Project Details
2016 Residential Architect Design Awards
Affordable Housing: Award
On the former site of the Cabrini-Green public housing complex in Chicago, Landon Bone Baker Architects has designed a 21st-century answer to “towers in the park” for Holsten Real Estate Development Corp. Terrace 459 stands within the larger Parkside at Old Town development and houses residents of different income levels in a mix of public, affordable, and market-rate units. It has 106 units spread over a nine-story apartment building, seven attached townhouses, and a three-story building sited across a landscaped courtyard. “It wouldn’t strike me as affordable housing if I happened upon it,” juror Dan Maginn said. “It’s whimsical, yet serious, and well composed.”
A precast concrete floor and wall system helped keep costs down to $194 per square foot, and to ensure that the façades would not appear monolithic, the architects arranged panels in a lively checkered pattern. Market-rate and subsidized units share the same high-quality interior finishes, and residents can access social services inside the building.
