Norweta

Honor Award

Residential Design

Chicago, Illinois, United States
site design group, ltd.
Client: Broder

“

A wonderful diverse landscape addition to residential life. The value of landscape architecture in an urban, building-dominant residential development is highly visible with this project. It seems every opportunity to create a landscape amenity was thoughtfully taken, and the resulting network of elegantly detailed courtyards and gardens seems to tie the complex together, while still allowing for a diversity of programs and scales of gathering.

”

- 2025 Awards Jury

Project Credits

PappaGeorge Haymes Partners, Architect

Gary Lee Partners, Interior Designer

Nayyar+Nayyar International, Inc., Structural Engineer

Eriksson Engineers, Civil Engineer

Maycom Construction, General Contractor

Intrinsic Landscaping, Landscape Contractor

Project Statement

Norweta is an urban infill project in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Designed with an emphasis on resident wellness and green living, the 74-unit development uses landscape as its defining element. A series of shared courtyards and lush gardens provide spaces for gathering and respite amid fast-paced city life. These interconnected “secret gardens” each have a unique character and program, while maintaining a cohesive design language. Nearly all the landscape sits over structure, effectively making the project a series of green roofs, yet the landscape feels as abundant as any other at-grade garden. Lush and layered plantings, refined materials, and playful details evoke a sense of place akin to that of a secret garden in the city.

Project Narrative

Context

Norweta is a vibrant residential community in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, designed to reimagine city life, with an emphasis on green living. Built on a former terra cotta tile factory site, the urban infill redevelopment spans just under a city block and offers 74 homes, in a combination of apartments and condominiums. Shared outdoor courtyards and lush gardens provide spaces for gathering, respite, and wellness in a fast-paced urban context. 

Concept and Program

Inspired by Chicago’s motto, Urbs in Horto (“City in a Garden”), Norweta’s landscape is central to its identity. Green spaces unfold as a series of “secret gardens,” each with a unique character and program while maintaining a cohesive design.

Key site components include:

North Garden: A space for residents to gather, dine, and socialize with a giant chess set, fire pits, a farmhouse table, and multiple seating nooks. At grade, the North Garden offers a distinctive entrance landscape with a dry stone bed and lush plantings, accented by a custom constellation light wall. 

South Garden: A retreat where residents can picnic or relax on an open lawn and hammock garden. Adjacent, a half-court basketball provides recreational opportunities.

Custom trellis: This spans from building entry to building entry to unify the gardens and provide shelter.

Pool Deck: A resort-style setting where residents can barbecue, play, and swim. Built-in lounge chairs and seating areas surround the pool on three sides. The adjacent outdoor kitchen offers tables and access to the four-season glass Solarium.

Stylized prairie: A unique outdoor amenity on the top of the south building. Each penthouse unit has a private staircase up to a deck space surrounded by textural prairie plantings that soften the urban environment.

Norweta was designed to be family-forward, where “smushed blueberries” were expected in the furniture, and unique discoveries, such as sand pits, games, and seating nooks were designed in each space to surprise and delight.

Collaborative Approach 

During design, the Landscape Architect worked closely with the Owner, Architect, and Interior Designer to seamlessly integrate the materiality and colors from interior to exterior. One example is at the Solarium, where the interior flooring closely matches the exterior pavers, bringing the outside in. The success of the landscape-forward approach was evident as the units facing the gardens sold out first.

Nearly all the landscape sits over structure. From a technical and design perspective, this effectively made the project a series of green roofs. Challenges such as drainage, limited loading capacity, and soil volume required close collaboration with the engineering team. Shallow soil depth was a limiting factor, but the overall design approach helped drive creative solutions. Boulder locations and trellis connection points were coordinated to ensure stability. Custom planters and board-form concrete knee walls, against which additional soil could be mounded, allowed for larger plant material. Over structure, ornamental understory trees were utilized, while larger canopy tree species were located around the perimeter.

Biodiversity and Planting

Norweta was designed to LEED Platinum standards and features well over 100 different plant species to attract pollinators and avian wildlife. This diversity adds a richness of texture, scale, and discovery while contributing to biodiversity on site.

Products

  • Furniture
    • Chicago Fabrications
    • Ore
    • Gloster
  • Hardscape
    • Unilock
  • Lighting
    • KSA Lighting
    • Zaneen
    • iGuzzini
    • Louis Poulsen
  • Other
    • Forms and Surfaces
    • Hammerwell Metal

Plant List

  • Autumn Bride Coral Bells
  • Autumn Moor Grass
  • Biokovo Hardy Geranium
  • Bowhall Maple
  • Bush Honeysuckle
  • Caesar's Brother Iris
  • Carousel Little Bluestem
  • Creeping Lilyturf
  • Dense Spreading Yew
  • Early Bird Catmint
  • Green Gem Boxwood
  • Lesser Calamint
  • Little Henry Sweetspire
  • Little Lime Panicle Hydrangea
  • Little Spire Russian Sage
  • Prairie Dropseed
  • Purple Sensation Allium
  • Shenandoah Switch Grass
  • Snowdrop
  • Starry Night Daffodil
  • Summer Beauty Allium
  • Valley Cushion Mugo Pine
  • Variegated Solomon's Seal
  • Vision in White Astilbe
  • White Wood Aster
  • Whitespire Birch