LINCOLN LOFTS

Situated across the street from a Trader Joe's grocery store on Lincoln Avenue in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, this project stands on the site of a former auto repair shop. Working closely with neighborhood groups and the local alderman, we were actively involved in obtaining the necessary re-zoning of the site to construct the project as designed. Thirteen condominium units ranging in size from two to four bedrooms occupy the second and third floors, while the ground floor contains 27 parking spaces, two commercial spaces facing Lincoln Avenue, and resident lobbies off Wolcott.

Taking advantage of the unique triangular site, the building concept expresses two different facades relating to the commercial and retail activity along Lincoln Avenue (fast) in contrast to the more residential nature of Wolcott Avenue (slow). The strong street visibility along Lincoln Avenue for the ground-floor retail space was the starting point for developing a continuous band of glass with little interruption from other programs. An exterior courtyard provided the opportunity for the 2nd-level residences to share a large common space for socializing and additionally acts as an acoustic buffer.

The residences and parking are accessed from the quieter Wolcott Street side. The facade is more formally and sculpturally articulated through the bending of walls at the entries and fully inset balconies with metal frames, in response to the scale of the residential neighborhood.