Urban Mixed-Use.

Something the port city had never seen.

A mixed-use development in a port city, with a brief that had a lot on the table: a creative plaza, pool and streetscape, something the city had never seen before, creative without being expensive, and unique enough to sit in a hip Chicago neighborhood. The concept turns on two courtyards: a private pool courtyard with its steps, pool shelf, TV lounge, outdoor games, loungers and cabanas, and a public retail courtyard off the walk in from the street, with an open space, a sculpture and a shade structure, plus a brief for one thing in it that people would photograph. The client’s own measure of success was that it <em>knocks rents out of the park</em>, and you don’t get there by looking like the block next door.