APIARY CONDOMINIUMS

This four-unit mixed-use condominium building was developed, designed, built, and marketed by Michael Wilkinson (with WBA/WBC). Located on a prime commercial strip in Chicago’s Roscoe Village neighborhood, the building blends seamlessly with the scale of the existing two and three story structures, but assumes a modern approach in both design and material composition through the use of large expanses of glass and an innovative exterior rainscreen facade system.

The units feature polished concrete floors and precast concrete ceilings that create a loft-like experience while warm wood and lacquered cabinets add refinement to the third floor penthouse unit. A courtyard cut into the center of the donut-shaped building provides light to interior bedrooms, exterior space for the second floor front unit, and natural light to the ground floor retail space.

The 5,000 square-foot roof was highly programmed with a dining area, space for raised vegetable beds and plantings, and an extensive green roof which provides stormwater detention that reduces stress on an overburdened city sewer system. It also creates a natural habitat for birds and bees, which influenced the project name: The Apiary Condominiums. Other sustainable features of the building include solar water panels that provide domestic hot water and hydronic heating for all residential units, passive solar heating with solar mass through concrete floors, and improved building envelope with insulation levels beyond those required by code.