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8 and 75 North Michigan Avenue is one of Chicago’s most recognized modernist landmarks. Formerly known as the John Hancock Center, the 100-story mixed-use skyscraper, with apartments on floors 44 to 92, was designed by the SOM team of Bruce Graham and Fazlur Rahman Khan. Completed in 1969, its tapered facade features steel cross-braces. Given its distinguished architectural pedigree and luxurious location, you might expect its upper-floor apartments to be fantastic. Unfortunately, they usually aren’t.
An elegant exception is an 1,800-square-foot, south-facing unit on the 84th floor, recently renovated by Vladimir Radutny Architects. This project is perfect for 2020 Design Pioneer Radutny. Well versed in high modernism, he taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture, whose campus was designed by Mies van der Rohe, and he and his family lived in the Miesta Towers just blocks from the site.
The floor plan of the apartment was boxy and mediocre. The kitchen enclosure protrudes into what might have been a large rectangular living area, an area further compromised by the building’s signature X-shaped braces, which are buried deep within heavy fire protection and drywall. “When we first arrived,” Radoutene recalls, “we were surprised by how compartmentalized and dark the unit was. The deep footprint, built-in structures, and low ceilings made the unit severely difficult to navigate unless we were standing directly on the exterior wall. Limiting external views and natural light.”
Unique cross bracing (top of page) runs throughout the apartment (above).
Photo © Adrien Williams, click to enlarge.
Ladutheny saw the flaws, saw the apartment’s potential, and developed a strategy to realize that potential. “Opening up space” may sound like a shelter magazine cliche, but here it’s the right move. The architects eliminated the partitions perpendicular to the exterior walls and transformed the windows of three separate rooms into a continuous 55-foot-long gap. Next, he cleared the footprint of the center area, moved the kitchen to the back wall, and added a large parallel island whose position was dictated by the stacking of pipes.
The result is a model of spatial clarity. A large, well-proportioned rectangular communal living and dining space is flanked by semi-private quarters. One of them, a bedroom, is partially enclosed by a wall that curves to widen the view of the kitchen. The other is more open and is used as a study, TV room and guest room. It can be screened through corrugated folding curtains on recessed tracks. The interior walls are unified by wood paneling and cabinetry. The entire apartment now enjoys unobstructed views, both indoors and out, of the Chicago skyline and Lake Michigan.
Radoutny detailed the plan with his characteristic minimalist precision. (It helps that contractor Matt Harder was trained as an architect.) Below the windows are continuous wood cabinets in high-gloss white, topped by quartz counters that conceal the HVAC unit and storage. White drywall and frameless etched glass doors blend seamlessly with wood floors and horizontal grain millwork, both made from engineered walnut. The bathroom walls and floors sparkle with white tiles. The kitchen countertops in graphite-colored engineered stone break up the otherwise muted tones. Classic mid-century furniture, including Eames lounge chairs and Saarinen dining tables, look right at home. “The combination of refined finishes and period furniture creates a connection with the building’s heritage,” said the architects.
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The apartments (1 and 2) are decorated with walnut wood and mid-century furniture, while the bathroom (3) has bright white tiles. Photo © Adrian Williams
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Radutny’s artistic masterpiece is the treatment of X-shaped supports. He removed the drywall and fireproofing, exposing structural steel members on the window walls and ceiling beams that spanned the columns of the rear wall. The buildings were all fireproofed with intumescent coatings, which required significant convincing from the Department of Buildings and Construction because its application to the residential portion of the towers was unprecedented and Chicago codes had not yet caught up with the technology. They are painted black and illuminated by LED light strips embedded in linear ceiling channels. What was once a massive obstruction is now a riveted, riveted structural artifact so delicate it looks almost sculpture-like. “The steel bracing becomes a visual and tactile element that extends throughout the living space, bringing the building’s exoskeleton frame inside,” Radutny says with pride and joy.
Click on the drawing to enlarge
production staff
architect:
Vladimir Radutny Architects — Vladimir Radutny, Ryan Saros, Fanny Hossen
consultant:
Midwest Fire Protection (Fire Prevention); One World Consulting (M/F/F)
General contractor:
brothers hard
size:
1,800 sq. ft.
cost:
$600,000 (construction)
Completion Date:
January 2023
source
light:
Perfect LED, Artemide, Flos; Lutron (dimming)
Doors and Panels:
Alps
hardware:
FSB (Locks); Crown Laboratories Cole
interior renovation:
Wood Harmony (woodwork); Benjamin Moore (paint); Fiandre (tile)
floor:
Saroyan
pipeline:
Hansgrohe, Arape, Kohler, Rolle
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