In October we attended Residential Architect’s annual Reinvention conference in Chicago. Like last year, the housing tour was a highlight of the event for us, giving us the opportunity to see the work of talented residential architects. We visited four homes, two of them infill urban projects and the remaining two outside of the city. Many photos later, we’re featuring in this post the urban projects. Studio Dwell designed the first home we toured, Bucktown Residence 3. Located on a tight lot, the project manages to create a feeling of spaciousness and elegance despite close proximity to neighbors.

For our second stop we visited the Claremont House, belonging to an architect who is a partner at Brininstool + Lynch. What struck us first was the use of red brick siding for a contemporary home.

Warren: “On each visit to Chicago, I am reminded of the great tradition of brick and masonry construction and the Claremont House functions both as a clear simple idea, but with materials that seem to belong in Chicago and that neighborhood. The beauty of modernism is at its best when a simple cubic form reveals depth, in this case with the elegant craft of the  brick detail, a 1/3-running bond, which looks like a zipper up the wall.”

The main floor houses the kitchen/living areas and features a dramatic floor-to-ceiling window that frames the view to the street. The massively scaled window reflects the outdoors while also capturing a view of the neighboring late Victorian houses seen through the living space into the alley block behind.

To see more photos and learn about the housing tour, visit Residential Architect’s slideshow.

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