Photo: ajbrownimaging.com
Drawing inspiration from the owner’s collection of farmhouse images, Kipnis Architecture and Planning designed a private residence on the Chicago River to be an urban home with the feeling of a rural escape. It features an L-shaped, barn-like plan and exterior, with views toward the river and a public park across it. The house also has a silo-like turret and standing seam metal roof.
Requiring a high level of expertise during installation, the turret is ovoid, not circular, and comes to a point where it intersects the house’s two wings. Sock Woodruff, owner at Custom Installations Inc., which completed the work, says, “It’s time consuming to do that work because it’s all custom made. I think it takes the guys five times as long as doing typical hip-and-gable roofs.”
Custom Installations installed 8,500 square feet of Petersen Aluminum Corp.’s PAC-CLAD Snap-Clad 24-gauge panels in a Weathered Zinc Cool Color finish for the project. Additionally, solar panels were attached to the roof.
Nate Kipnis, FAIA, LEED BD+C, founder and principal at Kipnis Architecture and Planning, says, “The standing seams are just a nice element. It’s so easy to attach solar panels to it; it’s easy to clip on and it’s raised up off the roof, so you get some air underneath.”
