Kwong Von Glinow

1/21

Ardmore House is a single-family house located on a typical Chicago block at the intersection of a residential street and an alleyway.

2/21

Project

Ardmore House

What

Single Family Home New Construction

Where

Edgewater, Chicago

Size

3,100 sf

Client

Kwong Von Glinow, Enjoy Architecture Development

Status

Completed September 2020

Team

Kwong Von Glinow: Lap Chi Kwong, Alison Von Glinow, Shichen Eric Li, Adam Botao Sun, Tammy Phan, Junfu Cui, Jimmy Carter, Winee Lau, Raven Nan Xu; Goodfriend Magruder Structures; Oslo Builders; James Florio Photography

Awards

AIA Illinois, 2021 for Excellence in Interiors, project under 5,000 SF
AIA Chicago, 2021 Distinguished Building Award, Citation of Merit
AIA Chicago Small Project Honor Award, 2021
House of the Month, Architectural Record, 2021

Press

Dezeen, “Kwong Von Glinow offers an alternative to Chicago’s standard developer housing,” more...
FRAME Magazine, “To answer modern-day needs, Kwong Von Glinow switches up the traditional American home,” more...
Architectural Record, “Ardmore House by Kwong Von Glinow,” Architectural Record more...
AN Interior, “Balloon Game: Chicago firm Kwong Von Glinow flips an upside down house into shape,” more...
Wallpaper, “Chicago upside-down house turns convention on its head,” more...
Crain's Chicago, “In Edgewater, a house unlike any other,” more...

For this house bordering an alleyway on a traditional Chicago lot, Kwong Von Glinow flips the traditional residential section, arraying bedrooms on the first floor and living spaces on the second. This approach supports contemporary ways of living, emphasizing communal areas, interconnectivity, and flexible live-work spaces that receive ample natural light and engage the surrounding urban context.

A curved double-height atrium runs lengthwise from front to back doors, creating an interior courtyard that vertically connects the common areas on the first and second floors. Defined by a large picture window and a curving wall, the courtyard offers an informal multi-purpose area where residents can relax and their children can play.

The design of the home balances privacy and openness on the urban site. Off the courtyard’s curving inner wall lie all of the home’s bedrooms, pushed away from the alleyway towards the neighboring lot. The two bedrooms nearer the front of the house have windows that look toward the neighbor’s Chicago brick wall, providing privacy from the view of the street and neighbors. The primary bedroom suite is located at the back of the home, overlooking a private garden.

A stair tucked behind the courtyard’s curving wall leads to the second floor. The open plan is organized around four trusses that support the house’s Chicago balloon frame. These trusses distinguish five areas set around the curve of the balustrade: the kitchen, the island, the dining room, the powder room, and the living room. Throughout, a restrained colors and materials palette—white walls and white oak wood floors, trusses, and furnishing—draws attention to the qualities of the spaces themselves. All of the shared and public spaces on the second floor are oriented towards a ribbon window that spans the length of the interior courtyard. The 56-foot-long window floods the home with natural light and opens panoramic views that capture the fullness of the surrounding neighborhood: century-old trees, the back balconies and fire-escapes of neighboring buildings, and street lamps with their meandering cabling.

The exterior of the home engages the neighborhood’s traditional vernacular style while reflecting the organization of the interior spaces. The design shifts the facade hierarchy from the street to the alleyway, the most urban of the contexts. The street-facing facade has a row of half-height ribbon windows along the second floor and a single door on the first level, maintaining privacy for the front bedroom. On the alleyway side, floor-to-ceiling windows on the second floor and a large picture window facing out to the alleyway from the interior courtyard open the interiors to the urban surroundings.

The exterior materials approach emphasizes the sectional flip and lends visual rhythm to the monolithic building. The house sits atop a concrete base with a dual-color Accoya wood rain screen system. The bottom half of the first level is clad in grey wood, while black wood lines the top half of the first level and all of the second.

3/21

All of the shared public areas of the home are on the second level above the alleyway - where residents spend most of the time. The private spaces of the home are tucked away behind a curving interior courtyard on the first level.

4/21

The kitchen, living, and dining spaces are located on the upper level, with the bedrooms and bathrooms accessed off of a curving interior courtyard on the first floor.

5/21

The exterior of the home communicates its interior living patterns, with an expanse of windows spanning the second level along the alleyway where all of the open and shared areas of the home exist.

6/21

A large canopy provides cover and light at the front entrance.

7/21

A curved double-height interior courtyard runs lengthwise from front to back doors, creating a vertical connection between the common areas on the first and second floors.

8/21

All of the second floor spaces are oriented towards a 56-foot-long ribbon window that spans the length of the western façade and floods the home with natural light. Panoramic views capture the fullness of the surrounding neighborhood.

9/21

The second level is organized by four trusses that hold the Chicago balloon frame home together. The four trusses designate five areas set around the curve of the balustrade: kitchen, island, dining room, powder room, and living room.

10/21

The design of the second level responds to human needs of light and air where the space is filled with ample daylighting, bringing in uninterrupted views out across the alleyway to connect the residents to their urban neighborhood.

11/21

The view from the kitchen's northern façade captures the back balconies and fire-escapes of neighboring buildings, as well as street lamps with their meandering cabling.

12/21

Solid white oak articulates the window trim, guardrail, shelving and cabinetry.

13/21

The interior of the gable roof form creates a generous vaulted living room space overlooking the tree-lined residential street.

14/21

Level 2 is an otherwise fully open plan save for the powder room that serves the level.

15/21

The primary bedroom overlooks the back alleyway and renovated three-car brick garage.

16/21

The design of the house communicates itself to the neighborhood. Rather than disguising the interior organization of the home, the house proudly enunciates its organization and seeks to share its effect.

17/21

The kitchen window looks out over the back alley offering a view that captures the fullness of the surrounding neighborhood: back balconies and fire-escapes of neighboring buildings, and street lamps with their meandering cabling.

18/21

In the basement, a central core defines two open spaces that can be flexibly used as an office area or family room.

19/21

On Level 1, the curved wall of the interior courtyard leads to each of the bedrooms.

20/21

On Level 2, all of the living spaces are connected together under a single vaulted roof and are spatially defined by their location underneath four spanning structural trusses.

21/21