Redesigning The Silver Room community space in Chicago
This Chicago boutique and community space – which champions local artists, designers, and Black-owned businesses – undergoes a makeover courtesy of architects Future Firm and designer Norman Teague

Ross Floyd - Photography
Founded by Chicagoan Eric Williams in 1997, The Silver Room is one of the North American city's prominent retail destinations, known even beyond its urban borders for championing local artists and in particular, artists of colour. Now, the 1,500 sq ft southside boutique and community space has just been redesigned by local architecture studio Future Firm and designer and educator Norman Teague.
Located in the vibrant Hyde Park neighbourhood, the space needed to be truly multi-functional, often shifting from boutique to a variety of other functions daily. ‘Inherently it’s a retail store, but it’s much more than that. It’s a community space, it’s a gathering space, it’s a place for book signings, it’s a dance floor, it’s a place for fashion shows. I like the fact that it’s a lot of different things, and the more people who discover it, the more things it can become,' says Williams. ‘The way I look at it, we just kind of create a platform and people who come in can create what they want from it.'
Future Firm founders Ann Lui and Craig Reschke focused on creating a simple and utilitarian, yet flexible interior in white and grey tones. ‘A minimal design approach becomes a platform for the people, products, events that are the core of Silver Room to take center stage,' says Lui.
The space is vividly occupied by custom plywood display systems, designed in collaboration with Norman Teague Design Studios - each created with The Silver Room's curated selection of products in mind, including from fashion accessories to jewellery and products. Following the overall approach that emphasises flexibility, each unit allows simple but significant adjustments to adapt as merchandise changes.
Where relevant and possible, the team incorporated in their designs material from the store's previous iterations – The Silver Room has had three location and 10 redesigns in the course of its life so far – giving the project a strong sense of continuity and identity, on top of its refined aesthetic and strong functionality.
INFORMATION
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
A nature-inspired Chinese art centre cuts a crisp figure in a Guiyang park
A new Chinese art centre by Atelier Xi in the country's Guizhou Province is designed to bring together nature, art and community
-
William Kentridge's fluid sculptures are a vivid addition to the Yorkshire landscape
William Kentridge has opened the first major exhibition to focus on his sculptures outside of South Africa at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
-
David Cronenberg’s ‘The Shrouds’ is the film for our post-truth digital age
The film director draws on his own experience of grief for this techno conspiracy thriller
-
The owner of this restored Spanish Colonial home turned it into a gallery – with no social media allowed
Casa Francis in LA is a private residence, but recently opened its doors to one member of the public at a time for an exhibition centred around domesticity
-
This Manhattan apartment and studio is a shrine to art
This New York artist's home is both comfortable and flexible, acting as a studio and a showcase for his work and collected pieces. We take a tour for our interiors series, The Inside Story
-
Life’s a beach at this tropical-glam Miami development
Five Park Miami Beach mixes streamlined glamour with vibrant colour, and is the focus of Wallpaper’s interiors series, The Inside Story, as the Floridian city holds its annual Grand Prix
-
A Frank Lloyd Wright lamp broke auction record at Sotheby’s – fetching $7.5 million
The architect's ‘Double-Pedestal’ lamp, which was designed for the Dana House in 1903, has become his most valuable work ever offered at auction
-
This Colorado ski chalet combines Rocky Mountains warmth with European design nous
Wood and stone meet artisanal and antique pieces in this high-spec, high-design mountain retreat
-
Hilltop hideaway: Colony creates tranquil interiors for a Catskills retreat
Perched between two mountain ranges, this Catskills retreat marries bold, angular architecture with interiors that offer warmth and texture
-
Rio Kobayashi’s new furniture bridges eras, shown alongside Fritz Rauh’s midcentury paintings at Blunk Space
Furniture designer Rio Kobayashi unveils a new series, informed by the paintings of midcentury artist Fritz Rauh, at California’s Blunk Space
-
Brooklyn furniture studio Stillmade unveils its first collaborative design series
Stillmade brings to life the designs of four New Yorkers – Pat Kim, Danny Kaplan, Michele Quan and Mignogna Studio