DOMAIN
LOCATION
Chicago, Illinois
CLIENT
Centrum Properties
ORIGINAL ARCHITECT
Schmidt Gardner
ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION DATE
1917
STATISTICS
292 Units
12 Stories
1,395 Parking Spaces
1,140,000 GSF
The renovation of this historic former warehouse complex for the Montgomery Wards and Company fulfills a multi-use program, combining a telecom server facility with residential loft-style units, retail spaces, parking, and a riverwalk and marina at the Chicago River. Special features include a 5-story, 16,000-square-foot interior landscaped courtyard carved from the vast interior of the structure, and a roof top running track at the 12th level. The industrial elegance of the original façade is preserved by the use of historic-reproduction windows and stepped-back terraces at a two-story addition to the 9-story structure. The façade at street level is recessed behind round columns in deference to the original railway docks. The curvilinear nature of the residential corridors contrasts the rigid structural grid, visually foreshortening the long halls. A consistent pattern language of design elements at the different lobbies on each floor provides visual landmarks, and counterbalances the rectilinear building envelope.
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