The new 89-unit Encuentro Square affordable housing development in Logan Square is a smart addition to Chicago’s architecture with a compelling design that’s simple and straightforward, but layered with just enough detail to keep things interesting.

It’s located just north of The 606’s western end. When the popular elevated trail opened a decade ago, there wasn’t a lot there at its western terminus. The McCormick YMCA opened its doors just north of the trail in 2018, but while its facilities serve its neighbors well, its architectural design is desultory at best.

Encuentro Square changes that calculus.

The two-building complex was designed by locally based Canopy / architecture + design, which has been practicing since 2009 and is best known for its work in the affordable housing market and what Canopy principal and founder Jaime Torres Carmona dubs the “social impact space.”

By Edward Keegan,  Architecture Critic at the Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune