West Humboldt Park, Chicago, IL

2010

Rosa Parks Apartments consists of the development of 94 affordable rental apartments in 8 buildings scattered across 21 city lots in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. In order to achieve an economy of scale and affordability, the buildings vary from 6 to 27 units and are all a variation on a theme of the same modular facade. Only 2 types of windows are used throughout the development and scattered 1 and 2 story colored bays project from the front and rear of the buildings adding definition to their facades.

All of the buildings are built of 8” thick precast concrete walls with engineering wood trusses at floors and roof. Thin brick is cast into the precast at the street facades. At the sides and rear of the buildings the precast was formed with a brick pattern liner and painted. 6 of the 8 buildings are 3 stories tall and the remaining 2 are 4-story elevator buildings. 20% of the apartments provided are fully accessible or adaptable.

All the buildings in this development have gone through the City of Chicago Green Permit process. Some of the sustainable building strategies used in these buildings are:
-5 ½” of blown-in formaldehyde free fiberglass insulation at all exterior walls creating walls with a min. R-value of R21.
-Roof R-value of R43.
-Energy Star rated windows
-Low VOC finishes
The largest building (27 unit 4-story elevator building) is going though LEED Silver Certification. The most innovative features of this building are a solar hot water and geothermal systems as well as a exhaust heat recovery system supplementing the heating system for all units.

Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation

Humboldt Construction Company

J.T. Katrakis & Associates, Inc. (MEP)
Lehman Design Consultants, Inc. (MEP)
GFGR, Inc. (Structural)
Prism Engineering, Inc. (Civil)
McKay Landscape Architects

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