Pullman Artspace

Pullman, Chicago, IL

In Chicago’s historic Pullman neighborhood, an open design competition was sponsored to engage the architectural community in the exploration of affordable space for artists to live and pursue creative work. Our firm was one of 10 semi-finalists selected to provide a concept design honoring the history of Pullman while transforming the site’s vacant buildings and land into productive and inspiring spaces.

Our design approach was to restore the existing buildings – small efficient worker apartments - as residential use while providing shared artist workspace in a new central building.  Defining a new building solely as artist workspace allowed  for  an  affordable durable, modular construction type to be implemented.

Drawing from Pullman’s railroad history, upcycled freight containers used as primary building components could reduce development costs through minimal site disturbance, less on-site construction time, and ease of transport via the adjacent railway. Although our proposal was not ultimately selected for development, we believe our solution provided an opportunity to create a truly affordable artist community that honors the area’s industrial past.