McCormick Place Event Center and Hotel

December 10, 2014

TGDA served as the design Landscape Architect two separate but adjacent expansion projects for the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority's (MPEA) McCormick Place Convention Center: the event center arena (led by Pelli Clark Pelli Architects) and a hotel and retail complex (led by Gensler). The project includes a new basketball arena/event center space to serve the growing Chicago convention market and DePaul University students, as well as a new Marriott Hotel. The neighborhood will benefit from a new park also designed by TGDA which will include play spaces, garden areas, and a dog run, included as a part of the hotel streetscape design.

TGDA's goal for each project was to create a holistic site to maximize and build upon the existing streetscape and urban design vocabulary of the McCormick Place Convention Center Campus, as a desirable place to visit, while also incorporating aspects of the adjacent historic residential neighborhood. The challenge was to knit the framework into the existing residential community, creating an open space amenity for both visitors and residents. The design is intended to create memorable places of cultural interest located at walkable intervals.

As part of this work, the historic Rees Home was relocated. View a time lapse of the Rees Home relocation here.