The Chica­go Park Dis­trict select­ed Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects’ joint ven­ture with Brook Archi­tec­ture (DuS­able Park Design Alliance) to design DuS­able Park; a 3.5 acre space where the Chica­go Riv­er and Lake Michi­gan meet.

Named in hon­or of Jean Bap­tiste Pointe DuS­able, the first non-native set­tler and​“Founder of Chica­go”, DuS­able Park will become an over­due acknowl­edge­ment of the city’s his­to­ry and an icon­ic pub­lic space.

Sit­ed on an area of lake fill, the park was home to var­i­ous indus­tri­al uses begin­ning in the late 1800’s. The Chica­go Dock and Canal Trust Planned Develop­ment estab­lished the site as a park, and in 1987 May­or Harold Wash­ing­ton ded­i­cat­ed the site in hon­or of Jean Bap­tiste Pointe DuS­able. DuS­able park is posi­tioned as both a crit­i­cal piece of Chicago’s pub­lic lake­front and a cap to Chicago’s Riverwalk. 

Client: The Chica­go Park Dis­trict
Pro­gram: New city park
Size: 3.5 Acres
Cost: $10,000,000

Project Fea­tures:
The Chica­go Archi­tec­ture Bien­ni­al, ​“Par­al­lel His­to­ries” On site acti­va­tion and exh­bit, The Chica­go Cul­tur­al Cen­ter, 2023 – 2024. 
​“36 Years after Harold Wash­ing­ton ded­i­cat­ed a park, its first struc­ture is built” By Den­nis Rod­kin, Crains Chica­go Busi­ness Decem­ber 8, 2023. ​“Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects cre­ates pavil­ion explor­ing ​“lay­ers” of ear­ly Chica­go” by Ben Dre­i­th, Dezeen Mag­a­zine, Novem­ber 17, 2023. ​“Car­ol Ross Bar­ney on design­ing Chicago’s DuS­able Park, by Izzy Korn­blatt, Archi­tec­tur­al Record, March 2022. 
 

Col­lab­o­ra­tive Part­ners: 
Brook Archi­tec­ture 
DuS­able Park Design Alliance
The DuS­able Park Design Alliance (DPDA) is a unique, diverse, and inclu­sive joint ven­ture formed to pro­vide the bold, inno­v­a­tive, and col­lab­o­ra­tive design ser­vices demand­ed by the mis­sion and spir­it of the DuS­able Park project. DPDA is found­ed, owned, and led by an African Amer­i­can, women-owned archi­tec­tur­al design firm (Brook Archi­tec­ture) and a women-owned archi­tec­ture, land­scape archi­tec­ture, and urban design stu­dio (Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects). The firms rep­re­sent two of Chicago’s most rec­og­nized and respect­ed design lead­ers. DPDA has assem­bled a major­i­ty minor­i­ty and women-owned con­sul­tant team to col­lab­o­rate on the real­iza­tion of DuS­able Park:

• Syl­vain Stu­dios (Art Curator)
• Dr. Christo­pher Reed (His­to­ri­an and DuS­able Scholar)
• MBDB (Com­mu­ni­ty Engagement)
• sCole­man Design (Graph­ics and Wayfinding)
• Dynasty Group (Sur­vey­ing)
• David Mason (Civ­il and Struc­tur­al Engineering)
• Wang Engi­neer­ing (Engi­neer­ing)
• Alfred Benesch (Marine Engineering)
• Delta Engi­neer­ing (Elec­tri­cal Engineering)
• Hugh Asso­ciates (Light­ing Design)
• Con­cord Group (Cost Estimation)