Event Overview

“All Magnificent and Wild” is an exhibition curated by architect and theorist Francesco Marullo that investigates Chicago’s residential hotels. The exhibition is hosted at the MAS Context Reading Room, located at 1564 North Damen Avenue, Suite 204, Chicago, Illinois 60622. The opening reception will take place on Saturday, March 14, 2025, from 5 to 7 PM, and it is free with no RSVP required.

This ongoing research project studies the typology of residential hotels—a hybrid architectural form that emerged in the late nineteenth century to provide affordable lodging for transient workers. These included settlement houses, SROs (single-room occupancy hotels), flophouses, YMCAs/YWCAs, charitable institutions, missions, and workingmen’s palaces. Many of these structures were erased by urban renewal and gentrification.

The exhibition presents forty case studies, each redrawn in plan and cabinet axonometric form, supplemented by archival material, historical texts, and maps. The research, conducted by Francesco Marullo and his graduate and undergraduate students at the UIC School of Architecture, reconstructs these buildings to propose alternative futures for affordable housing in Chicago. The SRO typology emerges as the most classical form of residential hotels, offering flexibility in program, guest diversity, and daily use while avoiding paternalism typical of large-scale social housing or philanthropic complexes. The work demonstrates how architecture can transform social conditions and housing practices.

Key Themes

• Exploration of historical and typological forms of residential hotels in Chicago.
• Analysis of SRO hotels as adaptable and flexible housing units.
• Proposal for contemporary mid-size co-living architecture to address transitional demographics, such as temporary workers, students, older adults, migrants, and individuals exiting shelters or the criminal-legal system.
• Advocacy for design interventions that reduce per-person costs, concentrate density, and expand affordable living options.

Event Details

✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight

The exhibition “All Magnificent and Wild: Notes on Chicago Residential Hotels” revisits the largely forgotten typology of residential hotels to question contemporary approaches to affordable housing. By redrawing forty historical case studies, the research reframes SROs and related models as flexible urban housing infrastructures rather than obsolete social remnants. The project highlights how mid-scale density, programmatic adaptability, and minimal spatial units once addressed transient urban populations. In an era of housing shortages and rising urban costs, the exhibition positions these historical precedents as a critical lens for rethinking co-living models, housing policy, and architectural strategies for accommodating shifting demographic and economic conditions.

Conclusion

“All Magnificent and Wild” reframes Chicago’s SRO hotels as both a historical and contemporary model for affordable urban housing. By investigating their typology, design, and social impact, the exhibition prompts questions about co-living, density, and the politics of small spaces. It highlights the potential of architectural design to create inclusive and adaptive housing solutions for modern transitional populations.

For further context on typological research in architecture and urbanism, attendees may explore typology studies, urban resilience approaches, and affordable housing design strategies discussed on ArchUp.

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