📍 The Porter | Oak Park, Illinois | 2024
🏙️ A contextual urban residence that blends historic character with contemporary living in the heart of downtown Oak Park.
Located among Oak Park’s architecturally significant streetscapes, The Porter is a 158-unit residential community that draws from its historic neighbors through rich brick and stone detailing, scaled massing, and rhythmic bays. Residences surround a lush third-level courtyard overlooking Mills Park, while street-level maisonettes, expansive glazing, and a corner coffee shop activate South Marion and Pleasant Streets. Thoughtfully designed homes, integrated parking, and work-from-home spaces position the building as a modern yet contextually grounded addition to this walkable suburb.
#theporter #oakparkliving #contextualarchitecture #urbaninfill #historicinspiration
📷: @rossfloyd
📍 Republic Windows and Doors | Chicago | 2008
🏭 A luminous industrial workplace that elevates the modern factory.
Located on Goose Island, the Republic Windows and Doors facility reimagines manufacturing architecture as an open, civic-minded environment. A dramatic glass curtain wall forms a three-story atrium lobby for employee gatherings and visitors, while the production floor, offices, and support spaces are organized around daylight and clear circulation.
The building embraces its purpose — a window manufacturer housed within a building defined by transparency — framing expansive views of the Chicago skyline and expressing efficiency through structure and plan. Steel detailing, an exposed stair, and methodical floor organization reinforce the clarity of an industrial process made visible.
🏆 Good Design is Good Business Award – Architectural Record & Business Week
🏆 AIA Chicago Distinguished Building Award
🏆 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Architectural Excellence in Community Design
#republicwindowsanddoors #gooseisland #industrialarchitecture #chicagoarchitecture #glasscurtainwall
📷: Greg Murphey
📍 Mohawk Street Residence | Chicago | 2008
🏡 A refined urban home rooted in Chicago’s masonry tradition.
Clad in brown brick and detailed to align with neighboring historic residences, Mohawk Street Residence balances classic proportions with contemporary living. Architecture and landscape are closely integrated, creating a sequence of interior and exterior rooms, enhanced by courtyards, terraces, and green roofs.
Inside, light-filled spaces are scaled around the client’s art collection, offering both formal elegance and flexibility for everyday living and entertaining.
#MohawkStreetResidence #ChicagoArchitecture #UrbanResidential #MasonryDesign
Landscape Architecture: @hoerrschaudt
📷: 1-2 @vaninwegen_digital_arts ; 3-5 @hoerrschaudt ; 6-9 Michelle Litvin
📍 The Parker Fulton Market | Chicago | 2016
🏙️ The first luxury apartment tower in the evolving Fulton Market District, blending contemporary form with industrial character.
Rising 29 stories, The Parker pairs a curved glass façade with details inspired by the area’s former meatpacking heritage. Tightly sited between the Chicago Transit Authority elevated tracks and neighboring buildings, the project delivers 227 residences, retail, and parking without relying on a conventional base-and-tower approach. A setback podium creates a landscaped pedestrian edge along retail, while the lobby is discreetly tucked along Couch Place to prioritize an active streetscape.
Oriented on an east–west axis, the tower captures sweeping views of Lake Michigan and the downtown skyline. Patterned glass spandrels, balcony railings, and perforated metal panels reinforce the building’s geometry and nod to Fulton Market’s industrial roots. With a high-performance envelope, green roof elements, and transit-oriented siting, The Parker is LEED Silver certified.
#TheParkerFultonMarket #FultonMarket #ChicagoArchitecture #ResidentialTower #UrbanLiving
📷:1 @nickfochtman ; 2-10 @daveburk
📍 Kohl Children’s Museum | Glenview | 2005
🎨 A playful, sustainable environment designed around learning through movement and discovery.
Opened in 2005, the new home of the Kohl Children’s Museum translates its founding mission of “active play learning” into architecture. An outdoor Habitat Park leads visitors inside to child-scaled exhibits organized along an interior “street,” while a dramatic structural courtyard links two wings around a south-facing outdoor space. The result is a sequence of engaging, intuitive experiences that encourage curiosity and exploration.
An economical light-steel structure enclosed by stucco walls and a galvanized steel roof supports the museum’s bold, folded roof forms. With 217 solar panels, the building achieved LEED Silver certification—the first new children’s museum in the country to do so. Developed through an intensely collaborative process with staff and trustees, the museum has become a national model for integrating play, safety, and sustainability for children ages birth to eight.
🏆 Awards
• 2007 ASHRAE Excellence in Engineering Award
• Midwest Construction Best of 2006 – Cultural/Performing Arts Award of Merit & Sustainable Project of the Year
• 2006 Commercial Real Estate Award – Special Achievement of the Year
#KohlChildrensMuseum #MuseumArchitecture #PlayBasedLearning #SustainableDesign #LEEDSilver
📷: 1, 4-6 @balloggphoto ; Hedrich Blessing
📍 St. Joseph Island Residence | St. Joseph Island | 2021
🌲 A lightly grounded retreat that recedes into forest and shoreline.
Set on seven acres of virgin woodland along Lake Huron, this retreat by Booth Hansen is conceived as a series of cabins that tread gently on the land. Three black, zinc-clad volumes sit parallel to the water, following natural contours and minimizing visual impact when viewed from the lake.
Raised pier foundations preserve topography and drainage, while passive strategies—aligned operable windows for cross-ventilation, stack effect skylighting, high-performance insulation, radiant floors, and lake-based geothermal—ensure year-round comfort with low environmental impact. Glass bridge connectors link a central living cabin to sleeping cabins, opening interiors to the forest and water beyond.
Inside, an earthy palette—jade cabinetry, warm wood floors, and natural textures—brings the surrounding landscape indoors. Deeper in the woods, a detached garage reveals a light-filled dance studio nestled among the treetops.
🏆 2022 Metal Architecture Design Awards – Natural Metals Category
#StJosephIslandResidence #LakeHuronLiving #CabinArchitecture #SustainableDesign #ZincArchitecture
📷: @maximebrouillet
📍 61 Banks Street | Chicago | 2019
🌊 A contemporary Gold Coast residence that pairs enduring stone architecture with modern living.
Located along Lake Shore Drive, 61 Banks Street draws from the neighborhood’s tradition of stone residential buildings while introducing steel-and-glass bays that frame expansive views of Lake Michigan.
These projecting bays house primary living spaces, expressing modern life within a historic context.
The building includes 61 rental units, street-level townhomes, shared amenities, and a planted roof deck overlooking the lake.
🏆 2019 Excellence in Masonry Award – Best of Stone
#61BanksStreet #GoldCoastChicago #LakefrontLiving #ChicagoArchitecture #StoneAndGlass
📷: 1-4 @hallmerrickphoto , 5-9 @wrsphoto
📍 Ganz Hall | Chicago | 2004
🎼 A meticulous restoration that revives the artistry and innovation of Louis Sullivan within one of Chicago’s most significant historic interiors.
Located inside the Auditorium Building on Roosevelt University’s campus, Ganz Hall was originally designed in 1890 as an intimate 4,000-square-foot recital space. Once rich with ornate plasterwork, carved wood detailing, stained glass, and cast-iron electric chandeliers, the hall had suffered decades of deterioration.
Drawing exclusively from archival photographs, Booth Hansen undertook a rigorous restoration, including the exacting reproduction of Sullivan’s original “electroliers.” Each six-foot-tall, 450-pound chandelier was meticulously recreated, gilded, and hand-painted to match the historic designs—returning both light and architectural clarity to the space.
Today, Ganz Hall once again reflects Sullivan’s vision: a richly detailed, acoustically refined interior that honors craftsmanship, history, and the enduring power of preservation.
🏆 Awards
• 2005 AIA Chicago Divine Detail Award
• 2005 AIA Chicago Interior Architecture Citation of Merit
• 2003 Chicago Landmark Award for Preservation Excellence
#GanzHall #LouisSullivan #ChicagoArchitecture #HistoricPreservation #auditoriumbuilding
📍 New Buffalo Residence | New Buffalo | 2015
🌊 A multi-generational lakeside retreat designed to frame nature, light, and family life along the edge of Lake Michigan.
Set between dense woodland and a dramatic bluff descending to the sandy shore, New Buffalo Residence is a low-maintenance, energy-efficient vacation home conceived to bring multiple generations together. The design prioritizes expansive views of the lake and forest while creating a seamless relationship between indoors and out.
The approach and architecture are organized along a central entry axis, where a lush courtyard welcomes visitors and glimpses of water draw them through a porch connector toward the lake. Four white-shingled, cedar-clad cabins—two on each side of the axis—echo Midwestern vernacular forms with peaked gables, while flat, zinc-clad connector spaces provide moments of separation and transition.
Each cabin serves a distinct role—storage, guest, gathering, and master suite—balancing the grand scale of the vaulted living space with the intimacy of porches and family rooms. Large windows, sliding glass doors, and dramatic skylights flood the interiors with natural light and fresh lake air, allowing the house to breathe with its surroundings. Durable, restrained materials evoke the beach landscape while ensuring longevity and ease of upkeep.
#NewBuffaloResidence #LakeMichiganLiving #LakesideArchitecture #VacationHome #MidwesternVernacular
📷: @hallmerrickphoto
📍 Hayden West Loop | Chicago, Illinois | 2019
🏙️ A boutique condominium building that pairs West Loop’s industrial heritage with the comfort and privacy of single-family living.
Developed by Sulo Development, Hayden West Loop is a nine-story, 28-unit residence designed for those who want to embrace the neighborhood’s energy without sacrificing a sense of home. Its exterior reinterprets the area’s historic industrial character with a modern sensibility—elevating familiar materials such as brick, metal, stone, and glass through refined detailing and craftsmanship.
Inside, generous ceiling heights, finely tailored finishes, and amenities like a heated garage, lounge, and party room contribute to the project’s “elegant loft” identity. Three-bedroom and four-bedroom duplex units offer open, flexible layouts connected to expansive landscaped terraces and distinctive three-season rooms that extend living outdoors.
Large, gridded windows frame views of the neighborhood and downtown skyline, while semi-private elevators opening directly into each residence reinforce the experience of single-family living within an urban, boutique setting.
#haydenwestloop #westloopchicago #boutiqueliving #elegantloft #chicagoarchitecture
Cabinetry: Bentwood of Chicago
Interior Designer: Jill Hart of Brass Tacks Studio
📷 : Exteriors - @emilia_czader ; Interiors - @wrsphoto
📍 Circuit Court of Cook County | Chicago, Illinois | 2005
⚖️ A transformed warehouse becomes a calm, dignified environment for delivering justice and supporting survivors of domestic violence.
Once a deteriorating industrial building, the Circuit Court of Cook County was reimagined into a state-of-the-art courthouse centered on safety, clarity, and dignity. To better orient the facility toward the city and enhance public access, the former rear façade was reinvented as the new front, anchored by a soaring entrance lobby. A terra-cotta and aluminum rainscreen system—hung from vertical trusses—creates a bright, welcoming atrium that celebrates openness and daylight.
Inside, circulation is carefully planned to separate disputing parties, reducing intimidation and supporting a secure, trauma-informed experience. The program includes dedicated childcare areas for infants through older children, offering essential resources for families navigating the court system.
Recognized for both design excellence and efficiency, the LEED Silver renovation was completed under budget and honored by the AIA Academy of Architecture for Justice, the Chicago Building Congress, and multiple industry awards. The result is a resilient civic building that brings transparency, safety, and humanity to the justice process.
#cookcountycircuitcourt #justicearchitecture #adaptivereuse #leedsilver #courthousedesign
📷: @balloggphoto
📍 Snake River Ranch | Valentine, Nebraska | 2024
🌾 A contemporary “village” of warm, timber-lined volumes shaped by sweeping prairie views and sheltering trees.
Set within a landscape of expansive horizons and mature woodland, Snake River Ranch is conceived as a cluster of interconnected forms that frame the site’s natural beauty. Each volume is carefully oriented to capture panoramic vistas while creating a sense of intimacy and refuge within the open Nebraska terrain.
A high-performance envelope—featuring continuous insulation and a Douglas Fir interior assembly—minimizes heat loss during harsh winter months and brings a natural warmth to the interiors. Throughout the home, motorized and screened windows enable passive environmental control, creating a chimney effect for thermal venting and inviting cross-breezes during the temperate summer season.
Together, these strategies craft a residence rooted in place: resilient, responsive, and deeply connected to the rhythms of the prairie landscape.
#snakeriverranch #nebraskaarchitecture #passivedesign #highperformancehomes #timberinteriors
📷: @tylergaeth1
