What’s the Architectural Secret Tucked Inside Garfield Park’s Workforce Corridor?

How do you redesign an industrial building to not only optimize carpentry training but also show an underserved community that they are worth investing in? In this episode of Design Matters, Eleanor Gorski meets with Ann Lui, co-founder of the architecture firm Future Firm, and the leadership of Revolution Workshop to tour their radically re-engineered headquarters in Chicago's Garfield Park. Read the highlights below: Architecture for Change Makers Future Firm describes its core mission as acting as "architects for change makers." Revolution Workshop matches that ambition perfectly. Their 12-week comprehensive training program is designed as a means to an end: providing underserved Chicago residents with high-demand skills in the building trades—including carpentry, electricity, and plumbing—alongside job placement and wraparound support to help break the cycle of poverty. The Magic of the West Side Bow Truss When seeking a permanent location, anchoring the facility in Garfield Park right off the Green Line on Lake Street was essential to be exactly where the community needed them. The team immediately fell in love with a building featuring historic, long-span wood bow trusses. Because the non-profit's curriculum centers around carpentry, woodworking, and timber structures, the exposed wooden skeleton of the building became the perfect structural backdrop. A Radical 90-Degree Layout Pivot The original building setup divided the layout across a traditional two-bay structure, which felt intuitive but limited functional flow. Ann Lui proposed a "radical" third option: rotating the entire interior plan 90 degrees. This long-direction orientation unlocked massive benefits: Zoning by Volume: A long central partition wall pushes noisy, messy, non-climate-controlled shop activities to one side of the structure, buffering the quiet offices from the adjacent elevated Green Line train. Maximizing Vertical Footprint: To solve a strict shortage of square footage, architects built a trainee lunchroom and collaborative staff spaces directly on top of two interior "jewel box" rooms, cleverly tucking them right up between the historic bow trusses. The Power of Invisible Design: Light and Community While the workshop floor is high-energy, the office spaces prioritize subtle, restorative elements. The architects reinforced the roof structure to introduce brand-new skylights and rear windows, filling the interior with natural light—the element Future Firm views as the most critical component for making any space feel comfortable and welcoming. Doubling Down on Lake Street Revolution Workshop’s facility forms a vital anchor in Garfield Park's emerging workforce development corridor. Beyond internal programming, the building’s exterior respects neighborhood identity by celebrating a fully refreshed local community mural and adding soft exterior light fixtures that make the building warmly glow at night, signaling investment, safety, and pride along Lake Street. Subscribe to the Chicago Architecture Center for more exclusive interviews, virtual tours, and deep dives into the future of urban design. Read more about the building: https://www.architecture.org/online-r...