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LET THERE BE
Erie Health extends lifeline
to old buildings with
adaptive reuse projects
LIGHTNESS
BY DENNIS RODKIN | PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONNOR
STEINKAMP, STEINKAMP PHOTOGRAPHY
Public spaces in the Evanston and Waukegan facilities offer a bright welcome to patients. LEFT The
window bay in Evanston was extant but broken up by dividing walls. RIGHT The staircase in Waukegan is
housed in a new, glass-enclosed projection from the face of the original building.
When a team from Legat Architects and
Erie Family Health Center walked
through the mansard-roofed bank
building that bulged out of an otherwise
flat-fronted strip mall on Waukegan’s Grand
Avenue, it had stood empty for years.
Outside, it presented a dark and intimidating
face to the parking lot, but inside it was full of
marble, dark cabinetry and a grand curving
staircase like one a bride might glide down in a
movie wedding. Coupled with its central
location—easily reached by bus, car, bike or on
foot—the visiting team agreed it was a great spot
to house Erie’s fi rst Lake County location.
The Chicago provider of health and wellness
programs for under- and uninsured people has 11
locations in the city that are “nestled within their
communities,” said Cheryl Schutte, director of
health center operations for Erie. “For us to be
here, central to this community in Waukegan, was
the best idea.”
The challenge for Legat, then, was to fl ip the
building’s personality from inward-looking, like a
bank that wants to present a feeling of clubby
security, to outward-looking, like a clinic whose
mission is to invite and welcome people who may
have felt left out elsewhere.
30 JULY // AUGUST // 2015 CHICAGO ARCHITECT AIACHICAGO.ORG