Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) CEO Eugene Jones, Jr., Chicago Public Library (CPL) Commissioner Brian Bannon and Chicago Department of Planning and Development (DPD) Commissioner David Reifman today announced the selection of the architecture firms that will work with communities to design co-located housing and library developments in three communities in the city. The selection of the firms follows a design competition to identify the most innovative ideas that will ensure that each community will have a design that best reflects its needs. The three architecture firms selected are:

• John Ronan Architects for the Independence Branch at 4022 N. Elston in the Irving Park community. The firm designed the Gary Comer Youth Center in the Greater Grand Crossing community, South Shore International College Preparatory High School in the South Shore community and the Poetry Foundation in the River North Community.
• Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) for the Roosevelt Branch near Taylor and Ada streets on the Near West Side. This project is part of the CHA’s ongoing redevelopment of the Roosevelt Square community. SOM designed the award-winning Chinatown Branch Library and two of Chicago’s most notable buildings: The Richard J. Daley Center and John Hancock Center.
• Perkins+Will for the Northtown Branch at Western and Pratt avenues in the West Ridge community. The firm designed both the original and new Jones College Preparatory High School in the South Loop community, the Rush University Medical Center and Campus Transformation project on the West Side and more than a dozen libraries, some with mixed-uses, in the United States and Canada.

All three finalists have deep Chicago roots, experience building community-based projects and have led effective community engagement processes for projects such as Chinatown Branch Library, Jones College Preparatory High School and Gary Comer Youth Center that are integral parts of Chicago neighborhoods.