Come Home Chicago: Missing Middle Infill Housing Competition

In cooperation with the City of Chicago, the Chicago Architecture Center is excited to announce the Come Home Initiative, which aims to reverse decades of disinvestment and depopulation and transform the urban fabric of Chicago’s South and West Side neighborhoods.

Come Home is a design competition and wealth building initiative that will support “missing middle density” infill housing in Auburn Gresham, Bronzeville, East Garfield Park, Englewood, Humboldt Park and Woodlawn. Our juried Request for Qualifications invites architects to reimagine Chicago’s single family home, two- and three-flat, rowhouse and six-flat typologies to better meet 21st century lifestyles.

Ultimately, Come Home seeks to create a community development model that will attract and welcome current and former Chicago residents “back home.” The initiative is based around three key areas:

1. The City’s identification and packaging of vacant lots and land management for redevelopment
2. The identification of new designs for infill housing, with an emphasis on “missing middle density" (through a juried competition)
3. Strengthening pride of place in key neighborhoods

These housing investments will build on the more than $750 million corralled in taxpayer money and private investment for the rebuilding of Chicago’s historically underserved South and West Side neighborhoods. What’s more, it provides the opportunities the professional design community has long sought to leverage design as a tool for building local wealth and improving quality of life. Through it all, the reinvestment work will continue to prioritize local talent, particularly from BIPOC communities and embrace proven tenets of design excellence.

As part of Come Home, the City is committing to the delivery of 30-100 housing units across the six focus communities.

https://www.architecture.org/learn/resources/come-home/