North Damen Chicago

Delordinaire was asked to design a polyvalent building with com-mercial area on the ground and second floors and offices on the third floor. The concept of a « traversable building » was developed, flooded with natural light and creating a dialogue between interior and exterior. The front and rear facades are transparent, fully glazed surfaces and center of the building is pierced by a three-storey light well. This « hollowing-out » of the architecture allows natural light to penetrate the heart of the building and visually connects the occu-pants with the outside.

In order to mitigate the direct sunlight and views from the street level to the second and third floors, the architects designed a cus- tom-made anodized aluminum rain screen. They function like veil, crea-ting more intimate spaces on the upper floors and accentuating the windows at street level.

The building materials are, by design, as simple as possible: concrete blocks, prestressed concrete slabs, structural steel, etc. Delordinaire did not conceal them as is most buildings, on the contrary, they wi-shed to leave them apparent. « We decided to leave these ordinary construction materials visible. The use of banal components as a fini- shed aesthetic ultimately puts the emphasis on the interior volumes and play of natural light. The attention to detail and composition is no less important than a construction with more noble materials, and the result is a refined, high-end construction. » Explains Adrian Hun-falvay, founding Partner.

Frameless windows are integrated into each of the facades to empha-size the openness of the architecture. Acoustic concrete blocks are used for the interior walls and the ducts were into the pre-stressed concrete slabs fully integrated ducts were left as the raw finish for the ceilings.

The architecture for 1704 North Damen is pared down to the essen-tial, a somewhat «neo-brutalist » posture, creating a building with exceptional spatial qualities and a distinctive design for the city of Chicago.