Parcels IJKL at Lakeshore East Chicago

Located at the prominent juncture of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River, the IJKL site is conceived as a carefully composed urban development that connects Chicago’s waterfront to both the city and its neighboring community.

The landscape is lifted to provide a separation between the pedestrian and service/vehicular circulation. This lifting of the landscape provides usable and contiguous active green space reinforcing the connection from the IJKL towers to the lakefront. This hierarchy of site circulation provides continued lakefront access linking the site to Upper Wacker and Upper Columbus while limiting cars and traffic off Upper Harbor. Buildings meet the ground plane at the building entries, retail spaces, and common spaces.

The three towers are strategically placed to optimize active open green space and to minimally impact the surrounding context. The most iconic and unique tower, Building I, is also the most prominent of the three buildings as it reinforces the marker to where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan. Tower I’s triangular geometry allows for residents to have views up and down the lakefront. The prow-like building grows larger at the top, emphasizing its prominence and interaction along the skyline. Each tower possesses curvilinear geometry and a faceted skin that reconciles its geometry to provide a continuous and consistent visual among the towers. Their faceted textures tie the buildings together as one aesthetic and provides the entire complex with a dynamic interaction between the built and natural environment.