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Summary
Take a tour of Ravenswood Senior Living, a unique senior living community located in the former Ravenswood Hospital built in 1974. The community is the first in the state of Illinois to combine Affordable Supportive Living for seniors with Affordable Independent Senior Apartments. This blending of housing types required the passage of a new Illinois law allowing these different housing types to be combined in one building. The former hospital had deep floor plates that challenged the design team to think creatively about circulation and common area placement. Designed by WJW Architects, representatives from the firm, alongside the owner/operations team will discuss the challenges faced during design and construction and lead tours of the completed spaces.
Learning Objectives
- Discuss the challenges the design team faced in re-purposing an existing 1970’s era hospital building for residential use.
- Review the issues encountered with the existing structure when construction the new addition and creating new window openings in the existing facade.
- Identify the challenges and design solutions that resulted from the need to keep the two housing types completely separated within the same building.
- Learn about the differences in design approach between the two occupancy types, independent senior apartments and supportive living.