“Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future.”
ROBERT L PETERS
From
From our CEO’s desk
Welcome to the OKW Quarterly.
If you’re receiving this, you’re important to OKW — our past, present, and future.
We are very proud of the diverse work we do in our Chicago office. Given how closely we work with our clients on adding value to their assets, we sometimes forget to share with them the full spectrum of our story.
So we decided to create the OKW Quarterly. This is a summary of what is happening at OKW — what’s new, reflections on how far we’ve come, and celebrating the best of who we are.
We hope you enjoy our newsletter and invite you to share it with your colleagues and anyone we may have missed. Thanks for joining us on this journey.
Jon Talty AIA
NEW PROJECT
YOUTH SERVICES OF GLENVIEW / NORTHBROOK
A local institution that provides activity-based therapy for children and teens saw a significant uptick in need during and after the pandemic.
The request was simple: they needed more therapy rooms and offices. However, the organization was working with a very tight footprint. With precious little room for expansion, we had to think creatively for ways to increase their program without sacrificing parking or outdoor space.
We found the solution in the entry. The existing lobby was a double-height space, which allowed us the opportunity to create more useable area by converting it to a one-story space.
The addition allowed for a group therapy room and adjacent activity-based areas that feel like rooms in a home. This wasn’t accidental: the client took the opportunity to refresh the overall building, to give it a comfortable and inviting quality that helps staff connect with their patients and improve the services they provide to the community.
GENERAL CONTRACTING BY VALENTI BUILDERS PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM HARRIS
NEW!
NEW PROJECT
LATIMER LEVAY FYOCK, LLC
Nestled in the curved corner of 55 W Monroe, Latimer LeVay Fyock, LLC wanted to create a sense of arrival to their office, which occupied nearly an entire floor.
Given the architecture of the building and the floor plate, OKW focused on the curved glass of the exterior wall, bringing that movement into the interior. From the ceiling to the structural columns and reception desk, we created a fluid concept that not only softens the otherwise straight and linear offices to the west and south, it feels elegant and sophisticated. The large structural columns themselves posed a design challenge given their size and placement. By wrapping them in leather, we not only integrated them into the reception, we created a comfortable seating environment for guests or employees waiting to go to lunch.
The final design is a holistic union of the building’s exterior and our client’s goals: to create a space that greets employees, clients, and visitors with the sophistication and precision expected of legal experts.
GENERAL CONTRACTING BY BIG CONSTRUCTION PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM HARRIS
NEW!
Five years out: what we were thinking about when COVID first hit.
JON TALTY AIA
WRITING FOR THE URBAN LAND INSTITUTE (ULI)
Published March 30, 2020
A term I never heard before the start of this month – social distancing – flies completely in the face of our profession. Architects are collaborators. Our work, more often than not, focuses on bringing people together, not distancing them from one another. It’s about space and place making, whether it be a public square or a room for family to gather. Today, that thesis of connectivity is being challenged and reconsidered.
OKW practices architecture through a broad range of disciplines; from healthcare and retail, to housing, hospitality, and workplace. If there is a single thread connecting nearly every client and opportunity, it is the want for an experience. We are constantly in search of something to entertain, surprise, and engage us. Our healthcare work is changing the paradigm by viewing its spaces through hospitality and retail lenses. Our senior housing and workplace arguably push hospitality to the forefront of design considerations.
With the sudden onset of COVID-19, we are being told to distance ourselves from one another. The idea of “benching” in a workplace has given all of us reasons to reflect on the modern workplace and how we gather on a daily basis. Furthermore, the notion of a storefront retailer or healthcare provider serving as both a provider of goods or services as well as a community center (think Starbucks and NorthShore University HealthSystems) is now a questionable premise.
These fears will not and cannot be sustainable. We are social animals. We are simply learning a lesson to be smarter than we were before. Lessons are often learned the hard way, but in the end, we need one another and we learn from one another. It cannot be replicated through a screen and syllabus provided by some remote individual.
Perhaps the result will be better technology in the surfaces that make up our workstations, or the hardware on our doors. It might be more sophisticated air filtration systems weaving through our offices or improvements in the treatment of water through our infrastructure. Perhaps it is as fundamental as the way we greet one another, especially the aged or medically compromised. We are learning new lessons daily. We are resilient. From this tragic development will come better and best practices that we have not yet considered, and we will all be better off for adopting them.
OPPORTUNITY
The healthcare industry will lead the way following this COVID-19 experience. We must foster and implement a new way of thinking to better respond to cataclysmic events, resulting in better preparedness for the next pandemic. Our hospitals and care facilities will have more flexibility to accommodate patient demand. Assessment of mass triage will evolve. It has already embraced the implementation of temporary structures and modified vehicular circulation to its problem-solving arsenal. Buildings that today sit empty or underutilized can be repositioned for flex space in cases of emergency.
At home and at the office, our technological infrastructure will continue to accommodate remote connectivity. Telecommunication companies and providers of remote communication services (Skype, Zoom, Google) will no doubt take the opportunity to upgrade and scale their infrastructure to account for future surges in demand.
But none of this will happen without the insight, determination, and creative thinking of design and technical professionals, the drivers of the built environment.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM HARRIS [PAGE 15], AUBRIE PICK [PAGE 17], WAYNE CABLE [OPPOSITE]
Thoughts on one year ... as President
COLE GAGNON AIA
The word “president” evokes many things; a quality of character, an expectation of wide-ranging duties. It carries an inherent gravity and importance, a seriousness to how the role is expected to be played.
Stepping into the role after Andy, the sole president of OKW to this point, I was, I admit, apprehensive. It was like stepping in as the “next guy” to play the lead role in Hamilton. Will I meet be able fill those shoes? Will Andy see me as a worthy successor? Will my partners have confidence in me? Will the staff accept me as their leader? Will the industry welcome me into this peer group?
That was how 2024 began: at first quietly with the formal announcement of my new role made late in Q1, and then all at once. The demands and doubts all competing for my attention and me trying to serve them as expected for the role.
Until a friend reminded me ... You got to this point being you. Don’t change that.
And that made all the difference.
It didn’t change the demands of the role, the learning curve or the day-to-day, but it changed where I started from. I gave myself permission to tailor the role to fit me, not the other way around. I no longer needed to try do this job as Andy might. I needed to do this job as Cole would, maybe a bit unorthodox at times, but always leading OKW towards its north star from my own.
It is from this vantage point that I was able to welcome discovery and discussion about what’s to come for OKW, not just what the partners want for the future, but what we envision for OKW together.
Now a year into the role, I sit with the confidence of knowing that I am the right person for this role at this time; looking forward to evolving OKW into its next chapter, keeping all the best aspects of our past, shedding things that have held us back, and reaching confidently towards new possibilities.
Keep an eye on us in 2025. We have a lot in store.
[1] MEGHAN WHITLOCK JOINS OKW
Meghan Whitlock is our newest interior designer, bringing her experience in commercial interiors, retail, and hospitality to bring our projects to the next level. If that weren’t enough, she also moonlights as a wedding photographer.
[2] NEIL SONDGEROTH AIA ELECTED TO AIA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
In late 2024, Neil Sondgeroth AIA was elected to the position of Director for AIA Chicago. This shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows him. Neil is an architect with a capital A, grounding his work in the classics and constantly reflecting on what it means to practice the art and craft. PHOTOGRAPHY BY
BEN LIPOWITZ
One Winnetka plans April groundbreaking after earning final approval
MARTIN CARLINO THE RECORD NORTH SHORE
Published January 22, 2025
Stop if you’ve heard this before: Plans for the large-scale development coined One Winnetka were in front of village trustees for review.
But this time may have been the last time.
Winnetka’s Village Council during its Tuesday, Jan. 21 meeting approved an ordinance granting final approval to the plans for the four-story, mixed-use upcoming development in the heart of town.
Winnetka Village President Chris Rintz said Tuesday’s review was the third time he’s sat on a Village Council that has reviewed a development agreement for the One Winnetka project. Rintz, along with the entire council, is hoping Tuesday was the last.
VISIT THE RECORD NORTH SHORE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE: [LINK] PARTIALLY REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE RECORD NORTH SHORE RENDERINGS BY OKW ARCHITECTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wouldn’t be able to put together this newsletter without our amazing clients, who trust us with their valuable projects, and our collaborators in the construction industry who bring our designs to life.
CONTACT US
If OKW would be a good fit for your next opportunity or idea, please reach out to our partners directly:
Jon Talty AIA jtalty@okwarchitects.com
Cole Gagnon AIA cgagnon@okwarchitects.com
Katie Lambert AIA klambert@okwarchitects.com
CAREERS
We’re currently hiring for architects with different levels of experience. For more information, please visit our Careers page at okwarchitects.com/careers.
