Love at first site

Innovative architecture inspires RCR|DC's latest condos
by Dan Schuyler

Development is generally a labor of money, not love, and nowhere is that in greater evidence than in Chicago, where the ‘90s building boom produced mile after mile of homogenous buildings.

Developer Bob Ranquist, of RCR|DC Development, is one of a handful of local builders whose self-professed love of architecture is the driving force behind his projects. While most builders start with the numbers and then find an innocuous design that will make them work, Ranquist tends to turn that approach upside down.

Take “Case Study 2004: River North,” a new RCR|DC condo building planned for 156 W. Superior. After Ranquist saw photos of an award-winning design by the Miller/Hull Partnership, winner of the American Institute of Architects’ coveted Architecture Firm Award in 2003, he simply had to work with the company.

“Bob saw a write-up about our Seattle project in Architectural Record and he called me,” said Dave Miller, of Miller/Hull. “He told me he would like to do something along the same lines in Chicago.”

Ranquist toured Miller/Hull’s live-work lofts at 1310 E. Union, in Seattle, and a relationship was born. The Seattle building is stunning, a modernist dream of steel and glass that creates eight incredibly open and airy loft units. The façade is a sheer wall of glass with the structural steel frame expressed, and red cross-bracing running up the center in an ‘x’ pattern. The interiors feature open layouts, clean lines, concrete floors and corrugated metal ceilings.

“Bob fell in love with all the glass and the exposed steel and cross-bracings, but he wanted something a bit more refined and with more texture,” Miller said. “And because he has a close relationship with Mass Architects, he is using them to keep me honest.”

The exposed look of the Seattle exterior has in fact been softened a little at 156 W. Superior through the use of solid stone and metal sidewalls, and by hiding the mechanicals. But the building has the same sort of dramatic glass façade, expressed steel structure and articulated cross-bracing that won the Seattle project a number of high-profile awards.

The ground floor of the seven-story glass and steel building will house the lobby, a café and a 12-car heated garage. Levels two through five will be configured with three-bedroom residences to the south and one-bedroom flats to the north. The sixth and seventh floors will each house a single residence, with an internal stairway accessing a private roof deck for the seventh-floor penthouse. Prices for one-bedroom units begin in the low $300s. Three-bedroom units start in the $630s, and the two full-floor residences are priced at more than $1 million.

Finishes are, of course, high-end and include Sub-Zero refrigerators, oak floors, gas fireplaces, Miele stainless steel ovens, solid-core doors, limestone floors in master baths, Arclinea cabinets, Jacuzzi tubs and “E-lifestyle” technology that provides a network distribution center and wiring for everything from HDTV and high-speed Internet to a media room with surround sound.

“There was an added expense in using architects from Seattle, but it was worth it to get these guys,” said Karen Ranquist, of CMK Realty, lead salesperson for both this project and another new RCR|DC project in River West. “For anyone who knows anything about architecture, they are the hottest thing.”

The names for the Superior Street development and for “Case Study 2004: River West,” a new condo building planned for 1024 W. Fry by RCR|DC, come from a movement centered in L.A. from 1945 to the mid-‘60s that created modern prototype homes meant to redefine American housing.

Like the River North project, the development on Fry holds true to that ideal, breaking the mold of the typical condo mid-rise. Its pentagonal footprint allows it to follow the gentle angles of the corner site. The front exposure on Fry will introduce a “West Coast look” to the neighborhood, with clean lines and a dark red brick façade divided by horizontal bands of floor-to-ceiling windows. The roofline of the four-story building is accented with a cedar canopy, and oversized sidewalls made from light-colored crushed stone provide a bookend effect.

“This is kind of an eclectic neighborhood,” said designer Mark Peters, of Mass Architects, which has collaborated with RCR|DC on numerous projects. “There are a lot of broken-up blocks and angled streets. The area has all types of structures, from 100-year-old frame houses to newer brick townhouses. Since there is no contextual precedence for this structure, the building will be kind of an urban patch, responding to the neighborhood by using materials and colors from the street.”

The ground floor will have a heated 12-car parking garage and 2,200 square feet of office space. The second level will contain four simplex units of about 1,200 square feet, each with two bedrooms, two baths, kitchen, great room and terrace, and priced from the mid $350s. The third and fourth levels will house five duplexes averaging 1,800 square feet and priced from the high $400s. These include a two-bedroom penthouse and four three-bedroom penthouses, all of which will have access to private rooftop terraces.

Finishes are similar to those in the River North building, including oak floors, gas fireplaces, limestone floors in master baths, Jacuzzis, Arclinea cabinetry, Sub-Zero refrigerators and Miele stainless steel stoves. Karen Ranquist expects construction to begin this fall, with delivery late next summer. CMK has begun marketing the property, and at press time had three units under contract.

“These units are meticulously designed,” Ranquist says. “They have unparalleled, premium finishes and dramatic spatial effects.” Along with Case Study 2004: River North and an upcoming development of 25 single-family homes called Case Study 2004: Bridgeport, the project’s name is meant to signify a new approach to building housing in Chicago.

“We’re trying to focus on design,” Ranquist said, “and reference a period of architecture that was significant.”