Half Dose #6: Old Orchard Woods

Last night, David Hovey of Optima spoke at IIT, a lecture timed to the recently-published book on his work, The Nature of Dwellings. As both developer and architect, Optima is able to create suburban residential developments of daring design that might be impossible otherwise. Old Orchard Woods is no exception.



Old Orchard Woods is located right off the Edens Expressway north of Chicago in Skokie, between the Old Orchard Shopping Center and Harms Woods Forest Preserve. The immediate area contains many unexceptional commercial structures, so the glassy Modernism of the development should stand out.



The asymmetrical massing and linking of future phases are unique aspects of the development that features from one to four bedroom apartments, a pool, spa, sundeck, a party room, and tennis courth. Of the planned Oak, Elm, and Maple Towers, the first is now under construction.

Links:

- Optima's Old Orchard Woods page.
- MoCo Loco's page on The Nature of Dwelling.
- Listen to Edward Lifson and Ned Cramer talk about Hovey, from Sunday's Hello Beautiful!
- A Sun-Times article on Hovey and his new book.