Name: 2025 May In-Person Business Meeting
Start: 2025-05-08T17:00:00+00:00
End: 2025-05-08T21:00:00+00:00
Location: Waterview at Wolff Point

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To The Illinois Supreme Court Deciding a Routine Duty To Defend Insurance Coverage Case

Presented by: Jeffrey S. Youngerman Esquire, of Flaherty & Youngerman PC

On November 30, 2023 the Illinois Supreme Court rejected decades of lower court decisions refusing to find insurance coverage for general contractors, developers and subcontractors under their standard CGL polices when they were sued for property damage arising out of construction defects. Illinois has joined the much more insurance coverage friendly majority view adhered to by most of the rest of the country. While the ruling does not mean all repair costs will be covered by insurance, it will likely result in valuable coverage in many situations. For example, it will pay for lawyers to defend you, and will likely pay for the damages your work causes to other parts of the project other than your work. Some insurers remove this kind of coverage by slipping in a special endorsement you would not necessarily recognize. If you are an owner of a building this ruling may make a big difference in whether you are able to make a recovery from the contractor whose faulty work damaged your building. If you are a forensic architect or engineer investigating building damages, you need to know how to document conditions to maximize the owners’ potential insured recovery. If you are an insurance broker you need to advise your clients on available coverages, and possibly seek resubmittal of existing claims.

About the Presenter

For over 25 years Jeffrey S. Youngerman Esquire, of Flaherty & Youngerman PC has litigated construction and professional liability issues on behalf of or against Owners, Developers, Contractors, Architects and Engineers primarily in multi-party defect claims and related insurance coverage litigation. He has handled numerous appeals involving construction law including appearing twice before the Illinois Supreme Court in groundbreaking rulings on enforceability of arbitration clauses in multi-party litigation and warranty law. He has been a speaker on construction law for various organizations, including consulting with local media for construction related stories like the 2003 Chicago deck collapse. He is a member of ASTM E06 on Performance of Buildings. For many years he served as an instructor for Lorman Education Services teaching a class on construction law and risk management to Architects and Engineers. For decades he argued for Illinois to join the majority view in favor of insurance coverage for construction defect damage. On November 30, 2023 the Illinois Supreme Court agreed with him, joining the majority view. The Illinois Supreme Court relied on his detailed coverage triggering allegations in the underlying construction defect complaint he prepared resulting in this landmark shift in insurance coverage law expected to benefit Owners, General Contractors, and Sub-contractors for years to come.

This meeting will take place at:

Waterview

350 W Wolff Point Plaza
15th Floor,
Chicago, IL 60654

The committee meeting will start at the usual time 5:00 pm in the Waterview Lounge with drinks and appetizers. At 6:00 pm we will adjourn to the LaSalle Room for our business meeting and technical presentation.

Do you have a program you would like to share with the committee, please feel free to reach out to our program coordinator at jose.estrada@clarkdietrich.com

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How Tall Can We build? Climatic Impact on Internal Pressures of Mega-tall Building

Presented by: Mehdi Jalayerian, PE, Senior Principal, ESD now Stantec Consulting Services Inc.

The climatic conditions at the top of a very tall building are cooler and drier than those at grade. While standard equations exist to describe upper-level climatic conditions for buildings, the global variation can be significant and local profile data should be utilized to estimate upper-level climatic conditions. Localized climatic conditions such as wind and temperature impact uncontrolled air movement into and out of a tall building due to wind forces on building envelop and air buoyancy caused by indoor/outdoor temperature difference. The uncontrolled air movement or uncontrolled internal pressure difference significantly impact the performance of HVAC and life safety pressurization systems and will impact building energy performance specially in harsh climatic conditions. This presentation discusses the internal pressure variation in mega-tall building and its impacts on building HVAC system design, operation and energy performance and provides strategies to mitigate and manage such impacts. The financial impact of building operation and its energy performance and disruptive risks of uncontrolled internal building pressure can be effectively mitigated if analyzed holistically and addressed early in the design of tall towers.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe climatic temperature and pressure impact on tall buildings.
2. Understand internal building pressure variations and its impact in Tall Building and describe the specific steps to mitigate it.
3.Understand the uncontrolled internal building pressure impact on HVAC system design, operation, and energy performance.
4. Understand uncontrolled air movements due to pressure in tall buildings how to mitigate such problems.

This meeting will take place at:

Waterview

350 W Wolff Point Plaza
15th Floor,
Chicago, IL 60654

The committee meeting will start at the usual time 5:00 pm in the Waterview Lounge with drinks and appetizers. At 6:00 pm we will adjourn to the LaSalle Room for our business meeting and technical presentation.

Do you have a program you would like to share with the committee, please feel free to reach out to our program coordinator at jose.estrada@clarkdietrich.com

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Lakhta Center

Presented by: Ahmad Abdelrazaq, S.E., NAE, MASE, FCTBUH, RISE Global

The lecture will focus on the Lakhta Center, at 462 meters, the tallest building in St. Petersburg and in Europe. The iconic shape of the tower is composed of five individual “leaves” or “petals” that twist and taper as they rise and rotate 90 degrees from base to pinnacle. The unique form presented complex challenges for design and construction, leading to opportunities to improve the original design and develop a new outrigger structural system with significant cost and time benefits.

About the Presenter,

Design for constructability and delivery of high performance of supertall structures has been a prime concern of Ahmad Abdelrazaq. Having begun his career in the Chicago office of SOM in 1987, where his project portfolio included the Jin Mao Tower and the Hotel De Artes in Barcelona, Ahmad joined Samsung in 2004 and went to work as the Chief Technical Director of the Burj Dubai Project, collaborating with the architects and engineers at SOM on the evolving design for the world’s tallest building, later renamed Burj Khalifa. For that project he developed an award-winning real-time structural health monitoring program, embedding more than 2,000 instruments and survey programs to correlate and verify design assumptions with actual tower behavior. Based in Seoul, Abdelrazaq is Senior Executive Vice President at Samsung C & T Corporation where he heads the High-rise Building and Structural Engineering Divisions. Since joining Samsung, in addition to Burj Khalifa, he has been involved in the design and construction planning of several local and international projects including Samsung HQ office, the proposed 151-story Incheon Tower, 360 West, Mumbai, and Tanjong Pagar in Singapore. He has also held operational positions as Executive Project Director of the Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur and the Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg, Russia.

This meeting will take place at:

Waterview

350 W Wolff Point Plaza
15th Floor,
Chicago, IL 60654

The committee meeting will start at the usual time 5:00 pm in the Waterview Lounge with drinks and appetizers. At 6:00 pm we will adjourn to the LaSalle Room for our business meeting and technical presentation.

Do you have a program you would like to share with the committee, please feel free to reach out to our program coordinator at jose.estrada@clarkdietrich.com

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Built Environment – A Market Transformation Action Agenda

Presented By: Holly Crilly, Director, Key Accounts, North America -WBCSD www.wbcsd.org

Following our spring seminar this past June, titled Beyond Sustainability; the Path to Carbon Neutrality. This program is an introduction to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSB) and their global Action Agenda. Launched in 2023, the Market Transformation Action Agenda is an ambitious project that brings together built environment stakeholders from all along the value chain to identify the key barriers preventing us from achieving a net zero built environment. It acknowledges the scale of change industry needs is only possible with deep and radical collaboration. The outcome is a co-created transformative action agenda guiding the path towards halving emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050. Stakeholders from across the built environment value chain are now invited to join WBCSB in driving and delivering the active transformation that the Agenda sets out.

This work calls for actors from business, finance, policy and science to collectively advocate for a shared vision and commitment to systemic decarbonization by pulling on the three key transformational levers:

Adopt life-cycle thinking and Whole-Life Carbon Assessment across the full value chain and align key indicators, metrics and targets.
Integrate the carbon cost and reflect it in the price of products and services throughout the value chain, including in procurement and taxonomy.
Transform the supply and demand dynamics to incentivize low-carbon solutions based on the Whole-Life Carbon approach.
The holistic and performance-based approach underlying these three market transformation levers represents an opportunity for all stakeholders to innovate and scale solutions along the value chain, adapted to their context and environment and ultimately leading to transformative change for all.

About the presenter,

Holly graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BA in English (Literature). She led marketing and communications engagements with leading global brands, working with Leo Burnett and Ruder-Finn. She spent 18 years in global leadership at Cisco Systems, in sales strategy, marketing, operations, enablement, and chief of staff roles. While at Cisco, she earned a LEAD Certificate in Corporate Innovation from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, after a year of interdisciplinary studies. More recently, before WBCSD, Holly was a Climate base Fellow, which helped her build foundational knowledge around our climate challenges and opportunities and consulted with McDonough Innovation.

Holly’s goal is to make a major impact on our global climate, nature, and equity challenges. Leveraging the above experience, she will build on the Region’s excellent work by adding new members and ensuring impact on WBCSD Imperatives and Pathways and on members’ sustainability and business performance. She brings a positive and collaborative approach and help expand the North American team and enhance WBCSD’s local presence.

Holly is based in Chicago, with husband and enjoys seeing their young adult kids when they are home. Also, enjoys biking, music, boating, writing, and traveling.

This meeting will take place at:

Waterview

350 W Wolff Point Plaza
15th Floor,
Chicago, IL 60654

The committee meeting will start at the usual time 5:00 pm in the Waterview Lounge with drinks and appetizers. At 6:00 pm we will adjourn to the LaSalle Room for our business meeting and technical presentation.

Do you have a program you would like to share with the committee, please feel free to reach out to our program coordinator at jose.estrada@clarkdietrich.com

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High Rise Healing: Ten Years After – Trends and Lessons

Presented by Douglas J. King AIA, CSI, NCARB, ACHA

Ten years ago this coming March, Mr. King gave a presentation to the Chicago Committee on High Rise Buildings on “High Rise Hospitals.” This presentation stemmed from a viral blog he wrote for Building Design and Construction Magazine entitled “Are We Ready for High Rise Hospitals?”

https://www.bdcnetwork.com/home/blog/55151771/are-you-ready-for-high-rise-hospitals

Following that initial presentation, Mr. King also contributed to a Spring Seminar focused on High Rise Hospitals, supported by many of the CCHRB members. This seminar coincided with the publication of an article in the CTBUH Journal on this topic. In the past ten years, this topic has gone from being a “one off” presentation by Mr. King, to a genre of building type within the healthcare community – commonly referred to as “XL” projects.

Presentation Goals:

The goal of the presentation on High Rise Healing would be to provide those in healthcare planning, architectural design, structural engineering, MEP/FP and IT engineering, hospital constructors, hospital operators and hospital ownership roles a snapshot of emerging challenges associated with the design, construction and operation of healthcare facilities in high rise settings – and an update on trends that have developed in the past decade, of following this topic in earnest. These topics would include:

Initial Project Engagement – Unique Characteristics of Large-Scale Healthcare Project Teaming Structures
Site Planning, entry point development and parking connections and the challenges and opportunities presented by the urban hospital
Growth in healthcare specific interest in Sustainability and high-performance buildings.
Regulatory challenges presented by the high-rise mixed-use healthcare facility.
Structural challenges unique to vertically designed healthcare project
Vertical Transportation considerations including use of AI and Robotics for materials movement.
Façade Selection, special challenges in a vertical healthcare environment
MEP and IT Services Major Equipment Placement and Distribution Strategies
The Challenge of Achieving intelligent Buildings Systems in Healthcare
Construction execution and phasing challenges including renovation and “replace in place”
Healthcare Planning Related Issues – presented by special populations
- Bariatric patient design in high-rise healthcare projects:
- Impact of patient flow in an urban high-rise setting: (mental health, women’s/children’s and general population).
- Design of bridge and tunnel connections in healthcare facilities:
  (System by System impact analysis of bridge and tunnel design)
- Flexibility, Adaptability, Growth and Change accommodated within the high rise “chassis
- Way-finding/Signage in a vertical public space environment and broader campus

This meeting will take place at:

Waterview

350 W Wolff Point Plaza
15th Floor,
Chicago, IL 60654

The committee meeting will start at the usual time 5:00 pm in the LaSalle Room with drinks and appetizers. At 6:00 pm we will adjourn for our business meeting and technical presentation.

Do you have a program you would like to share with the committee, please feel free to reach out to our program coordinator at jose.estrada@clarkdietrich.com

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Book Tower
Presented by: Suzanne Provanzana, Buro Happold, Principal | US Structures Discipline Lead

Originally opened in 1926, the Louis Kamper-designed tower stands as a prominent feature of Detroit’s skyline and was once envisioned as the anchor of a new commercial corridor running through the city center. The Tower, built for the Book brothers, a trio of real-estate investors, completed construction in 1927.

The pair of properties share the styles of Italian Renaissance and Academic Classicism—the skyscraper with a copper roof atop Corinthian columns, the high-rise with a cornice supported by caryatids. The structure, which was fully vacated in 2009, was acquired by Bedrock in 2015 with a vision for re-imagining the building as a vibrant mixed-use development, featuring a new hotel, retail, office, residential, restaurants and bars, as well as event and meeting spaces. The project is envisioned as a significant catalyst for the wider regeneration of downtown Detroit.

Book Tower represents one of the largest adaptive reuse projects Buro Happold has worked on in North America. The historic building, which at one time was the tallest in Detroit, rises 38 stories above Washington Boulevard at the heart of the city.

About the presenter:

With over 25 years of structural engineering experience, Suzanne Provanzana is the U.S. Discipline Lead and a Principal at Buro Happold, a global multidisciplinary engineering consultancy focused on the built environment. Ms. Provanzana is a licensed Structural Engineer and Professional Engineer in the state of Illinois and is a LEED Accredited Professional. A dedicated practitioner, she is currently managing several large-scale projects across the globe. Throughout her career, Suzanne has engineered and managed numerous structurally complex projects – from sports and entertainment venues and commercial and residential developments to prestigious higher education institutions and transportation projects. An expert in concrete and steel structural solutions, Suzanne marries her deep technical expertise with adept project management skills to deliver successful client outcomes.

Outside of the work, Suzanne is the secretary of the Chicago Chapter of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) and serves on the Sustainable Design Committee of the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois (SEAoI). She spent a decade of her career volunteering with the ACE Mentor Program. She has been published in several national and international industry media outlets, including the American Bar Association, Modern Steel Construction, and Structure.

This meeting will take place at:

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)

224 S Michigan Ave
Suite 1000,
Chicago, IL 60604

The committee meeting will start at the usual time 5:00 pm with drinks and appetizers. At 6:00 pm we will adjourn for our business meeting and technical presentation.

Do you have a program you would like to share with the committee, please feel free to reach out to our program coordinator at jose.estrada@clarkdietrich.com

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Mass Timber Buildings: After the Fire Assessment and Repairs Are Probably Not What You Would Expect

Presented by: Carl Baldassarra, PE, FSFPE, Senior Principal, Fire Protection Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc; Richard Kristie, PE, SE, Principal, Structural Engineer, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.

ABOUT THE PRESENTATION

Within less than the past two decades, changes in manufacturing and construction techniques, along with changes in building codes, have allowed the initiation of a new era of timber construction, hallmarked by smaller pieces of wood being processed and manufactured into larger prefabricated columns, beams, floor slabs, and other structural and non-structural elements. The result is buildings that are more sustainable and often with significant visual warmth. The continuing rapid growth in market share of such timber buildings continues at a rate both domestically and in many other areas globally that suggests the current work is only an extremely small fraction of the upper end potential.

Among the many issues continually confronted within this complex and rapidly evolving phenomenon, is how to design, build, and maintain them in a manner that appropriately manages fire risks. Understanding of that body of knowledge continues to mature and, now, one of the new emerging challenges is how to assess and repair damage (at the fire floor and adjacent floors) caused by both the fire itself and the water used to extinguish it.

New framing systems require new techniques for repair, especially when there is the need for replacement of elements. Water damage has always been a collateral issue after a fire, but with wood construction there is the need to properly dry out water-soaked elements below the fire floors which requires a special process of evaluation and remediation that can vary from project to project.

Drawing on their decades of significant experience within their respective disciplines (including conventional heavy timber building systems, glulam, and rapidly emerging CLT and NLT systems), and their significant recent knowledge of working with newer timber systems, our presenters will provide updates on additional recent code changes regarding mass timber construction and fire-related issues. This will be followed by an overview of the methods used to assess structural damage and potential structural repair options associated with the impacts of fire and water on engineered mass timber construction. The presenters will identify recent research and case studies of mass timber repair projects.

This presentation will be of special interest to all who are involved in the planning, design, construction, or operation and maintenance of buildings, and especially those involved in wood construction of all types.

ABOUT OUR PRESENTERS

Carl F. Baldassarra, PE, FSFPE

Carl Baldassarra is a Senior Principal and Manager of the Fire Protection practice at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates in Chicago/Northbrook, Illinois. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President at Rolf Jensen & Associates, and President of Schirmer Engineering Corporation where he worked for more than thirty-five years. Over his career, Mr. Baldassarra has served on many NFPA and ICC technical committees, including the ICC Ad Hoc Committee on Tall Wood Buildings, responsible for development of the first comprehensive criteria for mass timber construction in the 2021 edition of the IBC. He has also served on the ICC Code Technology Committee; and technical committees for NFPA 1, NFPA 13, NFPA 92, and NFPA 101.

Carl is a Past President of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers and former member of its board of directors. He currently serves as Chair of the SFPE Ethics committee and is a member of the SFPE’s Editorial Board responsible for FPE magazine. Carl also currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Chapter of SFPE. He has a BS degree in fire protection engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, an MBA, and is a licensed professional engineer in several states. He is a member of CCHRB and has been a frequent presenter at CCHRB meetings and seminars..

Richard J. Kristie, PE, SE

Rich Kristie is a licensed professional engineer and structural engineer with over 46 years of experience, and is a Principal with Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates in Northbrook, Illinois. Since joining WJE in 1985, Rich has conducted investigations of damaged structures, evaluated existing structures, performed laboratory testing, and prepared repair plans and specifications. He specializes in investigations involving wood structures, wood truss roof systems, hardwood floors and millwork, steel plate shell structures and steel frame structures with corrosion and welding problems, steel pole structures, and fire-damaged structures.

Mr. Kristie has authored several papers and articles related to the investigation and repair of wood structures, including "Inspection and Repair of Plate-Connected Wood Trusses,” which was presented at an International Conference on Timber Engineering. He was lead author of a paper titled "Investigating and Repairing Wood Bowstring Trusses," published in the ASCE’s Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction, and coauthored a paper titled "Failure Investigation of 100-Year-Old Timber Roof Truss," presented at the Third Forensic Engineering Congress. He will share his experience in several case studies involving repair of mass timber buildings.

This meeting will take place at:

Waterview

350 W Wolff Point Plaza
15th Floor,
Chicago, IL 60654

The committee meeting will start at the usual time 5:00 pm in the LaSalle Room with drinks and appetizers. At 6:00 pm we will adjourn for our business meeting and technical presentation.

Do you have a program you would like to share with the committee, please feel free to reach out to our program coordinator at jose.estrada@clarkdietrich.com

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Davenport Hotel Partial Collapse

Presented by: William D. Bast, PE, SE, SECB, SOCOTEC Engineering, Inc Principal - MidWest Regional Director.

Program:

The presentation will focus on the investigation of the events and details of the partial collapse of the 6-story former Davenport Hotel that occurred on May 28, 2023.

The City of Davenport hired White Birch Group, LLC and SOCOTEC Engineering, Inc. to complete a cause and origin report that will be shared with the public ‘when deemed appropriate’. A report could start to answer questions about the partial collapse, including why residents remained in the 116-year old brick, steel and concrete building despite the many warnings over many months about its integrity.

The presentation will cover the history of the building, engineering and inspection activities occurring in recent years and months prior to the collapse, details of the 1920’s building construction, the structural analysis that was performed during the investigation, and conclusions and recommendations.

Presenter:

Mr. Bast is a Principal and Regional Director for the Midwest region at SOCOTEC Engineering, Inc. with over 40 years of structural engineering experience. His areas of expertise include structural engineering of buildings and other structures, forensic engineering, building envelope evaluation and repair, peer reviews, and expert witness testimony. Prior to joining SEI, Bill was a Principal in the Chicago office of Thornton Tomasetti for almost 22 years. His other work experience includes Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, his own firm William D. Bast & Associates, Rubinos & Mesia Engineers, Schal Bovis (now Lendlease), and Central Building & Preservation.

He is a member of the Chicago Committee on High Rise Buildings (CCHRB), a Past President of the National Council of Structural Engineer Associations (NCSEA), a Past President of the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois (SEAOI), a former member of the AISC Committee on Specifications, a Life Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and is a Certified Peer Reviewer for the City of Chicago. He served as an Adjunct Professor at the School of Architecture at Taliesin from 2017 through 2019, and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the School founded by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1932.

This meeting will take place at:

Waterview

350 W Wolff Point Plaza
15th Floor,
Chicago, IL 60654

The committee meeting will start at the usual time 5:00 pm in the LaSalle Room with drinks and appetizers. At 6:00 pm we will adjourn for our business meeting and technical presentation.

Do you have a program you would like to share with the committee, please feel free to reach out to our program coordinator at jose.estrada@clarkdietrich.com

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Chicago’s Role in the Modern Concrete Skyscraper

Presented Thomas Leslie, FAIA

The current exhibition at the Skyscraper Museum in New York City, “The Modern Concrete Skyscraper,” explores the history of this ubiquitous, but often invisible, material in high-rise construction from Roman times to the present day. In it, the Museum’s Executive Director, Carol Willis, and I argue that concrete deserves equal recognition, alongside iron and steel, for its influence on skyscraper construction.

Chicago, in particular, played a vital role in transforming concrete from a handmade, relatively weak craft into the industrially produced, precisely engineered material that it is today. Rich with sources of strong aggregate, there are geological and geographical explanations for our city’s rich concrete history. But strong relationships with research institutions and industry associations, the city’s volatile real estate and labor markets, and a rich tradition of collaboration and knowledge transfer all contributed to Chicago’s leadership in concrete high-rise construction throughout the last half of the twentieth century. More than half of the roughly 400 buildings taller than 12 stories built in Chicago from 1950 to 1986 were of concrete, not steel. Significantly, six of the ten structures that claimed the title of the world’s tallest concrete skyscraper from 1902 to 1989 were built in Chicago.

This presentation, an expansion of a paper initially presented at the Building Technology Educators’ Society in Spring, 2025, tracks the history of concrete skyscraper construction in Chicago, showing how the material challenged the more recognized steel industry and how local organizations—including the CCHRB—played key roles in pushing concrete technology to new heights.

About the Presenter:

Thomas Leslie, FAIA, teaches building science, history, and design at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. After practicing with Norman Foster and Partners, London, he held visiting or permanent faculty appointments at the University of Technology-Sydney, Australia, the Bauhaus-Universität in Weimar, Germany, the Università di Bologna Alma Mater Studorium, Iowa State University, and the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University.

Leslie is the author of Louis I. Kahn: Building Art, Building Science (Braziller, 2005), Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871-1934 (University of Illinois, 2013), Beauty’s Rigor: Patterns of Production in the Work of Pier Luigi Nervi (University of Illinois, 2017). His latest book, Chicago Skyscrapers, 1934-1986 (University of Illinois, 2023), received the 2024 Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award from the Newberry Library, presented annually to “a book that transforms public understanding of Chicago, its history, or its people.”

Leslie was the Booth Family Rome Prize Fellow in Historic Preservation at the American Academy in Rome in 2013-2014. He was elevated to Fellowship in the American Institute of Architects for his contributions to architectural education and research in 2018, and in 2023 was named a Distinguished Professor by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.

This meeting will take place at:

Waterview

350 W Wolff Point Plaza, 15th Floor, Chicago, IL 60654

The committee meeting will start at the usual time 5:00 pm at the Waterview Restaurant. Afterwards, at approximately 6PM, the business and technical presentation will be provided in the Western Stage House Room located on the 14th Floor.

Do you have a program you would like to share with the committee, please feel free to reach out to our program coordinator at jose.estrada@clarkdietrich.com

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Cook County Hospital Adaptive Reuse

Cook County Hospital Adaptive Reuse – SOM

Presented by:
Mark Nagis, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB, Design Principal / Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
Ian Kaminski-Coughlin, AIA, Associate Principal / Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)

Project Info: New life for a city landmark

Originally completed in 1914, the Cook County Hospital building is a designated Chicago Landmark and once stood as the symbolic heart of the Illinois Medical District healthcare community. Vacant for nearly two decades, the building had fallen into a severe state of disrepair and was threatened with demolition. Instead, SOM led a design-build collaboration for general contractor Walsh Construction, with Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates and interior designers KOO, to carefully preserve, restore, and adapt the former hospital building to meet the changing needs of the neighborhood with a new hotel, food hall, medical offices, and community spaces.

Restoration and reinvention

When the rehabilitation project began in 2018, deferred maintenance, exposure to the elements, and vandalism had caused severe deterioration to the exterior and interior of the building. The restoration work focused first on repairing the neoclassical-style exterior, which involved the replacement of more than 4,500 pieces of terra cotta on the facade.

A sliver-thin canopy of steel and glass marks the entrance to the building, replacing a former bulky addition that diminished the integrity of the historic facade. Inside, SOM restored the lobby to its original height of 25 feet. Original red terrazzo flooring and ornate Beaux-Arts molding immediately evoke the building’s original grandeur. SOM and KOO took advantage of the building’s relatively thin footprint to configure 210 hotel rooms filled with natural light. Some of the more unusual spaces within the former hospital, including lofty operating rooms, were transformed into distinctive guest rooms.

Presenters:

Mark Nagis, A collaborative and empathetic leader in SOM’s Chicago studio, Mark Nagis champions an approach to design rooted in team building and mentorship, characterizing his design process as an ongoing, collective conversation between designers, clients and consultants. Mark’s expertise ranges from large-scale mixed-use projects, to life sciences, commercial and hospitality, as well as the applications of parametric design and digital technology in architecture.

Mark’s project work includes the Bronzeville Innovation Center, a new hub for healthcare innovation and a cornerstone of the Bronzeville Lakefront master plan, an expansive lakeshore site on Chicago’s South Side. He also led the design for the adaptive reuse of Cook County Hospital, transforming a severely dilapidated former hospital and Beaux-Arts landmark into a vibrant, mixed-use hub for the surrounding community.

Ian Kaminski-Coughlin, lead multidisciplinary teams towards integrated, innovative, and sustainable solutions across scales and project types. We put buildings together here at home in Chicago and globally that make the world better.

Extensive experience across transportation, mixed-use, hospitality/residential, commercial, higher education, adaptive re-use functional markets, Business Development and Practice Management.

This meeting will take place at:

Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM)
224 S. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1000
Chicago, Illinois 60604, USA

The committee meeting will start at the usual time 5:00 pm with drinks and appetizers. At 6:00 pm we will adjourn for our business meeting and technical presentation.

Do you have a program you would like to share with the committee, please feel free to reach out to our program coordinator at jose.estrada@clarkdietrich.com

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Event Calendar

2025 May In-Person Business Meeting

2025 June In-Person Meeting

Annual Seminar

2025 July In-Person Meeting

2025 August 21st In-Person Meeting

2025 September In-Person Meeting

2025 October High Rise Social

2025 November UPDATE – NOV 13

2025 December In-Person Meeting

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