63rd House

Location: Chicago, IL

Type: Civic, Cultural, Office, Adaptive Reuse

Size: 11,250 SF

Status: Design Complete; Construction Ongoing

Role: Concept Design & Fundraising Package - with Studio Gang; Design & Construction - with Beehyyve

Aiming to build community, racial equity, and economic mobility in Chicago’s southwest side, 63rd House is a radical abolitionist community hub for neighborhood youth and new studio headquarters for Blue Tin Production (BTP), the first apparel manufacturing co-operative run by immigrant, refugee, and working-class women of color in the United States.

Developed in close collaboration with community partners and residents of Chicago Lawn, the project’s design reinvents a vacant former post office into a vibrant and multi-functional space housing BTP’s new manufacturing studio, open community co-working and event spaces, a small library, a designer-in-residence program, a prayer room, and more. As a hub of community-led innovation and art, the revitalized building will host a range of activities and programming to take a holistic approach to systems change as part of BTP’s broader abolitionist movement, including free sewing classes, movie nights, lectures, therapy sessions, and art workshops.

Located along the 63rd St commercial corridor in Chicago Lawn, the historic building’s redesign is guided by Blue Tin’s commitment to radical transparency in fashion, with a bright interior, flexible programming, and green strategies that challenge the paradigm of the sweatshop, elevating garment work and supporting shared making, learning, and conversation.

Exhibited by Studio Gang in 2021.

To be published in Affordances of Architectural Typology by Politecnico Di Milano in 2024.