Chicago

Site Size: 6,922 square feet

Project Size: 5,900 square feet

Program:
The clients wanted a house with an abundance of natural light, a direct connection to the outdoors, and privacy from the neighboring houses and elementary school.

Location:
Set on the last lot on a block of repetitive single-family homes to the north, the house is separated from a nearby elementary school to the south by a large parking lot and playground.

Solution:
The three-story house, clad in wood and glass on the ground floor and copper and glass above, is separated from its neighbors by a freestanding, board-formed concrete wall, that rises just above eye level for privacy. People enter from the east into a wood-lined first floor that has dining and living spaces, floor-to-ceiling glazing, and large sliding glass doors opening out to a patio to the west.

Upstairs, the more opaque and insular cooper volume contains two floors of bedrooms and deeply recessed glazed balconies with distant views of the Chicago skyline. A rooftop vegetable garden off the second floor overlooks a narrow garden running along the southern perimeter of the house.

Construction methods:
The steel-frame structure is supplemented by glue-laminated wood beam infills. The natural materials on the exterior of the ground level will weather over time: the board-formed concrete walls will spall with age, and the wood siding, initially oiled, will gray. The stone floor, extending from the interior out to the west garden, absorbs the stains of fallen tree leaves. A black-steel and walnut stair leads to the more insulated upper floors, where simple white plaster walls are accented with custom millwork.

Architect:
Wheeler Kearns Architects
343 South Dearborn, Suite 200
Chicago, IL 60604
312 939 7787(p) 312 939 5108(f)
www.wkarch.com

People

Architect:
Wheeler Kearns Architects 343 South Dearborn, Suite 200
Chicago, IL 60604
312 939 7787(p) 312 939 5108(f)
www.wkarch.com

Personnel in architect's firm who should receive special credit:
Jon Heinert, AIA (registered architect)

Interior designer:
Wheeler Kearns Architects,
Sharlene Young, AIA

Structural Engineering:
Enspect Engineering, Jim Kirk, P.E, S.E.

Consultant(s):
Landscape:
Mckay Landscape Architects, Mimi Mckay ASLA

Building Automation:
Premiere Systems

General contractor:
Norcon, Inc.

Photographer(s):
Steve Hall, Hedrich Blessing

  

Products

Structural system
Structural steel frame with glue-laminated wood beam infill.

Manufacturer of any structural components unique to this project:
Glue-laminated wood beams:
Western Archrib

Exterior cladding
Copper Panels:
Tuschall Engineering

Composite Core Rainscreen System:
Doralco Metal Solutions

Air barrier, vapor permeable:
Air-Shield LMP, W.R. Meadows

Board formed concrete:
Elliot Construction

Roofing
Membrane Roof:
Sarnafil

Green Roof:
Green Roof Solutions

Windows and Curtainwall
Aluminum windows, thermally broken:
Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope

Glazing
Insulated Glazing Units, laminated and low-E coated:
Cardinal

Skylights:
Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope

Doors
Aluminum swing doors, thermally broken:
Fleetwood Windows & Doors

Aluminum sliding doors, thermally broken:
Fleetwood Windows & Doors

Hardware
Locksets:
Baldwin

Closers:
Rixson

Offset Pivot Sets:
Accurate Lock and Hardware

Interior finishes
Acoustical ceilings:
Clipso

Custom cabinetry and acoustical wood ceiling:
United Woodworking

Paints and stains:
Benjamin Moore

Solid surfacing:
Dupont

Floor and wall tile:
Stone slab pavers, interior and exterior:
Devonian Stone

Furnishings
Sofa:
B&B Italia

Chairs:
Knoll

Tables:
Poliform

Rug:
Tufenkian

Upholstery:
Knoll

Lighting
Downlights:
USAI

Exterior:
Teka

Dimming System or other lighting controls:
Lutron

Plumbing
Dornbracht
Duravit

Energy
Energy management or building automation system:
Savant