Andrew Markow calls the creation of his mauve, blackened green and sunflower yellow home in northwest suburban Prospect Heights “an adventure. This was not just about building a house.”
The Art Institute’s associate curator of architecture, Martha Thorne, describes the Markow home’s spaces as “incredible, full of light, very livable,” then jokingly refers to the home’s exterior curved front as “the belly of the building.”
Architect Doug Garofalo, whose Chicago firm, Garofalo Architects, designed the home, sees the Markow residence as “a study in heterogeneous design in a surrounding environment traditionally thought to be homogeneous.”
In layman’s language, he’s saying it’s a multishaped, multicolored, offbeat home located in a setting often considered banal–a suburb.
The transformed Markow home–originally a split-level from the late 1950s or `60s–is one of five single-family residences being featured in the Art Institute of Chicago’s architecture exhibit, “At Home in Chicago.”
It’s the first-ever such exhibit at the Art Institute, “the first time single-family, contemporary homes have had their own show,” emphasized Thorne, curator of the exhibit, which continues through Aug. 1.
“With this exhibit, I wanted to push the envelope a little, to show there are many alternatives in building homes,” she said.
In making her selections, Thorne’s criteria included: variety of design; newness, meaning built within the last few years; and Chicago-focused, that is, homes located in the Chicago area designed by Chicago-area architects working and experimenting in residential architecture.
In determining the finalists, Thorne said, “They also had to have quality, meaning a very solid philosophical, theoretical base behind them. These five are my best shot.”
From a personal standpoint, Thorne wanted to mount the exhibit because she thought “a show centered on the home would be very close to everyone. “After all,” she added, “everyone inhabits some type of home.”
Possibly more significant–especially to homeowners, architects and builders–Thorne believes a home may be one of the most difficult buildings to design because, unlike other buildings, “a home is intimately linked to the lifestyle of its users.” It reflects personalities, perhaps status, certainly taste.
The quintet of homes featured–via photos, drawings, scale models and a virtual reality tour–reflect different approaches to residential architecture.
They range from a traditional, shingled home in Lake Forest by Stuart Cohen and Julie Hacker Architects to a minimalist brick and glass house in Chicago by Krueck & Sexton Architects to the more radical home by Garofalo.
Also in the exhibit are a 9,000-square-foot home in Schererville, Ind., that was inspired by the architectural style of northern India, designed by Dirk Denison Architects, along with a concrete and corrugated steel home set on a 23-acre site in Sawyer, Mich., designed by Margaret McCurry of Tigerman McCurry Architects.
Certainly the most striking alternative to a traditional suburban home is the Markow residence, the only one in the exhibit that had a previous life. Today, there is nothing that is obviously a leftover from the original: two gables on the back side, a powder room and some of the living area and master bedroom remain, but in vastly different guises.
Markow and his wife, Aleksandra, bought their 1,800-square-foot home located on a half-acre lot studded with trees and greenery a decade ago.
Four years ago, the couple knew they wanted “space and something different. We wanted to be pleased to come home, so visual design became most important,” said Markow.
“Aleksandra and I had ideas but we decided early that we would give him 100 percent” when it came to final decisions, Markow said. They worked with models, plotting out the types of rooms needed in relation to space, giving each a personality.
The core of the home is a two-story green tube that houses a cobalt blue tiled circular bathroom. Off to the right is the living room with a 24-foot ceiling. The rest of the main floor includes a dining area, galley kitchen, master bedroom and bath.
The upper level rooms are connected by a ramp and bridge. What will become the music room seems more like a getaway tree house, with one ceiling-to-floor glass wall inviting a lush pine tree into this area. On the other side of the bridge are the children’s adjacent loft-like rooms.
Some of the ceilings are 16 feet high in this area, but uniformity is a no-no; walls are angled to fit the needs and natural lighting of each space and rarely reach from floor to ceiling.
Garofalo said the Markows were different from many clients in that “they really wanted the house to be quite forward-looking. Many say that, but when it comes down to what fills their needs, they pull back. The Markows also worked like researchers, like part of the design team.”
Owners of all five homes had personal wish lists, but shared by all was a commitment to have wide-open spaces and abundant natural light.
Among those with specific architectural goals was the Indiana couple, both doctors, with two children, in their 20s, who live on their own.
In designing the spacious Goel home, Dirk Denison considered their lifestyles–they enjoy large-scale entertaining–as well as the culture and architecture of the owners’ native northern India.
“They wanted a home that was both American and contemporary,” said Denison, “but it was also essential to incorporate certain traditions. In India, the father builds a home that reflects his accomplishment, his status.
“It is his major asset. It is meant to be a sign of hospitality, a place to welcome friends and family, who traditionally stay for months at a time.”
Denison based his design on Havali architecture, which calls for a central court that serves as a social area and also separates public spaces from the private.
Designed in a series of levels connected by ramps, the home descends from the living room to dining and family rooms, leading to the center court. The kitchen is nestled in the entertainment/dining area. Off the court are five bedrooms and baths.
Thorne believes both Denison and Garofalo faced the toughest challenges from clients: Garofalo had some leftover parts of a home to design around while Dennison was asked to build a home on a site that already had a foundation.
Though their exteriors are totally different in design and materials–from shingles to corrugated metal and concrete, to commercial glass and limestone–the remaining three homes have very open interiors.
Stuart Cohen and Julie Hacker created the 5,000-square-foot Tang residence in Lake Forest to fit the owners’ request that it look like “a cottage in the woods,” according to the architects.
Inside, the family wanted some basics–living, dining and family rooms, eat-in kitchen, three bedrooms and baths–plus an office for him, artist’s studio for her.
The juxtaposition of the taupe shingled traditional exterior (with its unusual entrance that places the front and “back” doors adjacent to each other) with an ultra modern, white open-spaced interior is refreshing.
There is nothing traditional, however, in the brick, limestone and glass facade of the Chicago home designed by Krueck and Sexton, other than a bright yellow steel canopy that indicates an entrance.
“This is very much a modern house, all about abstract geometry,” says curator Thorne. Guests enter in mid-house and can see directly through it into the yard because of its transparency via extensive use of glass. Rooms are defined by furniture and built-in cabinets, not walls.
Mark Sexton said the family, a couple with two small sons, had lived in a three-story single-family but rarely used the third floor: “They wanted livable square footage, as much light as possible.”
Their new two-story home is built with frontage the equivalent of three city lots and depth of about four lots; its one glass wall faces south, other walls are solid masonry.
The entry-level floor holds the kitchen and dining areas, a bedroom and double-height living room. The second floor has a master bedroom, two more bedrooms, bathroom, library and a children’s play area–60 feet long and 18 feet wide–with a skylight that gives the space an open-air aura.
The building of this home–and others–corroborates Thorne’s belief that homes reflect the owners, their habits, their passions.
“The mother brought the boys over to the house regularly so they could all enjoy its progress,” said Sexton.
Margaret McCurry puts her signature design elements–the core great room and industrial materials–to use in the long, narrow home she designed for the 23-acre site that commands views of ponds and woods surrounding the Galien River in Michigan.
Clad in corrugated metal and red concrete, the home begins with an entry into the kitchen, leading to the foyer and great room, essentially the home’s center.
Thorne said a “powerful central space is practically indigenous to McCurry’s residential designs. She does it here with a double-height living room and fireplace. French doors open to master bath and bedroom, study and indoor exercise pool.
“Inside, there’s a feeling of being in a protected space,” said Thorne. “Outside, you have steel paneling and concrete panels–modern, technological materials that make it exciting.”
Thorne is interested in continuing small-scale exhibits that focus on the type of architecture that’s easy to relate to. Two years ago, the department initiated hosting exhibitions that are “worthy and can be prepared more quickly than the major ones held in the larger upstairs galleries,” said Thorne. One featured architecture for children; future possibilities include homes for people with special needs (the elderly, multigenerational) and public housing.
