Chicago Building Congress Merit Award, 2001

This health club reclaims the former home of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange which stood vacant for 20 years. Three floors were inserted into the cavernous shell in order to accommodate basketball courts, swimming pool, fitness floor, aerobics studios, locker rooms, and spas. A key element in the planning was to maintain connections between spaces which necessarily required physical separation. Internally, this meant carefully orchestrating windows between activity areas to create visual connections and transparency that would extend energy and activity throughout the club. Externally, this meant opening up the originally opaque exterior walls with slices of natural light and strikingly unique views of Chicago. The result is a high energy club with a uniquely Chicago feel.