Video: Legat’s Hyatt Place Wicker Park Roof and Sky Lobby
We haven’t written about Legat Architects in a while. Not because the West Loop wonders aren’t doing a great job. But because we no longer live next door, and had to find somewhere else to sharpen our pencils. In between emptying our shavings, Legat had time to put together a video showing off its design for the sky lobby and rooftop at the Hyatt Place Chicago/Wicker Park. It’s a very sunny presentation, and...
Hancock Replacement Plan Filed With The City
Several months after a ceremonial groundbreaking, plans for Chicago’s Hancock Replacement have been filed with the city clerk. No, they’re not replacing the 100-story former John Hancock Center recently neutered in name to 875 North Michigan. We’re talking about the project officially known as “Hancock Replacement” which will build a new John Hancock College Prep School at 5423 West 64th Place, across...
New Pictures of New Metra Station Coming to Suburbs
As Clarendon Hills joins the list of Metra-connected Chicago suburbs trying to lure price-weary city dwellers to better lives, it’s sprucing up its downtown. And at the center of that is a new train station. Clarendon Hills Metra Station (August 2019, Courtesy of Legat Architects) Legat Architects recently came up with new renderings of the station it’s designing for the DuPage County village of 8,000 souls....
Legat Architects Sees Both Opportunities and Obstacles for Chicago in 2019
Abraham Lincoln once said, “It’s never too late to prepare for the future!”* And with that in mind, we asked a group of people working in Chicagoland architecture firms, development companies, and related fields to Swiffer off their crystal balls and tell us what they see for 2019. Today we tap Steve Blye, senior architect at the West Loop’s Legat Architects for his notions of the year ahead: Thinking about...
Geotechnical Crews Get a Taste of 353 West Grand
After wasting half a day going back-and-forth to the big orange home improvement megamart trying to repair a single-handle Moen bathtub faucet (insert string of expletives here), my wife asked me the question, “Are there any more hardware stores anymore?” How timely! Because just as she said those words my phone, which was previously in a continuous loop of plumbing repair videos, concidentally lit up with an incoming...
A Photo Tour of Legat Architects’ New Gurnee Studio
We’ve toured the offices of dozens and dozens of architecture firms in Chicago over the last 14 years. A few look just like any other office churning out widgets and paperwork. But most are clearly designed to inspire their employees, impress their investors, and demonstrate that architecture is a both a creative art and a science. Legat Architects recently opened a new studio in north suburban Gurnee. It’s about 15...
Passings: Alan F. Bombick 1955-2016
It’s always sad when we have to report that Chicago’s creative community has lost a member. Legat Architects‘ Alan F. Bombick has passed away. Mr. Bombick grew up in suburban Brookfield, and went to school at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Among his projects you might have seen are the ABC7 State Street StudiosHyatt Place Chicago-South/University Center. Mr. Bombick was just 61 years old. You can...
What Legat Has Learned About the Architecture of Accessibility and Future-Proofing
We continue our discussion with Legat Architects. Last week we introduced you to the suburban firm with the West Loop outpost that’s focused on the education, healthcare, and institutional sectors. Today, Chief Design Officer Ted Haug, Principal Jeff Sronkoski, and President/CEO Patrick Brosnan explain to us how being focused on those markets means accessibility is a high priority. And an ever-changing one. Jeff Sronkoski: ...
A Look at Legat — The Architecture Firm Making a Splash in Horizontal Space
Over the years we’ve been lucky enough to sit down with a number of architecture firms and development companies in Chicago and introduce them to our readers. For some, it’s become an annual affair. For others, this is their first time at this rodeo. Today we welcome Legat Architects to the table for the first time. Chief Design Officer Ted Haug, Principal Jeff Sronkoski, and President/CEO Patrick Brosnan took some time...
Cleveland-Area Hotel has Chicago DNA
Today we continue our series of reports we call “Chicago Exports.” So much of the world’s great architecture is designed right here in Chicago by Chicagoans, but it’s not built in Chicagoland so it goes unseen by the hometown crowd. That’s why we are featuring the great works produced by Chicago architects continuing the city’s proud legacy as the birthplace of the skyscraper, and a global center of architecture. If in the future...