Netsch Residence Renovation / Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Known for daring and unconventional designs such as Cadet Chapel at the United States Air Force Academy, architect and former SOM design partner Walter Netsch (1920 – 2008) employed the same ingenuity for the design of his own home as he did in his major projects. His Chicago residence demonstrates the design philosophy he called "field theory," based on complex geometries that establish intricate relationships between form and function. Originally completed in 1974, the home appears as a deceptively simple box from the outside, but contains a rich variety of spaces within, with multiple interior levels connected by open-riser stairs. After Netsch’s wife passed away in 2013, SOM worked with the new owners to maintain the spirit of the house by sensitively adapting and renewing select elements of the structure.