Toronto architect Carlo Parente has renovated an old and dilapidated mason's shop in Chicago to create a live and work space called Facility for artists Nick Cave and Bob Faust.
Located at the intersection of two prominent streets in Irving Park, Facility restores and reuses several elements of the 1920's industrial building, which is composed of a two-storey masonry structure with three storefronts, a single-storey annexe and a garage.
Facility is housed in an old masons' shop in Chicago
Cave and Faust's primary goal for the renovation was to transform the building into a place to display their extensive art collections. However, they also desired a private residence, event space and studios for other creatives in Chicago.
To achieve this, Parente reconfigured the building to function as an open, flexible "framework" to display art and use as studio space, with some enclosed, private rooms positioned in between. Many of building's original details have been preserved
"When Nick and Bob engaged me to collaborate, they had already carefully thought through their needs and they had considered the spaces of the various programme elements," Parente told Dezeen.
"They had a clear agenda of wanting these spaces to be able to act in a flexible and open manner with the display of their art and art collections as being primary," he explained. I began to think of the project as a framework for their work ? the entire building as a transformative framewor...