The Promontory Apartments is a 22-story high-rise completed in 1949 and located in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996, it was the first high-rise designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the first Mies building to have an exposed skeleton structure.
The interior of this particular unit was originally designed by renowned industrial and interior designer Abel Faidy for Mr. and Mrs. Henry Herman. His design introduced a new geometry to the unit through a series of angular and rounded built-in cabinets. Every aspect of the unit was determined by the wooden furniture designed specifically for the space.
The current intervention aims to respect the work of Mies van der Rohe and Faidy, maintaining the spatial geometry that partially remains from the Faidy design while minimally updating the flooring and kitchen to become a home for the new residents. The original built-in furniture, including sliding and rounded doors, is being carefully rehabilitated to become usable once again.
With the goal of progressively designing custom furniture that can be constantly rearranged in the space, the unit celebrates the layers of history and sets up a framework for new artistic explorations.
