SOS Children's Villages, Lavezzorio Community Center

Photos

(Click each for a larger version)

SOS Children
Photo: Steve Hall, Hedrich Blessing Photographers
SOS Children
Photo: Steve Hall, Hedrich Blessing Photographers
SOS Children
Photo: Steve Hall, Hedrich Blessing Photographers

Citation of Merit

  • Studio Gang Architects
  • SOS Children's Villages
  • Consultants Thornton Tomasetti (Engineer); Adjustable Forms (Sub-consulting engineer)
  • Division Institutional
  • Location Chicago, IL
  • General contractor Bovis Lend Lease

Overview

In order to satisfy a not-for-profit's modest budget as well as its high hopes, the architects crafted a dramatic, evocative exterior look for a foster care home simply by toying with the process of pouring concrete. They embraced the usually dreaded cold-joint, an effect that occurs between the end of one pour and the start of the next. Here, they would intentionally create a series of cold-joints in order to wind up with a graphic wavy effect on the finished exterior, which the architects dubbed the strata wall. "It highlights the material in a simple but very creative way," one juror said. Another added: "It's amazing that they made so much out of so little. They have something here that is powerful." In the end, a material that usually hardens to an opaque, uniform finish, was allowed to look like the liquid it once was; the accumulated layers have an effect that isn't only artful, but suggestive of the layers of comfort and protection that will be piled atop any child who enters this foster care facility.