Projects

About Us

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Future Firm is an ideas-driven building and design research practice. 
We are architects for changemakers.
Our process is based in listening, so we deliver architecture that amplifies our clients’ vision. Learn More


FOCUS AREA

Arts & Culture

We design immersive spaces for arts organizations to share untold stories and elevate creative voices.

South Side Community Art Center A 15,000 sf renovation and addition for the oldest continuously-operating institute of Black visual art in the United States.
Gallery 105 | Arts of Korea The permanent gallery of Arts of Korea at the Art Institute of Chicago, presenting works from across 2,000 years of history.
Himali Singh Soin: Static Range An immersive environment for an exhibition presenting an artist’s vision of ecological crisis at the Art Institute of Chicago.
FOCUS AREA

Education

How and what we learn is changing rapidly. We prototype new environments for teaching and learning.

Revolution Workshop
A flagship location for Chicago’s leading pre-apprenticeship program, dedicated to equitable workforce development for underrepresented groups.
Mobile Makers Chicago The first brick-and-mortar location for a non-profit dedicated to empowering youth through design education and skill-building workshops.
Nike School Chicago A “student center” for a mentorship program led by Nike that bridges design, art, fashion, and creative direction.


FUTURE LAB | RESEARCH

What is the future of the city at night?

Cities at night used to be governed by laws against “nightwalkers,” equating darkness with bad behavior. Now, essential nightshift workers exist across geographies, demographics, and industries. 

Explore new ideas for nighttime lighting, public space, and community:


ESSAY           Ann Lui and Craig Reschke, “Goodnight to the Amber Glow,” Mas Context

PROJECT    Midnight Palace (Columbus, IN):  A temporary public space for night owls

PROJECT    The Night Gallery (Chicago, IL):  A nocturnal exhibition space in Chicago’s South side

PODCAST    Archinect, “Next Up: Exhibit Columbus / Future Firm,” 2021

PRESS            Muncie Arts & Culture Council, “The Midnight Palace: A New Light Sculpture for Dave’s Alley”

TEACHING    Student Project from Graduate Studio: ‘Nightshift City,’ Rice University, Instructor: Ann Lui
FOCUS AREA

Civic Space
Through collaboration, we are more than the sum of our parts. We use listening-based, process-driven design approaches build spaces that energize neighborhoods & cities. 

Indo American Center A strategic expansion of a non-profit dedicated to serving recent immigrants in order to reach 3x more clients.
South Side Sanctuary Transforming four vacant lots in Chicago’s South side into a lush public space for leisure, sport, and entrepreneurship (plus: free WiFi).
Roseland Theater A proposal for a community hub in South Chicago, in the historic Roseland neighborhood, for businesses and events.
FOCUS AREA

Housing
Solutions for the housing crisis are urgently needed. We are innovating across construction types, development methods and new typologies.

Hem House: Interior The nuclear family is now the minority of households. New spaces & typologies support diverse forms of living together.
Hem House A single-family house which, through design and construction strategies, sold as the 5th least expensive new construction home in Chicago.
Missing Middles: Readymade Row Winner: “Come Home: Missing Middles” competition at the Chicago Architecture Center. A vision for a “readymade” rowhouse built with pre-fabricated steel trusses.


FUTURE LAB | RESEARCH

How can construction innovation reduce the cost of housing?

Design needs to meet the market through radical change across scales. 

Explore ideas for a rapidly deployable rowhouse, a slab-on-grade single family home, and a building with plans for unconventional households:


ESSAY        Craig Reschke, “From Documents to Directives,” in Codify: Parametric and Computational Design

PRESS        News Article, “Here’s How We Fix the Hole in the Middle of the Housing Market,” Dwell 2022

PRESS        Winner: “Readymade Row: Missing Middles,” Chicago Architecture Center & Department of Planning & Development

PROJECT    Hem House 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 (Chicago, IL)

PROJECT    Readymade Row (Chicago, IL)
FOCUS AREA

Retail & Hospitality
We design the spaces that are one-of-a-kind experiences, for businesses that are bucket-list destinations.

Bronzeville Winery A fine-dining restaurant on Cottage Grove, built by community leaders Eric Williams and Cecilia Cuff as a platform for great food and creative voices.
Justice of the Pies From shuttered dentist’s office to community hub for sweet treats: this retail and commercial bakery establishes a neighborhood home for the Netflix star.
RESEARCH & IDEAS

Future Lab
How will the city of the future look, work, and grow? We build on “weak signals” to forecast future-driven visions at the urban scale.


Rebel Garages Policy proposals to Chicago’s building and municipal codes which would create vibrant, “B-side” streets for business and community.
Storm-Speed City A vision of a future city in the Hong Kong / Shenzhen area where the built environment responds to increasingly irregular climate conditions.
Where the Borough Ends Exploring the ways that economics and ecologies change political boundaries over time, creating ‘grey areas’ of municipal blur.
312-598-1567
info@future-firm.org
226 S. Wabash Ave. Ste 500
Chicago, IL 60604
 @futurefirm
© Future Firm 2025