AON Center Cloud Level Amenity Space
Gary Lee Partners has elevated the brand and heritage of Chicago’s iconic AON Center building with a new amenity floor that provides wellness and hyper-local resources for tenants of the building.
The Cloud Level concept was born to reflect the building’s location and the ease and comfort one might expect from a private club. The design by Gary Lee Partners seeks to provide a warm space for year-round use by borrowing elements from the dune laden landscape of The Mitten State. Greens and other organic colors as well as casual materials such as wicker and wood plank are used. Accents such as red barn doors, waterside artwork, bright tiles and moss walls add characteristics both coastal and inland.
Within this framework, individual venues were developed and branded as unique spaces. The Peak Fitness Center brings the active outdoors inwards with panoramic views of the lake. The bright Remedy Café looks like a waterside pop-up with a sunroom inspired lounge area. The Soapbox Conference Center applies the same palette and materials but in a more formal environment.
Gary Lee Partners designed the unique venues to feel distinct and separate but also connected to create a retreat-like experience. Partially informed by capacity requirements, horizontal existing impacted the size of each room and forced the design around the building’s core. As a result, the elevator banks and corridors create the transitional flow from one venue to the next.
Design: Gary Lee Partners
Photography: Nathan Kirkman
