In a residential area, the corner lot is usually the most coveted. It needed a visionary owner and architect to achieve its full potential. Located in Chicago’s old Lincoln Park neighborhood, the 5,040-square-foot lot seemed like the ideal location. It is best to have compatibility for a homeless couple looking for a home for their work, interests, and new standard of living. It provides simple access to the north arm of the Chicago River and is close to a small local park, however, the existing house was a ramshackle 60’s Spanish-style bungalow in need of a general overhaul. Another trap? The site is strangely triangular. All this has encouraged consumers to opt for a traditional edition to update it.
“We’ve created a lot of urban spaces over the years and the shape of this site was very unusual,” said architect Larry Booth, founder of Chicago-based Booth Hansen. With ground lines on the north and west sides forming a right angle connected via a 150-foot-long hypotenuse along the street, only in reality the artistic architecture can meet the goals of its clients: an all-electric home with enough natural lighting and enough outdoor space. Booth Hansen took the challenge further, creating a space with character that was especially suited to the couple’s lifestyle and also achieved a nearly 0-power configuration.
Like any sustainability-conscious structure project, it had to start with reuse. Booth Hansen’s design for the new two-story, 4,336-square-foot home features two walls, a foundation component, and a 6-foot-tall stucco perimeter. Close to the old mid-century bungalow. Along the hypotenuse aspect of the site is now a polished, stepped brick façade, set back from the fenced lot line. Here, Illinois-based Mariani Landscape has created a winding green area with lawn areas. , barbecues and meetings. At the owners’ former residence, which had small windows and lacked sunlight, “they felt very claustrophobic,” Booth told AN. Now, the giant front windows, some up to 22 feet tall, are angled to maximize sunlight from the south and east while creating a seamless visual connection between the lawn and the airy interior: a double-height living room and kitchen, two bedrooms, his and his offices, and a beloved study.
“What’s appealing is that [this design] allowed us to have a lot of privacy from the outside and at the same time a large opening from the inside, so you don’t feel exposed at all in the space,” explained Booth, who worked with colleague Kelly Tang on the design. Barely noticeable is the pair of commonly uninterrupted masonry walls at the back, which keep the overall percentage of glass in the space low. Along with other sustainable design features, continuous insulation, an air-source heat pump, and energy recovery are added. fan, all appliances and a roof covered with solar panels, the intensity of the energy consumption of the house is 3. (A typical Chicago home would score a 3, about 49. 5, Tang said. )While achieving a net-zero design is physically possible, the pair prioritize some cost-cutting measures and larger front windows, a move that exposes the exclusive nature of some of today’s more complex durability specifications.
Booth and Tang chose white oak, porcelain, and stone interior finishes for the home to create a natural, unbiased palette. Local designer Deanna Berman decorated her rooms with custom, contemporary, mid-century furniture in a lively color palette. “I don’t think form follows form, or form serves as it follows,” Booth said. “The two will have to be incorporated and harmonized. “
Elizabeth Fazzare is a New York-based journalist covering architecture, design, culture, and travel.