Featured, Sustainable, Landscape

McDonald's Global Flagship Chicago

Chicago, Illinois | Completed 2018
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McDonald’s Chica­go flag­ship rad­i­cal­ly devi­ates from a typ­i­cal pro­to­type restau­rant. The build­ing begins to ask new ques­tions about cus­tomer expe­ri­ence and impact. While one-of-a-kind, the flag­ship is gen­er­at­ing valu­able lessons that can be scaled to an expan­sive port­fo­lio — impact­ing com­mu­ni­ties around the world. 

A solar per­go­la unites the restau­rant while also pro­vid­ing 55% of elec­tri­cal ener­gy needs (2019 pro­duc­tion was above pro­jec­tions). Beneath this ​“big roof,” indoor din­ing areas seam­less­ly con­nect to per­me­able out­door plazas and a park.

In the din­ing room, Cross Lam­i­nat­ed Tim­ber (CLT) and Glu­lam beams are cel­e­brat­ed against a back­drop of white birch trees plant­ed in a sus­pend­ed atri­um and hang­ing ​“plant tapes­tries.” The restau­rant is the first com­mer­cial project in Chica­go to use CLT. 

The flag­ship is a case study on envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship, embody­ing a glob­al brand’s com­mit­ment to action all while cre­at­ing a city oasis where peo­ple can eat, drink, and meet.

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Global Flagship 2018

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Rock n' Roll McDonald's 1983

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50th Anniversary McDonald's 2005

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The site (in yel­low), a full city block, is just steps off Michi­gan Avenue and sand­wiched between two arte­r­i­al roads (in pur­ple). Cre­at­ing a city oasis seems in con­flict with these con­di­tions but pro­vides a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty for the city and pedes­tri­an experience.

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The Riv­er North neigh­bor­hood of Chica­go is under­go­ing a trans­for­ma­tion from com­mer­cial to res­i­den­tial. This tran­si­tion has fos­tered a lack of green space. In fact, there are no parks or open green space with­in a 1⁄3 mile radius of the McDonald’s site. This obser­va­tion pre­sent­ed an oppor­tu­ni­ty to shift the flag­ship to become a restau­rant in a park with ameni­ties for cus­tomers and the community.

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Mc Donalds Global Flagship Chicago Comparison

2005 vs 2018

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The pri­or­i­ti­za­tion of cus­tomer and com­mu­ni­ty ameni­ties, such as open space, result­ed in a 72% increase in pedes­tri­an focused area on the site. 

The pri­or design sur­round­ed 90% of the build­ing with vehic­u­lar cir­cu­la­tion, cre­at­ing ten­u­ous moments of pedes­tri­an cross­ings. A re-bal­anc­ing of the site gives pedes­tri­ans the right-of-way through a shared streets approach, specif­i­cal­ly at the dri­ve thru exit points. 

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Site Plan

With a build­ing design root­ed in envi­ron­men­tal sto­ry­telling, the restau­rant uti­lizes a series of promi­nent strate­gies to pro­mote health and wellness. 

The hang­ing atri­um pro­vides calm­ing views to a nat­ur­al sanc­tu­ary plant­ed with birch trees and an under­sto­ry of edi­ble plants. In addi­tion, sus­pend­ed ​“tapes­tries” improve indoor air qual­i­ty, enrich hap­pi­ness, and pro­vide acoustic value.

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The uti­liza­tion of both Cross Lam­i­nat­ed Tim­ber (CLT) and Glu­lam­i­nat­ed beams show­cas­es the impor­tance of prod­ucts with low-embod­ied ener­gy. Trees pro­vide an abun­dant and replen­ish­able source of mate­r­i­al. Addi­tion­al­ly, wood has been shown to con­tribute mean­ing­ful ben­e­fits to the health and well being of users.

The McDonald’s Glob­al Flag­ship became the first com­mer­cial build­ing to use CLT in Chicago.

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The most sus­tain­able build­ing is one that already exists. The design team stud­ied the envi­ron­men­tal and eco­nom­ic val­ue of retain­ing the exist­ing kitchen and base­ment (in teal). In the process of re-cladding exist­ing walls, the ther­mal val­ue was improved sig­nif­i­cant­ly to enhance over­all build­ing performance.

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A ​“solar per­go­la” hov­ers over the build­ing, mak­ing an urban sized ges­ture with a light touch. Com­posed of 1,062 south-fac­ing pan­els, the sys­tem gen­er­ates ~59% of the building’s over­all elec­tri­cal ener­gy needs.

Two years of data show the solar pan­els con­sis­tent­ly out-per­form­ing mod­eled esti­mates. This lev­el of suc­cess is a les­son learned for urban pow­er gen­er­a­tion in cli­mates with unpre­dictable sun exposure.

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The building’s land­scape approach is found in unex­pect­ed spaces. A rooftop farm can be seen through a cleresto­ry win­dow. Plant­ed with Apple Trees, Arugu­la, Broc­coli, Chives, Kale, Swiss Chard, and Car­rots, the pro­duce har­vest­ed is donat­ed to the local Ronald McDon­ald House. 

Ross Barney’s expe­ri­ence design­ing pub­lic space clear­ly col­ored (their) approach to the project…The archi­tects deter­mined that the best thing a new McDonald’s could do was to pro­vide a bit of green­ery in a rapid­ly rede­vel­op­ing neigh­bor­hood that’s short on parks.

 Karrie Jacobs, Architect Magazine
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Kendall Mc Caugherty Hall Merrick Photographers 1209 007
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