Chicago River Blue Awards Name Best Projects
Friends of the Chicago River has named the winners of the 2018 Chicago River Blue Awards honoring river-sensitive projects that aid in the continuing improvement of the Chicago River system.
Presented at Friends’ annual gala, the Big Fish Ball, on Tuesday, June 5, 2018, the awards recognize the work of developers, architects, municipalities, planners and others for their creative and river-sensitive approaches to projects within the Chicago River watershed.
The top prize, the Blue Ribbon Award, was won by the Eleanor Street Boathouse, 2828 S. Eleanor St., located in the Chicago South Side’s Bridgeport neighborhood. Designed by Studio Gang, the two-structure serves as a community field house and a rowing, training, and boat storage facility. It has been cited as “a sign of neighborhood rebirth.”
“Friends is thrilled to recognize the award winners for their investments in habitat, public open space, stormwater management and engagement with the Chicago River system,” said Margaret Frisbie, executive director of Friends of the Chicago River. “There is terrific opportunity to develop the river for people while continuing to invest in its ecological health. The award winners demonstrate how.”
Other projects recognized by Friends include Argyle Shared Streets; the Canal Shores Ecological Restoration Master Plan; River Point; the Eugene Field Park Riffle; and Rockwell Taproom and Brewery.
The Big Fish Ball, established in 2006, raised $280,000 to benefit Friends’ effort to improve and protect the Chicago River system. Presented by McDermott Will & Emery, the Big Fish Ball was attended by 500 guests at Westin Chicago River North.
Chicago River Blue Award Winners for 2018
Blue Ribbon Award
Eleanor Street Boathouse
Chicago, Illinois
Award Winner: Chicago Park District and Studio Gang
Located in Bridgeport’s Park 571, the Eleanor Street Boathouse was designed to increase community connection to the Chicago River. The boathouse is home to a number of rowing-related organizations, including Recovery on Water, a support group for those who have been afflicted with breast cancer. Architect Jeanne Gang explains that “by making the riverfront a destination for recreation, anchored by dynamic sustainable architecture, we hope to catalyze long-term stewardship and support for the river’s remediation as well as improve the health of the communities that surround it.”
Additional Project Team Members: dbHMS, Faithful+Gould, Matrix Engineering Corporation, SPACECO, Inc., Terry Guen Design Associates, WMA Consulting Engineers
Silver Ribbon Award
Argyle Shared Streets
Chicago, Illinois
Award Winner: Chicago Department of Transportation and Site Design Group
Based on a “shared street” design that creates a plaza-like ambiance by raising the street and eliminating curbs, the Argyle project is Chicago’s first effort of this kind. Pavers delineate wide sidewalks at street level, and the project features sidewalk planters, bike racks, and large pedestrian areas that allow for sidewalk cafes. Site Design Group, Ltd. provided landscape architecture and urban design services for the Argyle Street renovation between North Broadway and North Sheridan Road – a corridor in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood known for its Vietnamese restaurants.
Additional Project Team Members: Burns and McDonnell
Silver Ribbon Award
Canal Shores Ecological Restoration Master Plan
Evanston, Illinois
Award Winner: Canal Shores Golf Club
The 82-acre, 18-hole Canal Shores Golf Course on the banks of the North Shore Channel serves as an important habitat for birds and other wildlife. The non-profit Evanston-Wilmette Golf Course Association, recognizing the value of the natural habitat and open space, has launched an effort to create an ecological restoration master plan. The aim is to produce a guide that “integrates ecological restoration and sustainable development to improve the environmental, social and economic benefits of the course for generations to come.”
Additional Project Team Members – Planning Resources, Inc., the Evanston Wilmette Golf Course Association
Green Ribbon Award
River Point
Chicago, Illinois
Award Winner: Hines and Epstein
The site was transformed into a two-level, fully accessible amenity and the office tower was set to allow space for a plaza and river walk. The building’s façade provides riverfront views. In order to enhance water quality of rain entering the river, a stormwater management system captures rain water and stores it in an underground aggregate bed of stone, recharging the groundwater. Stormwater that does not soak into the ground is released into the river at a controlled rate to prevent flooding impacts.
Precipitation is also collected in below grade cisterns and recycled as irrigation water for plantings. Trees and native plantings include grasses, perennials, and evergreen that serve as habitat for insects, birds, and other creatures that call the river home.
Additional Project Team Members: The Office of James Burnett, Levy Family Partners, Ivanhoe Cambridge, Pickard Chilton, Kendall / Heaton Associates, Inc.
Green Ribbon Award
Eugene Field and Gompers Park Riffle Complex
Chicago, Illinois
Award Winner: US Army Corps of Engineers and Chicago Park District
The Eugene Field Park Riffle project entailed inserting two large boulder-and-cobble riffle structures into the river. These large rock formations and riffle pools mimic rapids, add oxygen to water, allow for convenient passing of canoes and kayaks, and provide upstream access to fish. In addition to stabilizing banks upstream of the riffles, these structures also provide critical habitat for macroinvertebrates and fishes. Over time, the bed of the stream behind the riffle will accumulate sand, gravel and other materials to create aquatic habitat.
Additional Project Partner: Chicago Department of Transportation
Green Ribbon Award
Metropolitan Brewing Tap Room
Rockwell on the River
Chicago, Illinois
Award Winner: Prairie Management & Development, Inc. and Metropolitan Brewing
The design of the taproom provides a beautiful view of the Chicago River and its thriving wildlife, with large floor-to-ceiling windows that connect patrons to the environment. Located in a former tannery, the taproom is designed so that customers sit together, shoulder to shoulder, at long tables made of repurposed wood and look out over the river.
Additional Project Team Members – Rosen Architecture, Altusworks
