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Rehabilitation & Revival: KOO Design Leads Chicago’s Public Housing Architectural Renaissance
Built by the Chicago Department of Housing and Urban Development in the mid-forties for Black soldiers returning home from service in World War II, Altgeld Gardens is known for being one of the first public housing developments in the United States. It’s also...
Chicago to Receive an E-Sports Arena, and Other News
Chicago unveils plans for a funhouse-like e-sports arena on the city’s Near South Side. In a sign of the perpetually growing popularity of gaming, Chicago has unveiled designs for a $30 million,106,000-square-foot professional e-sports arena called Surge. Designed by...
Column: 10 ways architecture may change Chicago in 2021, the Year of the Question Mark
Writing an architecture and urban design preview for 2021 is an exercise in guesswork. With vaccine distribution in its initial stages and city centers still largely shut down, firm opening dates are hard to come by. Call it the Year of the Question Mark. Downtowns...
Column: Chicagoans of the Year in architecture: The team that helped revive old Cook County Hospital
The rebirth of old Cook County Hospital, which once had a near-death experience, would have been worth celebrating in any year. But it took on special meaning in 2020, as doctors, nurses and other health care workers battled the deadly coronavirus. Beautifully remade...
2020 LANDMARKS ILLINOIS RICHARD H. DRIEHAUS FOUNDATION PRESERVATION AWARD FOR ADAPTIVE USE
A pillar of the Illinois Medical District on Chicago’s Near West Side, and a monument to the vital role that public hospitals play in providing medical care to all those in need, the Old Cook County Hospital has at long last been given a second life. Built in...
KOO selected for INVEST South/West Pre-Qualified List of Design Services Firms
KOO was selected from 200 applicants! This summer the City of Chicago invited the Chicago Architecture Center to organize an open Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to identify Chicago design firms to be considered for upcoming projects connected to Mayor Lori E....
Beaux Arts Beauty
Hospitality and healthcare have always been intertwined—now more so than ever—as both industries exist to serve and care for others. The Hyatt Place and Hyatt House Chicago Medical/University District opened this summer in the Beaux-Arts classical-style landmark that...
Designer Spotlight!
Look who the designer spotlight is this week! Credit: Ceramic Technics Tim Curry August 18th, 2020
Column: An exclusive look at the reborn Cook County Hospital: Once facing the wrecking ball, the West Side landmark is about to reemerge, beautifully remade
The renovation and reinvention of the old Cook County Hospital is a triumph of historic preservation, one that should resonate far beyond the walls of the beloved Beaux-Arts landmark on Chicago’s Near West Side. Not only does it give new life to an ornate,...
Offshore – Rooftop Bar at Navy Pier is a 2019 ALA Merit Winner
At 52,000 SF, Offshore is the world’s largest rooftop bar located on Chicago’s historically landmarked Navy Pier. The year-round venue is enclosed by a fritted barrel-vaulted ETFE roof, designed to accommodate the net-zero structural loading requirement, and operable...
Navy Pier Rooftop Venue Opening Spring 2019
KOO is proud to announce the new 36,000-square-foot rooftop deck called Offshore, will open in Spring 2019. The new hot-spot with include huge glass-enclosed areas, fire pits, and terraces. Click here to read the Chicago Tribune article. Click here to read the...
UIC Performing Arts Center WINNER – OMA/KOO
OMA/KOO LLC has been named the winner of an international competition to design an innovative “Center for the Arts” on the University of Illinois at Chicago campus The new complex is intended by the school to have both public and academic functions. It will house the...
UIC Center for the Arts Finalist Entries
KOO is thrilled to be partnering with OMA on this transformative design for UIC's new Center for the Performing Arts Building. Click here to read the Architectural Record article. Click here to read the Curbed article. Click here to read the ArchitectsNewPaper...
Transforming Chicago – Old Cook County Hospital
Renovation and repurposing are well underway as workers transform the 103-year-old former Cook County Hospital at 1835 W. Harrison St. into a $1 billion apartment, hotel, restaurant, retail, and office complex. The team members involved in the redevelopment are Civic...
Old Cook County Hospital – HyattPlace and HyattHouse On Track to Becoming the Next City Landmark
Cook County Hospital is pictured, Tuesday, March 20, 2001, in Chicago. The hospital and other pieces of Chicago's history along with a Civil War-era boat ramp in deep southern Illinois are ranked among the state's 10 most endangered historic sites by a preservation...
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55 W. Wacker Dr.
Suite 600C
Chicago, IL 60601