Architect Walter Netsch designed his home in Chicago as a dynamic multi-level open-plan space, governed by a complex geometry. Decades later, SOM's design team has transformed the space to suit the lifestyle, needs, and aesthetic of the home's new owners.
For the cover story of the December 2020 issue, the Italian design and architecture magazine Abitare profiles SOM's precise renovation of architect Walter Netsch's historic Chicago home.
Three SOM projects—Baltimore Sun, the Netsch House, and 800 W Fulton—have received gold and platinum awards in interior design in the annual Muse Design Awards program.
Dwell magazine features the Netsch Residence, designed by the late Walter Netsch in 1974, and restored in 2019 by SOM in collaboration with the current owners. The Chicago residence demonstrates the design philosophy Netsch called field theory—an ordering system based on complex geometries that establish intricate relationships between form and function.
The Netsch Residence Renovation was honored in Interior Design Magazine's Best of Year Awards as the overall category winner in the Residential Transformation category. The Chicago home was designed by SOM partner Walter Netsch and completed in 1974. A team from SOM's Chicago office worked with the home's current owners to return it to its original vision.
Curbed Chicago features SOM's award-winning renovation of the Netsch Residence. The house, originally designed by former SOM partner Walter Netsch (1920 – 2008), demonstrates the design philosophy of field theory that Netsch incorporated in much of his work.
The West Loop Branch of the Chicago Public Library, the Taylor Street Apartments and Little Italy Branch Library, and the Netsch Residence Renovation projects have been named as finalists in Interior Design Magazine's Best of Year Awards.