For those living in a multifamily high-rise, the sensation of coming “home” encompasses much more than that moment of walking through the front door of their individual condo or apartment. Instead, their arrival is a sequence that starts as they see the building from a distance, approaching it by foot or by car, and continues as they make their way from the public sidewalk or street into the privacy of the building.
As such, it’s important for the street-level design of a residential building and key elements leading to its entry to bring about the same sense of warmth, ease, and security that a single-family home gives its residents. And whether the property is located in the city, an urban neighborhood ,or a suburban downtown, there are a number of important design decisions and approaches architects can define to bring the building down to a more human scale and evoke the emotions of an inviting welcome.
Façade Sets the Tone of Coming Home From Afar
One of the first ways a high-rise building makes an impression is through its façade. And for a residential property, the choice of façade material can reflect not only the aesthetic of the building, but also the ideas of comfort, protection, and privacy.
To convey those feelings that are so integral to home, our firm often uses heavier, more traditional façade materials that are grounding as well as warm. Natural masonry in an earthy tone, such as the limestone entry portico that surrounds the decorative iron work doors at 65 E. Goethe, a notable multifamily building in Chicago’s Gold Coast, feels solid and familiar—like the building has always been there—and sets a calm, quiet tone.
We also achieve a sense of privacy and home through the façade with windows deeply recessed to create depth and shadow, and fenestration sized to be human scale and maximize privacy at the street level. A subtle choice such as a darker granite base below a limestone facade, set at the water course height, further emphasizes that sense of arrival and shelter, and creates a graceful visual transition from sky to street level.
Street-Level Details Communicate Care and Comfort
While a building’s façade can create a welcoming impression from far away, its exterior accents at the street level bring the façade down to human scale—and street level is where residents interact with the building every day. Much like exterior design elements, from an elegant front door to landscaping to stone work, create curb appeal and communicate a home is well cared for, finely crafted detailing on a multifamily building’s façade expresses a level of thoughtfulness synonymous with beauty and comfort.
Meant to be experienced close-up from the sidewalk, this detailing can be anything from ornate iron grates to intricate patterns on a bronze stair railing, contrasting accents in limestone, or an elaborate canopy over the front entry, such as the one we designed at 840 North Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. These elements feel timeless, enliven the façade, and differentiate the building from neighboring commercial properties.
Exterior Lighting Is a Beacon Home
When it comes to literally beckoning residents home, few design elements have as much impact on a building’s street presence as lighting. Not only is it functional—illuminating the entry areas for residents returning after dark—but it adds an inviting warmth that is integral to the sensation of arriving home and leaving the outside world behind. In fact, lighting inside the lobby can be equally important to what is placed outside, since the result is a soft glow from within that inspires feelings of comfort and protection from the elements.
Of course, well-placed, high-design exterior lighting is also an opportunity to share a hint of the building’s interior aesthetic, whether it’s gracious, traditional luxury, or modern, chic style. An example is our condominium project at 535 West End in New York, where two decorative wall-mounted iron lanterns flank the ornate yet discreetly scaled entry—giving residents an immediate connection to its classically elegant style inside and out.
'Semi-Private Zone' Eases Transition to Home
In an urban environment with heavy pedestrian traffic, a transition area between the sidewalk in front of a residential building and the lobby within is a subtle element of the arrival sequence. This “semi-private zone” serves as a threshold between public and private space, physically allowing the resident to exit the daily hustle and bustle and mentally signaling they are entering the calm and quiet of home.
Designing a semi-private zone can be as simple as anchoring the building’s entry with inviting architectural elements, such as the pair of ornate planters framing the main entry at 65 E. Goethe, identifying the building as a private residence. Another technique—and one that’s especially effective for higher-density towers with more residents coming and going—is to push the front doors back several feet from the sidewalk, as we accomplished at Lincoln Park 2550 in Chicago with a pair of black granite-clad Doric columns framing the entrance. This creates a recessed area that becomes, in essence, an outdoor vestibule for residents to step into before entering the lobby.
This idea of a semi-private zone can be created on an even larger scale, as we did at 8000 North, a new apartment building under construction in Skokie, Illinois. Located on a busy retail corridor, the building’s main entry is set back within a three-sided courtyard lined with street-level dining, retail, and outdoor space that is intended to be part of the resident experience. While the restaurants, shops, and seating areas are public, entering the courtyard provides residents that experience of stepping off the main street and into the welcoming environment of home.
Motor Courts and Porte Cochères Create Gracious Arrival by Car
For multifamily residents arriving home by car, taxi, or ride-hailing services, it’s equally important to create a threshold to cross from the public street into a quiet, semi-private space that signals “I’m home.” In our design for The Butler, a new multifamily building in Chicago’s western suburbs, we included a motor court to achieve that intimate and gracious entry for vehicles. In urban locations, motor courts are typically fully enclosed to minimize the sounds of the city. For The Butler, we interpreted this feature for a suburban location using a combination of low walls and landscaping to enclose the space. It mirrors the privacy of the gated single-family communities in the surrounding area, while also serving as a gracious arrival area for residents.
When the building footprint does not allow for a full motor court, a porte cochère is another option that enhances the experience of coming home by vehicle. The covered arrival area provides protection from the elements as well as a calmer, more private alternative to exiting a vehicle from the main street.
A multifamily building can capture the intangibles of “home” with careful planning around the arrival experience. With attention to every aspect of design, from a property’s skyline silhouette to its street-level presence, a building can offer a warm welcome home to residents even before they walk through their front door.
