Old Cook County Hospital Adaptive Reuse
The vacant Old Cook County Hospital on Chicago’s West Side served as a neighborhood anchor for many decades. This scheme imagines the existing building with its nobly adorned classical front repurposed as an office building that serves as the lynchpin for extensive new construction to serve a variety of uses. A childcare center, school, and a hotel bracket a newly landscaped park facing the landmark façade. A landscape bridge extends the park across the Eisenhower Expressway, increasing the area’s open space while linking the new development to newly developing areas presently separated from the Medical Center area. Additional new structures provide assisted living, retail, and student housing and are arranged to provide a large-scale mixed-use solution that makes the revitalized Old Cook County Hospital the epicenter of a new civic hub for Chicago. UrbanWorks’ vision scheme was developed at the invitation of the Metropolitan Planning Council.