Architects awarded for Ickes plan

12/22/2009 9:50 AM

By Micah Maidenberg
Editor

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A rendering from DeStefano Partners' master plan for the Harold Ickes Homes.



Demolition on most of the empty Ickes Homes began this summer, when this photo was taken.

DeStefano Partners has won a design award from the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects for a master plan the firm drew up for the Harold Ickes Homes, a Near South Side public housing development now mostly gone.
"The architects went beyond aesthetic improvements when redesigning eight residential buildings that are part of the Chicago Housing Authority's properties," according to a statement on AIA-Chicago's Web site. "The jurors commended the plan's 'comprehensive sustainable approach to buildings and landscape.' New building envelopes counter the heat island effect; native plantings improve the local habitat and improve community morale."
Those plans, however, will remain abstract ones. Demolition of most of the Ickes buildings began earlier this year. The Chicago Housing Authority used $3.1 million in federal stimulus dollars to pay for the project.
CHA previously cited dilapidated conditions, vacancy rates and security concerns to explain why they closed down buildings in Ickes, starting in 2007.
DeStefano's "Sustainability Masterplan" called for reducing the amount of surface parking in the area, reducing energy use on the Ickes footprint and adding green roofs, community gardens and trees. The plan called for a four-color brick wrap around the outside of the Ickes buildings and infill, new construction buildings along State Street.
A spokesman for the Chicago Housing Authority did not return a Chicago Journal call seeking comment. Neither did a principal at DeStefano.
The Ickes development once stretched between Cermak Road and I-55, between State Street on the east and Federal on the west. Three buildings remain open.


3 Comments - Add Your Comment



By Paul from Wrigleyville I
Posted: 01/01/2010 10:07 AM

I had a summer job at Ickes for public aid when I was in college. Dreadful place, but it gave a place to live to people who needed a place to live. Maybe they'll rebuild it and call it Rahm Emanuel Homes.


By Micah Maidenberg from Chicago Journal
Posted: 12/22/2009 2:04 PM

Check out "What's next for Ickes?" -- an article I wrote earlier this summer about the future of the Ickes site. http://chicagojournal.com/News/In-The-Paper/08-05-2009/What%27s_next_for_Ickes?


By Solo from Motor Row
Posted: 12/22/2009 1:33 PM

Micah - Any word on what is going to be developed here? I personally would love a high-end product (like the Grove Mall in LA or Oakbrook style) to attract the visitors that come to ChinaTown, McCormick Place, but that's hope.