Mies Plus
Chicago’s Miesian modernism disrupted by Bronzeville’s organic and community-driven identity, represented in the form of an amoeba.
ARC607: Integrated Studio
TYPE: Apartment Buildings
PROGRAM: Multi-family Housing
INSTRUCTORS: Allan Shulman, Cristina Canton
LOCATION: Chicago, IL
YEAR / STATUS: 2025 / proposal
Beyond Mies reimagines mid-rise housing in Chicago through a dialogue between the disciplined order of Miesian modernism and the organic identity of Bronzeville. Set beside the Illinois Institute of Technology, the project is formed from the Miesian campus grid but challenges its rigidity through softer, more expressive gestures.
The proposal is organized as five housing masses that rise in relation to the surrounding urban context. While the buildings maintain a rational structural framework, an amoeba-like form cuts through the project.
The façade balances modernist discipline with expressive depth. A dark charcoal grid gives the building a strong urban presence reminiscent of Mies’ use of dark colours for industrial cities, while greenery and the curvilinear amoeba shape soften the overall mass. The result is an architecture that feels both structured and alive, precise from a distance and textured up close.
Mediums: Laser cut stacked basswood. Spray paint.
At the ground level, the project becomes a civic connector between IIT and Bronzeville. A shared makerspace activates the street with spaces for fabrication, craft, and creative exchange, including workshops, studios, and flexible communal areas. Housing is therefore not treated as an isolated object, but as part of a broader social and collaborative ecosystem.
Physical Model
