Reconstruction West Trade School

This 4,645-square-feet project transforms two small industrial buildings and a vacant lot in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood into a mini-campus for a public college’s innovative trade school program. This sustainable adaptive reuse will facilitate the training of future carpenters for Chicago from a site under the city’s historic El structure. The renovation of existing one-story and two-story buildings is spread across three typical 25-feet-wide Chicago lots. The primary work spaces are located on the ground floor where they share direct access to the exterior work area. These are supplemented by the more traditional classroom learning space, lounge, and office on the second floor overlooking the new open space, Lake Street, and the El. A glass garage door provides visual connection between interior and exterior when closed and open access while open. Two dedicated parking spaces (including one handicapped space) are accessed from the rear alley. The vacant lot becomes an exterior workspace, outdoor material storage, and parking. The existing masonry is cleaned, glass block windows are removed, and new openings are created to serve the newly reconfigured interiors. The new interventions are defined by a simple green and blue palette on the exterior. New storefront glazing and a fiber cement accent panel define the front façade of the single-story building. Similar materials are deployed on the first floor of the two-story building with four punched opening awning windows with brightly colored extruded metal frames on the second level. Category Architecture: Buildings Type of Construction Unbuilt