Lincoln Park Single Family Residence

Award-winning Deep Green Retrofit

While creating an amenity-rich "lifetime house" for a family of three, this private residence also tackles the most challenging problem in sustainability: the deep green retrofit of a detached, single-family home in an urban setting.

To meet the rigorous Phius standards, the building was wrapped with a continuous 4" layer of closed and open cell insulation; a gable roof was flattened to receive photovoltaic cell; and the gingerbread Victorian cottage facade was transformed into a modern townhome.

The demolition of the home was done with a "deconstruction" method where usable building materials were extracted and donated to non-profit projects for re-use. Wherever possible, recycled, low-VOC, or natural materials were used to reduce the embodied carbon of the new build.

A traditional Chicago townhome oriented on a north/south lot, this private residence advocated for a variance in the zoning code to allow for insulation and a new rain screen system outboard of the original balloon framing. Additional insulation, a combination of closed and open cell spray foam, fills the wall cavity on the inside for an extra tight envelope during Chicago's winters.

A retrofitted basement slab with below slab insulation and a new finish floor topping allows for the thermal envelope to wrap on all six sides. Low U-value, tilt/turn windows, a southern facing pergola, and limited envelope penetrations protect the high-performance building from air leakage and adverse solar heat gain.