CHICAGO ACADEMIC HOUSING

Loyola Academic Housing, opened in 2019, sits at the intersection of W. Broadway and N. Sheridan adjacent to the Loyola University Lake Shore Campus. It is a mixed-use project with a retail base, student lounge and common areas on the second level that access an outdoor terrace for student use, and student housing above. 

Sitting at the entry of the University and adjacent to a small park, the building becomes a prominent and visible feature of the campus and surrounding community. Celebrating the design’s main feature, a stone pleated façade, the building faces out for views of Lake Michigan’s scenic waterfront.

Pleating becomes both a geometric and spatial gesture, as it creates visual depth and the ephemeral layering of light and shadow.

The pleating is also optimized to an angle that gestures the occupants’ views out to the Loyola Campus and Lake Michigan waterfront.

Viewing the façade at different angles creates a gradient of opacity varying between the solidity of the stone and the transparency of the glass.