800 West Fulton Market

800 West Fulton Market is a Chicago mixed-use office building. It features 19-stories of stepped terraces rising from a 3-story podium that matches the existing scale of Fulton Market Street. The building’s design creates landscaped outdoor spaces for native plants and trees out of glass, brick and dark metal paneling that ties it to the aesthetics of the existing industrial neighborhood. Crown Corr of Gary, Ind., fabricated and installed the façade, while Owatonna, Minn.-based Viracon was the glass supplier.

800 West Fulton Market
Photo credit: Dave Burk

Engineered for Chicago’s climate, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) designed 800 Fulton Market with X-braced facades. The external steel brace frames on the east and west elevations were designed for harsh winters with central nodes of each brace having the flexibility to move closer to or away from the facades as they cool and contract or heat up and expand according to the seasons. The braces also have a roughly 9-inch range for thermal movements to accommodate windloads.

An offset cantilevered core made of glass and open floor plates make flexible, light-filled work spaces inside the building. These interior glass walls were supplied by PK-30.

800 Fulton Market is certified LEED Platinum, WiredScore Platinum, SmartScore Platinum and targets WELL Building Standard certification. It also has smart building systems that help advance the project’s goals for sustainability and well-being.