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)
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.
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.
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
