Lincoln Park, a north-side Chicago neighborhood, is known for its nightlife, vintage shops, Lake Michigan beaches and proximity to downtown. Young professionals and students populate the condominium and apartment units and there is a growing demand for housing that reflects their style.
Completed in September 2006, the mixed-use building at 1750 N. Clybourn meets that demand. The 4-story building features commercial establishments on the ground floor and seven condominium units on the remaining floors. In an area of Chicago that can be described as a concrete and brick jungle, metal panels spanning the length of 1750 N. Clybourn differentiate it from its neighbors.
CHOOSING METAL
The 21,000-square-foot (1951-m2) building began as a desire to redefine a residential and commercial mixed-use building and blur the lines between public and private spaces. “We designed the whole building as one composition so you would not be able to tell where the commercial started and stopped and where the residential part started and stopped,” says Mark R. Peters, founder and principal of Studio Dwell Architects, Chicago. “We wanted the condominium users to feel like they were buying into a bigger project as a whole and have the commercial make a bigger impact on the street. It was all formed as one unified object.”
Credit: Marty Peters
Because the building is built to the property lines on an urban lot, Peters knew other buildings eventually would abut both sides of the new structure. Therefore, he concentrated his design efforts on the front by specifying horizontally installed gray metal with warm cedar vertical accents. Peters specified the sides and rear of the building be constructed of stained concrete block, which matches the metal on the front.
“We tried to keep the materials simple,” Peters explains. “We used metal as a main material and cedar as an accent material to point to particular places. We were trying to do something different on this street where everything is a red brick or a block. We’re definitely the first ones to have cedar and I think the first ones to use metal in such a large amount on this street.”
Cedar is a soft wood and one of the few woods that can be applied as an exterior application. It handles the temperature fluctuations Chicago experiences and requires little maintenance; it needs to be resealed only about every seven years.
Peters also introduced glass to the design equation. “The plans were for a symmetrical building, so we tried to break it up a little bit,” he recalls. “On the south side, the balconies are solid wrapped in metal and on the other side it has a hint of frosted glass, so it varies a little bit from side to side.”
INSTALLATION
Because of the building’s height, Peters was looking for metal panels that could span up to 40 feet (12 m) to minimize the scale. “We were looking for something that had a seamless look as opposed to making [the building] feel like it’s all little pieces,” Peters says.
One of the biggest challenges about installing long panels was maneuvering them around the tight, busy Chicago street. “When we installed such a long piece, we had to make sure there were enough people keeping it steady,” Peters explains. “Otherwise you just had two guys on each end, which would make the panels twist and create a bend within them.”
Oil canning also was a concern with such long panels, according to Eric Kraus, project manager with Chicago-based Ranquist Development, the metal installer on the project. The firm used a rigid insulation behind the panels to help stiffen them. Panels then were installed over sleepers to allow airflow, which minimizes condensation.
Although the length of the panels provided some challenges, the panels’ 12-inch (305-mm) height aided in the installation process. “We ended up using fewer panels and the 12-inch [305-mm] height helped give the panels more rigidity based on the extremely long length of 40 feet [12 m],” Peters explains.
To secure the panels, Ranquist Development attached one panel to sleepers on the fire-rated wall. Subsequent panels then were clipped in. “In effect, one panel secures another going down until you get to the end. Then there are trim pieces that wrap around the perimeter,” Peters says. “Everything was secured as one whole on the façade.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Peters is happy with the end result. “The composition is really important to us so the building reads as a whole,” he says. “A lot of buyers have said when they buy a unit they feel like they’re buying into part of a larger building and not just a small unit within.”
“I really liked this building because of the color and directional contrast in exterior cladding materials,” Kraus notes. “The dark panels and the cedar accent just seem like a natural fit to me.”
1750 N. CLYBOURN, CHICAGO
- ARCHITECT: Studio Dwell Architects, Chicago, www.studiodwell.com
- GENERAL CONTRACTOR AND METAL-PANEL INSTALLER: Ranquist Development, Chicago, www.ranquistdevelopment.com
- STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Fisher + Partners Structural Engineers, Chicago, www.fpse.com
- HVAC: Air Rite Heating and Cooling, North Aurora, Ill., www.air-rite.com
- PLUMBING: Referred Construction Inc., Orland Park, Ill., (708) 349-4419
- CONCRETE: Emerald Concrete, Chicago, (773) 594-0115
- METAL PRODUCT: “Décor-Flush” Architectural Siding concealed fastener panels, Fabral, Lancaster, Pa., www.fabral.com