C40 Reinventing Cities
City of Chicago - Downtown Loop Site
Assemble Chicago unites an aspirational program of workforce apartments and community- collaborative spaces with innovative, yet pragmatic building technologies to bring much-needed resiliency and equity to post-COVID Downtown Chicago. The inspiring carbon-neutral building leverages systems and partnerships to reduce our reliance on carbon, promote urban gardening and biodiversity, and minimize waste, providing a new model for sustainable development for Chicago and the world. 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.
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.
© Formidable Entities and The Community Builders/Studio Gang with footage from Spirit of Space and renderings by Aesthetica Studio
