SGA Releases Design for City Hyde Park
Design Shared with the Public for New Mixed-Use Development in Chicago’s Hyde Park Neighborhood
Jeanne Gang joined representatives from Silliman Group to present Studio Gang’s design for City Hyde Park, a mixed-use project intended to invigorate one of Hyde Park’s most important gateways with new opportunities for living and shopping, at a public meeting held last evening at the Hyde Park Art Center.
Located adjacent to the 51st/53rd Street Metra Rail stop at the corner of Lake Park Avenue and Hyde Park Boulevard, the project will add 179 new living units to a site with views of the lake, Hyde Park, and Chicago skyline, and within walking distance to many amenities. “City Hyde Park’s most important feature is its urbanism,” said Jeanne Gang. “It positions many more residences within walking distance of public transportation and its architecture is oriented to the public spaces around it, reinforcing sidewalk use and encouraging walking over driving.”
The new block will add two residential structures to the neighborhood, one 20 stories and the other nine stories, which will rise from a three-story plinth. The lower two levels of the plinth will contain retail spaces anchored by a Whole Foods Market. An amenity level atop the plinth will include a gym, swimming pool, and landscaped gardens. Parking will be located underground with 365 spaces devoted to public and private use.
The building’s design emphasizes its structure. A playful array of stacked concrete panels are deployed to provide vertical support as well as a range of other benefits, including the 20-story tower’s column-free corner balconies, and the nine-story mid-rises’s large operable Juliette balconies on the east side and sun-shaded cantilevered balconies on the west. Multiple green features position the project to target a minimum LEED Silver certification, and twenty percent of its units will supply affordable housing.