As part of the City of Chicago’s Invest-Southwest initiative to help offset decades worth of disinvestment on the south and west sides of Chicago, the southern neighborhood of Auburn- Gresham was selected as one of the ten communities to receive improvements.

The original proposal consisted of 60 residential units ranging from one to three bedroom apartments and included retail opportunities along the street level hoping to spur development along a once active and now uninhabited retail corridor. During the first few public meetings held between the city and the community it was clear the original city led proposal was not convincing to the community members.

The community’s concerns ranged from safety to preservation of their existing neighborhood. Realizing the community was at the center of this initiative, the design team proposed a strategy of community engagement that involved a complete
overhaul of the design process. This involved setting up six community engagement sessions focused on listening, learning, and active engagement with the community to distill their goals and ideas for the 79th street corridor.

What was once 60 units on one site was re-imagined onto two sites along the 79th street corridor. The act of de-densifying the original proposal met the concerns that the community voiced during the outreach sessions. The original proposal site consists
of 28 units atop ground level retail. A suspended bridge connects the residential units at the upper floors while also floating above the ground plane to allow the public to be drawn into a plaza and park at the rear end of the linear lot. The additional site, which is two blocks away, consists of 30 units with ground floor retail.