Interior renovation for local retailer, Notre, in Chicago’s Fulton-Randolph Market Historical District. The space is located on the first floor of the 1906 Edward Katzinger & Company Building, once a manufacturer of tin pans for commercial bakeries. More recently, the space was home to Rhona Hoffman, a prominent commercial art gallery. The warehouse-gallery is replaced with a domestic enfilade, or a series of connected low-ceiling rooms that accommodate products—clothing, footwear, publications, apothecary—and events—reading, lecture, transaction. Upon entering, you are tasked with entering the store a second time. To account for a three-foot change in height between sidewalk and the store’s main showroom, 4,645 Chicago common brick pavers clad four gentle slopes mediated by low-rise steps. The multi-purpose stair-ramp (or “stramp”) provides an accessible entry to a previously inaccessible space. The store proper is pushed inside and away from the street, where a two-foot drop-ceiling masks the heavy timber structure and mechanical systems of its previous histories. Here, columns are sandwiched between thickened walls and wide thresholds where rooms are connected through passing views. A new sense of retail intimacy is drawn that combines social pragmatism with material sensitivity.
Client
Michael Jaworowski, Notre
Location
118 N Peoria St #1N, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Years
2018-2019
Area
5,700 ft² / 530 m²
Project Team
Thomas Kelley, Isabelle Reford, Abigail Chang
Consultant Team
Benjamin Edgar Gott; MEP: Calor Design; Millwork: Navillus Woodworks; Furniture: Andrew Kephart, Jason Lewis
Construction Team
General Contractor: Oslo Builders
Photography
Christopher Leh