Our latest project turns a historic bowtruss manufacturing building into a lively Evanston co-living community. The transformation introduces a new infill volume, replacing a surface parking lot with a sustainably driven addition. The adaptive reuse project features eight lofted residential units, along with shared indoor and outdoor spaces, including an urban farm, greenhouse, and kitchen.
We love a good challenge—especially when it means transforming an old, forgotten space into something vibrant and livable. That’s exactly what’s happening at 1611 Church Street in Evanston. Situated on a one-acre parcel, the existing bowtruss structure dates back to 1931, originally built as a Bowman Dairy facility. Its recent past includes stints as a trophy manufacturer, paperweight manufacturer, and fabrication house for dollhouse furniture (Lester Freamon was on to something, apparently). At some point between 1931 and the present, the site was occupied by Boyer Chemical Company, a Chicago-based fragrance manufacturer.
Reclaiming Structure: A New Life for the Bowtruss
Our design reimagines the bowtruss structure through adaptive reuse as an 8-unit sustainable residential co-living development with integrated landscaping and an urban farm. There’s a quiet strength in the existing bow truss structure—enough to make demolition unnecessary and shortsighted. Instead, the approach is additive. Aside from correcting years of deferred maintenance, we will surgically open the building to allow for light and ventilation with a new ridge-light skylight and large, multi-sliding patio doors that connect to a private exterior space. We will take advantage of the extra ceiling height at the apex of the bowtruss by inserting a second floor loft for extra bedrooms and bathrooms.
Perhaps the most significant and elegant improvement is the glass-and-steel indoor greenhouse and conservatory integrated into the south elevation. This space is equal parts gathering place and edible garden. It captures solar gain in cooler months, supports year-round growing, and encourages residents to engage with food, light, and each other. As with our other adaptive reuse projects, we’re salvaging a piece of architectural history and giving it new relevance, ensuring this structure continues to serve its community for another hundred years.
Existing bowtruss building and the surrounding neighborhood buildings
What Is Co-Living or Co-Housing?
Co-housing thoughtfully designs a community where people live in private homes, centered around shared spaces, making it easier to connect with common resources and engage in social activities. These multi-family residential developments feature private units that include all the essentials of a typical apartment—kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, and laundry—while also offering shared spaces designed to bring people together. Unlike conventional multi-family buildings, the shared spaces extend beyond typical amenities—no dusty gym with abandoned machines here. Instead, we’ve created areas that actually encourage people to come together and are built with a purpose: to encourage connection and a real sense of community.
Our project emphasizes these communal spaces with intentional design rather than simply filling in leftover space—making them areas where people want to hang out. The highlight of the design is the greenhouse—an airy conservatory space where residents can cook meals together, gather, and grow food in the edible garden.
How To Design A Greenhouse
When most people picture a greenhouse, they envision a freestanding structure located on a farm, primarily designed for growing food out of season. Our design rethinks that idea. By merging the traditional greenhouse with a conservatory, we’ve created a hybrid space that supports an on-site urban farm and acts as a community hub. The combined conservatory/greenhouse space supplements the exterior on-site urban farm and also serves as a gathering place for residents to cook, share meals, hang out, and enjoy the connected outdoor patio plaza.
We adopted a hybrid approach due to the site’s unique location adjacent to an existing, century-old building. The greenhouse is a semi-fabricated design, assembled on site, built with a structural steel post-and-beam frame, regular window units, and a ‘lean-to’ structure. To mitigate heat loss, the design embeds a hydronic radiant heating system in the concrete slab floor and complements it with an air-source heat pump and an energy recovery ventilator (ERV). The structure operates primarily on electricity, with a rooftop solar panel array supplying power to offset its overall energy demand.
An example of a lean-to greenhouse design
Closed Loop Urban Farm And Stormwater Reduction
As intense rainfall becomes increasingly common, the capacity to retain stormwater on-site is no longer optional—it’s essential. Rather than directing runoff into overburdened municipal systems, this project transforms a paved industrial lot into a permeable, productive landscape that absorbs every drop of rain and manages it naturally. The existing condition—a main structure encircled by asphalt and concrete—offered little permeability, contributing to localized flooding and stress on downstream infrastructure. In response, an urban farm anchors the redevelopment, functioning as a living sponge. The main upside is the production of clean, organic food directly on site, while capturing and filtering stormwater as it falls.
Rainwater not absorbed by the farm or green surfaces is directed into a concealed retention system, comprising 1,000 linear feet of underground piping and strategically placed catch basins. Engineered to meet Evanston’s rigorous stormwater retention standards, we designed the system to fully infiltrate site runoff back into the soil, supporting the farm’s vitality and relieving pressure on the City’s infrastructure. When multiplied across the urban fabric, such decentralized systems form a resilient, distributed network capable of mitigating the impacts of severe weather.
In parallel with this landscape infrastructure, the building is equipped with high-efficiency heat pumps, integrated LED lighting, and a photovoltaic array, all of which are supported by a backup generator to ensure energy resilience. On-site EV charging and secure, weather-protected bike storage further express the project’s commitment to sustainable urban living.
Stormwater Retention
Our holistic approach to environmental performance extends into the landscape. Here are the four steps we’re taking to manage stormwater so that 100% of stormwater is retained on site and does not run off.
1) Underground Detention System (a series of pipes)
2) Unilock Permeable pavers – these allow rainwater to infiltrate rather than run off
3) Native prairie landscape bioswale – located at the street edge, this bioswale filters and slows water flow between the garages and the public right-of-way
4) Urban farm – the farm not only absorbs rainfall but also contributes to the site’s productive landscape.
Archival photos of early sewer installation show just how far stormwater infrastructure has evolved since the 1920s. Photo credential Industrial Scenery.
