Carbon-Neutral Mixed-Use High-Rise Wins Chicago Design Competition

Assemble Chicago was selected as the winner of the City of Chicago’s C40 Reinventing Cities competition. Image credit: Aesthetica Studio

16 June 2021 | Chicago, United States

An affordable mixed-use carbon-neutral high-rise designed by The Community Builders and Studio Gang has been selected as the winner of the City of Chicago’s C40 Reinventing Cities competition.

Assemble Chicago will be sited at Van Buren Street and Plymouth Court in Chicago’s Loop. The 20-story building will connect to a revitalized Pritzker Park on State Street and overlook the Harold Washington Library Center, the main branch of the Chicago Public Library system.

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Assemble Chicago

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The building will feature a public multilevel ‘NeighborHub’ base which will host ecological, community development, and cultural programming for Chicago’s community-based nonprofits and a food hall to highlight minority-owned, local businesses. It will also provide space for a produce grocer and a medical clinic.

In the residential tower, 207 living spaces will provide moderate- and lower-income housing for workforce earning 30 to 80 percent of the Chicago area median income (AMI), equivalent a salary range of US$19,000 and US$73,000. The articulated brick façade provides fresh air and natural light in every unit and a modern interpretation of the Chicago bay window.

The C40 competition’s goal was to transform underutilized sites or buildings into sustainable and resilient sites, and act as a showcase for future zero-carbon urban developments. Assemble Chicago will target LEED Platinum with LEED Zero Energy and Zero Carbon.

For more on this story, go to Studio Gang.