Rosa Parks Apartments

Chicago, Ill.

Rosa Parks Apartments is a 94-unit community-based affordable rental apartment development consisting of 8 buildings scattered across 21 city lots. As an affordable housing development, it was critical that the Rosa Parks Apartments buildings be economical to build and sustainable for long-term operation and maintenance. Due to the location, one challenge for this project was maintaining security during construction. Precast allowed the builders to place the panels, install the windows and doors, and secure the building quickly with minimal weather setbacks.

The building system has proven to be tight and energy efficient, largely due to the size of the panels, allowing for reduced exterior joints. The insulated wall panels featured cast-in brick on the street facades and a painted brick pattern on the rear. The different colors of the brick panels blend in well with the surrounding neighborhood at the different locations and contrast nicely with the bay windows.

Precaster: Prestress Engineering Co. LLC
Website: www.pre-stress.com

Architect: Landon Bone Baker Architects
Website: www.landonbonebaker.com

Engineer of record: GFGR Inc.

Area: 130,338 ft² (gross area of eight buildings)
Number of stories: 3–4
Structural system: Precast concrete
Components:
739 panels