A new foyer and garage connect a 1915 historic Howard Van Doren Shaw home with a 1960's pool cabana house in a suburb of Chicago.
Preserving the value of the historic home, the means of intervening to create an updated living environment for a family of art collectors was to create discrete charms throughout the home.
The four levels of the home: basement, Level 1, Level 2, and attic.
The entrance foyer connects to the 1915 historic home, the 1960's cabana pool house, and the new 4-car garage. The interior arched volume references the original historic primary entrance vaults.
In keeping with the theme of living with art, the garage doubly serves as a space for viewing art.
The 1960s bomb shelter is converted into a raw area for art display, defined by radial coring into the 2 foot thick slab.
The southern half of Level 1 is dedicated to art-viewing. In this historic quarter of the home, the architectural elements like wood paneling and marble flooring are restored, while programmatically re-used as gallery space.
The historic entrance foyer looks towards to the newly programmed Garden Gallery and out into the surrounding ravine.
The Garden Gallery restores the original footprint of two columns facing the ravine. The new non-load bearing columns serve as spatial dividers and are clad in mirror polish chrome.
The Ravine Gallery is a black-box gallery that highlights a curated collection of work in the space that overlooks the ravine.
The northern half of the first floor collects the family's spaces for cooking and dining with a prep kitchen, entertaining kitchen, and formal dining room.
The prep kitchen connects a new view corridor through the entire length of the house to the Ravine Gallery.
Table, Table, Table, Table by Kwong Von Glinow allows for varied dining and entertaining configurations, based off the housing scheme The Table Top Apartments.
A Hidden Gallery is inserted between the back staircase and the family room, holding media based artworks.
The Hidden Gallery reflects and extends the entire length of Level 2, all the way to the Owner's Suite lounge.
The Owner's Suite entrance hallway maintains the existing vaulted ceiling and captures partial views of each of the lounge elements.
The Owner's Suite Lounge is organized around several volumes - a wrapping wooden wall for the toilet room, a curving enclosure for the showers, a floating vanity, a large fireplace - that define the large, vaulted space.
Following the existing roofline, the Owner's Suite is opened up to the attic above to create a generous vaulted ceiling, plastered by a local artisan.
The Owner's Suite Lounge is finished in natural materials - various woods and plasters - to create a serene atmosphere.
The basement level holds entertaining spaces for the family and guest - from a billiard's room to a speak-easy to the cabana's spa and sauna.
The first floor holds rooms dedicated to viewing artworks, like the Ravine Gallery and the Garden Gallery, as well as spaces for the family. The new foyer and garage connect the 1915 historic home with the 1960s pool house cabana.
The second floor holds the sleeping quarters for the owners and their children along with a guest suite and family room.
The attic holds a home theater and multipurpose suite along with an extended guest suite.
