe
Dornbracht