makeArchitecture Co is an Illinois-licensed professional corporation based in Chicago, Illinois, and can be reached via email here. We are a member of the Association of Licensed Architects and on the steering committee to Elevate Devon Avenue.
makeArchitecture specializes in the renovation of and the addition to commercial, institutional and residential properties and new, ground-up residential, institutional and commercial construction.
Our new, residential, single-family construction budgets range from $1.5 million to $18 million and our residential addition construction budgets begin roughly at $300k. The construction cost aligns with the job scope–is it big or small? So it depends on the scope and what the market is charging. For instance, we renovated and updated–involving a great deal of technical and engineering work–a 14 story, 1920s vintage highrise apartment with several hundred housing units with a $15 million construction budget. (We removed the basement boiler and replaced it with a modern HVAC system on the roof as it had produced so much steam in the basement that the rebar in the reinforced columns had rusted and imperiled their structural capacity. We wrapped new concrete columns around the old.) We have renovated nursing homes in Oak Park and large vintage commercial buildings like the Germania Place Club in Chicago. We also love crafting beautiful projects. We have a broad range of skills, talents, abilities and resources. We can bring it and can serve you well.
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Our Process and Services
Why hire an architect?
We can help you express and visualize what you have been dreaming about. I tell my students in the foundation studio at UVa that architects share the unique skill set of the protaganist in Italo Calvino’s Mr. Palomar We are trained to vanquish the noise and reveal what is essential, seeing the world anew and expressing its possibilities in a compelling and beautiful way.
There are 4 basic steps:
1) Ask questions like “How do I want to live?” or “How does my space align with my needs or my brand expression?” or “How do we design for the challenges of the Anthropocene?”
2) Listen to you and yours
3) Draw and help you figure out your story clearly and simply
4) Make your story Architecture
5) Build it with excellent contractors
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Why hire us?
Because our work is classic and timeless, and– when you work with us–your project will be amazing.
Simple.
![]()
makeArchitecture specializes in the renovation of and the addition to commercial, institutional and residential properties and new, ground-up residential, institutional and commercial construction.
Our new, residential, single-family construction budgets range from $1.5 million to $18 million and our residential addition construction budgets begin roughly at $300k. The construction cost aligns with the job scope–is it big or small? So it depends on the scope and what the market is charging. For instance, we renovated and updated–involving a great deal of technical and engineering work–a 14 story, 1920s vintage highrise apartment with several hundred housing units with a $15 million construction budget. (We removed the basement boiler and replaced it with a modern HVAC system on the roof as it had produced so much steam in the basement that the rebar in the reinforced columns had rusted and imperiled their structural capacity. We wrapped new concrete columns around the old.) We have renovated nursing homes in Oak Park and large vintage commercial buildings like the Germania Place Club in Chicago. We also love crafting beautiful projects. We have a broad range of skills, talents, abilities and resources. We can bring it and can serve you well.
Our Process and Services
Why hire an architect?
We can help you express and visualize what you have been dreaming about. I tell my students in the foundation studio at UVa that architects share the unique skill set of the protaganist in Italo Calvino’s Mr. Palomar We are trained to vanquish the noise and reveal what is essential, seeing the world anew and expressing its possibilities in a compelling and beautiful way.
There are 4 basic steps:
1) Ask questions like “How do I want to live?” or “How does my space align with my needs or my brand expression?” or “How do we design for the challenges of the Anthropocene?”
2) Listen to you and yours
3) Draw and help you figure out your story clearly and simply
4) Make your story Architecture
5) Build it with excellent contractors
Why hire us?
Because our work is classic and timeless, and– when you work with us–your project will be amazing.
Simple.
