DePaul, IIT, Kent State students presented competing models for South Side senior citizen housing complex
Three teams comprised of a mix of graduate business students from DePaul University, architecture students from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and graphic design students from Kent State University were recognized for their senior housing development proposals during an innovative juried real estate competition sponsored by the Real Estate Center at DePaul Jan. 28.
A total of eight teams vied for top honors at the competition, which was the culmination of an interdisciplinary, multi-college course sponsored by the Real Estate Center. The challenge was to present architectural models, design schematics and marketing plans for a South Side senior citizen housing development to a panel of judges from the real estate and senior living industries. The competition’s scenario was based on a real South Side Chicago site where developers Davis Group LLC, Kimball Hill Homes, Walsh Construction and Mesa Development LCC plan to build a senior citizen home. The developers said they will review the top student teams’ proposals for potential ideas for the facility they will build near 39th Street and Michigan Avenue.
The course—which was taught from September through December via live, Internet video-conferencing technology that linked the three universities—was led by Susanne Cannon, director of the Real Estate Center at DePaul; Assistant Professor Thomas Gentry of IIT’s College of Architecture, and Associate Professor David Middleton of Kent State’s School of Visual Communication Design.
The Best Financing award went to “The Sonata,” by student development team Mike Burton, Shirley Cho, Vesna Dodevxski, Ken Hejduk, Carliss Jackson, James McMahon and Stella Moy. Using the metaphor of sonata, a “musical composition in three or four contrasting movements composed for a soloist or an ensemble,” the team proposed an “independent/congregate care living choice where residents are able to choose to be soloists or part of the ensemble of residential life.”
The Best Architecture award went to “Silver Maple Place,” proposed by the student team of Dave Cook, Bryn Cargill, Anna Ninoyli, Derya Civelekoglu, Sean Wang and Amir Khosravi. Their proposal for a 90,000- square-foot, senior living development featured a modern, four-story glass and steel design. The plan incorporated a community center and retail on the ground floor, senior assisted and independent living apartments on the upper floors and a rooftop garden.
Best Graphics/Environmental Design went to the student proposal for “The Ellington,” a mixed-use senior living development consisting of independent and assisted living units, facing an atrium garden, with first-floor retail. The name of the building honored the musical heritage of the site’s surrounding Bronzeville neighborhood, where Duke Ellington and other jazz and blues artists performed regularly at community venues. The building’s graphics and marketing materials reflected musical images. The student team members were Alex Chu, Carol Coughlin, Ernie Fesco III, Nirup Jayanth, John T. Millin, Jennifer Ng, Brett Padberg and Matthew Tramel.
The competition’s distinguished jury included Lucien LaGrange, architect; Samuel Asefa, deputy commissioner of urban design and planning for the City of Chicago; Peter Beltemacchi, associate professor, College of Architecture, IIT; Kelly Kolar, owner, Kolar Design; Gabrielle Schubart, graphic designer, The Grillo Group; Frank Muraca, president, Arch Consultants Ltd., and director, senior housing, Urban Land Institute; and Robert E. Miller, senior vice president of Applied Real Estate Analysis, Inc. |
