Our client
As the fifth generation of a firm founded in 1919, FitzGerald Associates is committed to designing outstanding spaces for Chicago residences, community plans, retail facilities, hotels, corporate buildings, and mixed-use developments. This nationally recognized architecture firm strives to blend context and contemporary design into the careful, practical solutions they design for their clients, stakeholders, and communities. As a result, they won the 2016 CANstruction Chicago Structural Ingenuity Award known as Eroding Hunger. They have also won the 2016 Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Award.
Project highlights
Their challenge
Our client needed a partner who could provide excellent engineering schematic designs and design assistance services for this two-tower apartment complex. These luxury rental units required designs that could accommodate one to three bedroom apartments, three bedroom townhomes, and a base structure with parking and amenities. In addition, our client wanted to pursue LEED certification, so they needed modern, high efficiency systems design.
Our solution
Meeting the challenge, Salas O’Brien provided schematic designs and design assistance for the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection systems for this 350,000-square-foot project. Our design included high efficiency fixtures and landscaping, a new waste water output, a minimized storm water runoff, and several electric car charging stations. We also specified the use of renewable, recycled, and regionally-sourced building materials throughout the new spaces.
The results
Thanks to our team’s work, this building’s 356 finished units and townhomes have been successfully LEED Silver certified. The finished facility includes a connected four-story base structure that features parking and amenities such as controlled access resident parking, a sports court, a fitness center, a theater and lounge, a business center, a coffee bar, and an outdoor patio with grill stations.
