Citation: Intergenerational Learning Center, Office dA
Wednesday, January 12 2005
Published on AllBusiness.com
Program: A city-funded complex including a senior center with dining hall, library, and multipurpose and fitness facilities; a Head Start after-school program; parking; and 10 to 20 rental units for residents who have custody of their grandchildren. The units can be subdivided so that elderly occupants may remain once their grown grandchildren have moved out.
Site: A vacant plot at the intersections of 104th Street and Michigan Avenue in a redeveloping, primarily residential neighborhood of South Chicago.
Solution: By using the mutually supportive relationship between two generations of an existing community as its primary resource, this competition-winning scheme achieves maximum impact within tight budgetary, zoning, and code restrictions. The Head Start facility and senior center, which are open to the neighborhood at large as well as to residents of the complex, take the form of two intertwining spiral ramps that afford accessibility and create visual and spatial overlaps between the programs. Housing is oriented along the north-south axis that guides other neighborhood dwellings. The residential units are formally varied to avoid institutional homogeneity; they are interspersed with private gardens and semipublic walkways and plazas to reinforce the north-south grain and foster community interaction.
Jury Comments: "It's the 'usual suspects' program in terms of dealing with the elderly," stated Maxine Griffith, "but [in addition, it's] barrier free and flexible, with a lot of tolerance for error in terms of both the children and elderly people who have to [navigate the same] environment." The project also addressed urban issues, said Griffith: "If you go to a Midwest city, this is density. [An urban environment is] not necessarily 20-story buildings." Added Maurice Cox, "Low-density housing that fills up the block like a mat is urban. [Plus, you have] the porosity of paths moving through it, porches, and animated street life."
client: City of Chicago
architect: Office dA, Boston?Mónica Ponce de León, Nader Tehrani (principals-in-charge); Julian Palacio, Michael Tunkey (project coordinators); Scott Ewart, Katja Gischas, Cynthia Gunadi, William O'Brien, Sean Baccei, Tali Bucher, Lisa Huang, Krists Karlins, Miks Karlins, Kazuyo Oda, Penn Ruderman (project team)
structural engineer: Matthew Johnson
consultants: Craig Schwitter (sustainability); John Tileman and Eamon Ryan (cost); Hal Cutler (codes)
area: 26,000 square feet
cost: $9 million
Site: A vacant plot at the intersections of 104th Street and Michigan Avenue in a redeveloping, primarily residential neighborhood of South Chicago.
Solution: By using the mutually supportive relationship between two generations of an existing community as its primary resource, this competition-winning scheme achieves maximum impact within tight budgetary, zoning, and code restrictions. The Head Start facility and senior center, which are open to the neighborhood at large as well as to residents of the complex, take the form of two intertwining spiral ramps that afford accessibility and create visual and spatial overlaps between the programs. Housing is oriented along the north-south axis that guides other neighborhood dwellings. The residential units are formally varied to avoid institutional homogeneity; they are interspersed with private gardens and semipublic walkways and plazas to reinforce the north-south grain and foster community interaction.
Jury Comments: "It's the 'usual suspects' program in terms of dealing with the elderly," stated Maxine Griffith, "but [in addition, it's] barrier free and flexible, with a lot of tolerance for error in terms of both the children and elderly people who have to [navigate the same] environment." The project also addressed urban issues, said Griffith: "If you go to a Midwest city, this is density. [An urban environment is] not necessarily 20-story buildings." Added Maurice Cox, "Low-density housing that fills up the block like a mat is urban. [Plus, you have] the porosity of paths moving through it, porches, and animated street life."
client: City of Chicago
architect: Office dA, Boston?Mónica Ponce de León, Nader Tehrani (principals-in-charge); Julian Palacio, Michael Tunkey (project coordinators); Scott Ewart, Katja Gischas, Cynthia Gunadi, William O'Brien, Sean Baccei, Tali Bucher, Lisa Huang, Krists Karlins, Miks Karlins, Kazuyo Oda, Penn Ruderman (project team)
structural engineer: Matthew Johnson
consultants: Craig Schwitter (sustainability); John Tileman and Eamon Ryan (cost); Hal Cutler (codes)
area: 26,000 square feet
cost: $9 million
