Kendall McCaugherty, Hall+Merrick Photographers

OBJECTIVE

McDonald’s, wanted to build a flagship restaurant that embodied their corporate commitment to environmental stewardship while creating a place where people can eat, drink, and meet.

It is the first quick service restaurant to achieve LEED Platinum certification.

The most sustainable building is one that already exists so the design team began by studying the environmental and economic value of retaining the existing kitchen and basement. In the process of re-cladding existing walls, thermal value was improved significantly to enhance building performance. Energy efficient building systems and kitchen equipment reduce the energy consumption of the building. Renewable on site solar provides approximately 60% of the reduced load.

CONTEXT

McDonald’s Chicago flagship restaurant is located on a full city block in Chicago’s dense River North. The neighborhood is changing from commercial to residential and lacks green space. There are no parks or open green space within a 1⁄3-mile radius of the site. The existing restaurant was surrounded with vehicular circulation and parking, creating tenuous pedestrian crossings.

The new design seizes the opportunity to create a restaurant in a park, providing needed green space in the neighborhood and a friendlier environment for customers

A solar pergola creates shade in the new park and scales the restaurant with neighboring buildings. Beneath this “big roof,” indoor dining areas seamlessly connect to the outside. A garden of birch trees is suspended over the dining room and a roof top garden of edible plants is visible from the dining room. The rooftop farm Is planted with apple trees, arugula, broccoli, chives, kale, swiss chard, and carrots, the produce harvested is donated to the local Ronald McDonald House.