SIWEN MA

Project Facts

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Location: Chicago, Illinois, the U.S.

Time: 2017 January

Advisors:  Stephen Gray (Harvard GSD), Kairos Shen (MIT CRE), Jennifer Cookke (MIT CRE)

Collaborators: Tony Li (Harvard GSD MLA), Yina Moore (Harvard GSD MARCH I), Viola Zhao (MIT CRE), Alice Chen (MIT CRE)

Programs: Arch GIS, Rhinos, Grasshopper, AutoCAD, Vray for Rhinos, Artlantis, Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign

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Design Methods

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Located in the center of three booming Chicago neighborhoods with distinctive characteristics - Bucktown, Wickle Park and Lincoln Park - our site has been challenged by its industrial past and is at risk of losing its importance in the larger regional development due to a combination of unfavorable conditions - inconvenient transportation, economic stagnation, outdated infrastructure, and environmental hazard.

 

As urban planners and developers, we see a pressing need and a unique opportunity to unlock its value through both spatial reorganization and strategic planning. We believe that it has tremendous potential to integrate yesterday’s industrial heritage into tomorrow’s technological innovation; to connect the lakefront prosperity on the east (Lincoln Park) to the arts and cultural development on the west (Bucktown), and to form a strategic alliance with its north-south neighborhoods (the former Finkl Steel site and Goose Island) with the goal of invigorating the entire North Branch Industrial Corridor.

 

Our development (“IndLOOP”) aims to create a vibrant community where people work, play, and Live. Over the next ten years, we will gradually bring in businesses that focus on technological innovations especially for the healthcare, manufacturing, and food processing industries, many of which are located outside of Chicago but will likely benefit from a more urban location. Meanwhile, a 64,000 sqft mixed-sports center on the east side of the Chicago River will give adjacent neighborhoods better access to sports facilities, echoing Mayor Emanuel’s Morgan Park Sports Center project for the south side of Chicago. On the residential front, we will provide a diverse and more affordable housing alternative to the neighboring Lincoln Park and Bucktown. Our residents will benefit from the cultural offerings taking place at the waterfront park and bike along the 2-mile-long IndLOOP Green Trail which follows an abandoned industrial train track. Meanwhile, IndLOOP residents can participate in the healthy food movement led by Goose Island’s Kendall College and showcase our Innovation Drive and Industrial Re-Design Zone to visitors from in and out of town.

 

Our core design strategy involves turning a historically detached and inward-looking place into an open platform for knowledge sharing, cultural interactions, physical well-being, and collective growth. First of all, we identify that our geographic location is a great asset to foster connection with the rest of the city: We elevate the waterfront significance not only as a major north-south transportation corridor but also as a physically and environmentally healthy space for recreational activities. The IndLOOP Bike Trail will circle around our site and intersect with the major streets of Goose Island, Lincoln Park, and the old Finkl Steel site.  Most importantly, it will connect with The 606, an existing east-west greenway featuring arts and cultural programs. Additionally, the Clybourn Station of the Metra rail will be relocated to increase its area of influence and effectiveness in the neighborhood and at the same time enhance the new North Branch district’s connection to the Downtown area and the northern suburbs.  

 

Within our site, the goal is to integrate our industrial heritage into faster growing industries. Four distinctive zones (Industrial Re-Design, Culinary Cultural Drive, Innovation Corridor, and Residential & Sporting Park) will maintain individual identities while interacting with each other at major avenues, Center Plaza, and waterfront parks.