A Variation on the Rowhouse: Chicago Infill House

CHICAGO INFILL HOUSE A Variation on the Rowhouse Chicago, Illinois Design for Integration The recently completed urban Infill House is integrated into a long, narrow site in the rowhouse-like building fabric of its Lincoln Park neighborhood. This area originally grew in the years following the 1871 Chicago Fire in response to its proximity to good public transportation and greenspaces. In recent years, the pattern of residential development has deviated from this historic precedent to include acontextual, larger volumed, more autonomous housing projects. The clients, a young couple with a growing family, sought to respect the street façade and building scale of the original neighborhood while optimizing the site for light, views, and natural ventilation and providing commodious spaces for family life and social gatherings. Given the proximity of the neighboring houses, a primary design objective was to create connections to the street and rear yard while respecting the scale of the overall street façade. A large, three-sided glass bay window floats between two brick walls fenestrated to admit light and views into the deep rowhouse form. Rather than the typically formal, opaque and ornamented buildings of previous generations, the new façade was seen as something analogous to a proscenium – opening the interior to dramatic vistas of the neighborhood, with its constant flow of pedestrians and vehicles, then closing for privacy and filtered light afterhours. Design for Resources The house was designed for a 100-year lifespan and materials were selected for their durability and limited maintenance. The simple, efficient building structure is comprised of two highly insulated brick-clad masonry bearing walls that run the length of the site. The structure was designed for maximum efficiency and to minimize the number of components needed during construction. The two walls support a composite floor system of engineered wood joists augmented with intermittent steel beams, allowing the floor structure to span the width of the house. The floor plan is extremely efficient, with the central stair and corridor designed to bring in light and to minimize unnecessary floor area. The enfilade arrangement of space creates the perception of larger rooms, as they benefit from borrowed space and light from the corridor. Interior finishes throughout the house were selected to emphasize this feeling of light and airiness, and to provide long-term durability for the clients’ growing family. Design for Wellness: Inside/Outside To maximize openness and the movement of daylight and air within the challenging rowhouse typology, the house’s interior spaces are arranged enfilade and flanked by a perforated, stainless-steel stairway and large north facing window that connects all four levels, admitting daylight and air to the center of the plan. This brings natural light and ventilation through the main floor of the house and its living room, dining room, family area, and support spaces, to the two bedrooms on the second floor, and to the third bedroom and office space on the third floor. The lower-level living areas are daylit through a light well and garden space. Reflections from the interior glass partition walls, black interior wood paneling, and stair rails subtly amplify the feeling of spaciousness of the longitudinal plan. To expand the use of the site for social space, gardens and terraces were integrated throughout the house. On the street side, the lower-level living space looks out to a lush vertical garden wall connected upward to views of activity along the sidewalk. As you move inward toward the alley at the back of the house, the main level family living areas open onto an exterior courtyard connected to a garage and rooftop terrace. At the third level, the interior expands out to an elevated private garden terrace overlooking the courtyard below. At the rooftop, the main stair terminates into a more informal vegetable garden.