In Chicago—or any big city—diversity abounds. Examples of this are countless and span all areas of life. That’s why when developer John Sweeney of JPS Interests and architect Walter Eckenhoff of Eckenhoff Saunders Architects came together for their latest project, Southgate Market, they knew their design for a compact urban market had to account for a wide range of transportation, retail and dining preferences in their compact urban market design.

Creating an Urban Community

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Located just south of the Chicago’s central business district, the area was considered an undeveloped frontier until the 1990s. More recently, a surge of condominiums, townhouses and offices created a residential community significantly lacking dining and retail infrastructure. Southgate Market has revived not only its own site, which sat as an abandoned rail yard for decades, but also helped create a true neighborhood. Indeed, the Chicago Tribune has dubbed it the Southgate neighborhood after the market that rejuvenated one of the largest residential rebirths in Chicago’s history. Southgate has even made the area a destination for diverse Chicagoans from an array of neighborhoods spanning from Greektown to Hyde Park and beyond.

Southgate Market’s design compresses into a tight five-acre urban lot, or half a block, what would ordinarily fill two city blocks. Site planning therefore stood paramount to the design. In order to create efficient flows, increase safety, and create an optimum experience for a diversity of users, Eckenhoff isolated the various traffic patterns: pedestrians, bicyclists, patron drivers and delivery drivers.

An Exercise in Architectural Democracy

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Southgate is a true exercise in architectural democracy that encourages green living while realizing that some are more hesitant to abandon their vehicles, especially when it comes to grocery shopping with little ones in tow.

Absolutely central to the design, Eckenhoff says, is that “Southgate had to face the facts that, even though people live in the city, many still have cars. So we had to integrate the parking into the building while making sure parking did not rule the development. We placed it on top of the building, keeping the retailers low where they have windows that enliven the street.”

Employees from nearby office buildings visit Southgate Market on a bustling lunch hour, sneaker-clad and with a laundry list of errands. They bound up the wide, landscaped walkways, enjoying their own safe circulation pattern free from the stress of dodging vehicles, and straight into Panera Bread before darting to the largest Whole Foods in Chicagoland, Michael’s, DSW or, perhaps, the bank. Many also return after work to take advantage of the expansive fitness center, which offers an array of health and wellness services, although a great number choose to stop by as, or even before, the city awakens.

At the same time, many can be seen locking bicycles to the ample racks while drivers enjoy wider-than-average stalls and their own easily navigated circulation pattern, which takes them over a suspended bridge with breathtaking skyline views to abundant landscaped parking—over 1,200 spaces to be precise. Boston Ivy planted at the base of the bridge grows upward along its harplike cables lending more green to the building and shielding cars from view. The ivy is irrigated via an in-house system supported by a 10,000-gallon rainwater cistern, which also provides significant load bearing for the 900,000 square foot building. The cables feature stainless steel cable guards by Carl Stahl Décor Cable.

Happiest of all, though, might be the delivery drivers. It’s not too often that their needs are accounted for when new buildings are being designed. At Southgate, however, they enjoy protection from the elements via the smart placement of the suspended bridge above their docking station. The 15,000 square foot Ecoloc paving system not only reduces stormwater runoff to the city’s system but also prevents precipitation accumulation that might impede safe driving. Meanwhile, no columns, other drivers, or city buses impede truck maneuvering.

Not a Suburban Mall

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Eckenhoff struck a balance between creating a strong identity for the market, maintaining a conversation with the neighborhood and the architecturally fluent city as well as avoiding overwhelming the surrounding commercial and residential buildings. The suspended bridge on the east elevation evokes Chicago’s tradition of river bridges and provides breathtaking skyline views. With the vertical vibrancy of the building’s glass elevator core, Southgate enlivens the intersection of downtown offices and new residences. Southgate refocuses activity onto adjacent sidewalks via bold colors, a planted front walkway with outdoor dining, sidewalk-oriented retail windows, and multilevel circulation patterns. While individual entries to the smaller storefronts recreate the liveliness of the urban environment, chamfered corners soften the structure’s edges and angled massing breaks up the façade, creating a focus for the streetscape.

The completely exposed concrete interior communicates that this is an urban market and not a suburban mall while sparing the environment by using fewer materials.

Low-VOC paint by Benjamin Moore was used throughout all five floors. Insulated glass with low-E coating in a linear frit pattern reduces heat gain by 50 percent while providing views both into and out of the market, increasing safety and maintaining the urban market aesthetic. In the same vein, local, low-emitting materials made from recycled content were specified; for example, the aluminum curtain wall is by Tubelite, and the building skin was manufactured by Trendstone.

An energy-efficient HVAC system features a plate and frame heat exchanger, which prevents the need to utilize the 600-ton chiller when Chicago temperatures fall to 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. The heat exchanger also provides processed water for refrigeration systems at Whole Foods, thereby decreasing the amount of processing required by the chiller and saving energy.

In the suburbs, these big-box stores would be laid out alongside each other, oftentimes in tar and cement plazas. But in the city, big-box sprawl is simply not an option, nor is it desirable. So Eckenhoff Saunders Architects did what they always do: They got creative—turning the challenge of providing big-box retail into a green urban-design opportunity to create a new model for high-density urban retail centers.

Sidebar: Southgate Market Team

Architect of Record: Eckenhoff Saunders Architects

Principal in Charge: Walter L. Eckenhoff, FAIA, ACHA

Project Architect: Robert G. Plebanski, Jr., AIA, CSI

MEP/FP Design: Environmental Systems Design Inc.

Landscape Architect: Daniel Weinbach & Partners Ltd.

Structural Engineer: Chris P Stefanos & Associates

Civil Engineer: McDonough Associates Inc.

Parking Consultant: Walker Parking Consultants

General Contractor: Pepper Construction Co.


Green Building Materials

Stainless steel cable guards by Carl Stahl Décor Cable

Aluminum curtain wall by Tubelite

Ground face CMU building skin manufactured locally by Trendstone (Trenwyth)

Low-VOC paint by Benjamin Moore

Permeable pavers by Ecoloc