We are thrilled to share our design with The Community Builders for the c40 Cities Chicago Loop Competition. Assemble Chicago is a carbon-neutral, 20-story mixed use building with 207 apartments for our downtown workforce earning as little as minimum wage as well as community-collaborative spaces and a revitalized Pritzker Park.
Leveraging innovative building technologies and community partnerships, the building design works to reduce our reliance on carbon, promote urban gardening and biodiversity, and minimize waste, providing a new model for resilient and equitable development for post-COVID Downtown Chicago.
The building is grounded by The NeighborHub, a highly public multilevel base that hosts ecological, community development, and cultural programming for Chicago’s residents, neighborhood groups, and local businesses. Weaving seamlessly together with a reinvigorated Pritzker Park, the NeighborHub transforms its site into a vibrant indoor-outdoor civic hub for all Chicagoans. Rising above this base is a mixed-income residential community that provides efficient and healthy living spaces for the Loop’s moderate- and lower-income workforce. Each apartment features a contemporary version of Chicago’s classic bay window that draws in ample natural daylight and fresh air. Stacked over the height of the tower, the bays create a rhythmic, vertically articulated façade that resonates with the architectural character of the Loop’s historic buildings while introducing contemporary materials and technologies that dramatically increase the building’s environmental performance.
More information on the competition and all the finalist submissions available here.
Team: The Community Builders/Studio Gang with DesignBridge, JAQ, dbHMS, Thornton Tomasetti, Engage Civil, Site Design Group, Applied Ecological Services and Center for Neighborhood Technology, Rush University College of Nursing, and Calibrate Coaching.