The NEWCITY mixed-use development in Lincoln Park has been getting a lot of attention as the new cornerstone of the bustling Clybourn Corridor. Unknown to most but featured prominently in the pedestrian walkway that connects Halsted Street to the center’s open-air plaza is an artful nod to the site’s predecessor, the New City YMCA. During the demolition process, Taylor Johnson client Structured Developmentmade sure to save hundreds of colorful glazed bricks from the original structure, which once served the Cabrini-Green public housing towers and surrounding neighborhood. Together withMedia Objectives (M-O), an environments and branding studio within Chicago-based Valerio Dewalt Train Associates (VDTA), they created the NEWCITY Heritage Installation to preserve the bricks for future generations. We brought the installation to the attention of DNAinfo Chicago and Chicago Architecture, which both published features on this creative homage to the past.

The artful homage to the New City YMCA is located in the walkway connecting Halsted Street to the NEWCITY plaza.