A Studio design project positioned on the Chicago River this high rise adapts to its environmental conditions to perform as efficiently as possible. The building is a reinforced concrete core and outrigger scheme optimizing slenderness and minimizing total structure. Instead of acting as a passive building in an active atmosphere, its skin opens and closes to activate its façade as a buffer zone that can be an insulation layer during the winter or compressive layer to force more ventilation into the building during the summer; reducing the high heating and ventilating costs that affect
Chicago’s emissions the most. To maximize efficiency of the apartments, they attain their thermal comfort from a combination of passive ventilation from the double facade, a central radiant heating and cooling system, and an innovative unitized facade. 

The double skin automatically responds to the temperatures and velocities within the façade and opens and closes alternating outer glazing panes to ventilate the zone. Half of the opening panes
hinge from the top to allow maximum airflow into the façade and where balconies occur the second skin opens from the bottom for safety and exhaust. Whenever the glazing tilts towards the sun, photovoltaics are banded on the surface of the glazing to offset the energy load of the high rise.

The adaptive nature of the building’s façade technologies and overall design minimize the lighting, ventilating, heating and cooling energy load of the apartments. Researching similar designs and
façade systems, the added energy needed to operate the skin and solar shades is estimated at approximately 57,000 kilowatt hours per year. Utilizing efficient elevator systems, the building is estimated to use approximately 72,000 kWh/year for vertical circulation. Assuming efficiency of modern photovoltaics on the south facades, the estimated sum of energy produced is 120,000 kWh/year, making most of the energy costs of the building offset by the building itself.