Assemble Chicago

Extending Chicago’s legacy of urban innovation, Assemble Chicago is a carbon-neutral residential community in the heart of the Loop designed to give rise to a more resilient and vibrant city. Proposed for Chicago’s 2020 C40 Reinventing Cities competition, this mixed-use project will provide 207 apartments for the downtown workforce earning as little as minimum wage, along with new public spaces and amenities, including a revitalized Pritzker Park. ⁠ ⁠Leveraging creative community partnerships and innovative building technologies, the design works to reduce carbon pollution, minimize waste, and promote urban biodiversity and gardening, establishing a new model for resilient and equitable development for post-COVID Chicago. The building is grounded by The NeighborHub, a highly public multilevel base that hosts ecological, community development, and cultural programming for Chicago’s residents, neighborhood groups, and local businesses. Weaving seamlessly together with a reinvigorated Pritzker Park, the NeighborHub transforms its site into a vibrant indoor-outdoor civic hub for all Chicagoans. Rising above this base is a mixed-income residential community that provides efficient and healthy living spaces for the Loop’s moderate- and lower-income workforce. Each apartment features a contemporary version of Chicago’s classic bay window that draws in ample natural daylight and fresh air. Stacked over the height of the tower, the bays create a rhythmic, vertically articulated façade that resonates with the architectural character of the Loop’s historic buildings while introducing contemporary materials and technologies that dramatically increase the building’s environmental performance.