Nancy Franco Maldonado Paseo Boricua Arts Building |
Chicago, Illinois | 2022

Architects: UrbanWorks, Ltd.
Lead Architect: Maria Pellot
Client: Paseo Boricua Arts, LLC. - Brinshore Development, The Puerto Rican Cultural Center ( PRCC )
Photographers: Karant + Associates

Additional Credits

General Contractor: DRIVE Construction Inc.
Design Team: Patricia Saldana Natke, Jose Esquinca, Erick Roldan

Developed by a team of Chicago-based developers and community organizations, the $10 million Nancy Franco Maldonado Paseo Boricua Arts Building is a new five-story mixed-use building on Division Street in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood. The complex is conceived as a center for the arts for the local Puerto Rican community, providing live/work facilities for artists and fostering connections to the broader community through ground floor services. The building provides 24 affordable apartments above a ground-level space for a community gallery and theater. The studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units share a community room and lounge, and off-street parking for 14 cars.

An extensive community engagement process brought the architects together with Chicago artists of Puerto Rican descent who are the primary community served by the Paseo Boricua Arts Building. Ideas introduced by the residents were integral to the architect’s design of the building. The process focused on providing artists of Puerto Rican descent affordable housing that enables them to support and contribute to the art and culture of the larger community. Each unit is designed to allow the artists to host visitors within their studios while maintaining a zone of privacy for their bedrooms. Acoustic separations prevent sound transmission between units to promote artistic creation and privacy.

The concept for the design was “cultural identity on display.” Thus, the design of the Paseo Boricua Arts Building presents a modern interpretation of the architecture that might be seen in Puerto Rico. The building’s light grey base is punctuated with four arches that denote the community and commercial spaces, and a single protruding bay which marks the entrance for residents. Most of the building is white, representing the metaphoric white canvas that confronts all artists. Large wood-clad frames populate the façade and frame the lives of the artists within. The wood frames subtly recall wood shutters that are prevalent in Puerto Rico. Colors, an important element in traditional Puerto Rican architecture, mark the balconies in each apartment.

Many of the ideas for the exterior façades transfer directly to the interiors. The arches that denote the public spaces along the street are reprised within the halls that the residents share. These corridors provide extensive gallery space for the residents to share their art with one another and their visitors. The specific colors at the exterior balconies transfer, allowing a resident to identify their place to neighbors and passersby by simply telling which color marks their unit.

By offering a modern interpretation of Puerto Rican design, the building’s façade increases the visible presence of the community in Chicago while suggesting new architectural compositions that can inspire greater artistic aspirations. The designers hope that the project will inspire further explorations of contemporary architecture and Puerto Rican design within the neighborhood.