HUS News
Whether you’ve known us for a while, or this is your first time learning about HUSARCH, you may have picked up that we’re not your traditional architecture firm. Most architect firms strive to design high-concept buildings, while we enjoy designing trash collection systems – one of the ways we spent our 4th annual Earth Day celebration!
As the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA) in-house accessibility consultants, HUSarchitecture is responsible for guiding CHA’s contractors and vendors on accessibility standards to make public housing more inclusive. Recently, we had the pleasure of presenting our accessibility program to a group of CHA’s pre-approved contractors at the Workforce Opportunity Resource Center (WORC) table talk…
Jan Concepcion and Mac Carroll have both been promoted to Sustainability Lead roles, showcasing their dedication to sustainability and innovation. Check out their feature on Crain’s Business Review!
HUSarchitecture proudly joined the Arts in the Dark Parade, with team members crafting a striking headpiece inspired by the iconic St. Charles Airline Bridge near Ping Tom Park.
As Jade Tier Sponsors for the Illinois Green Alliance “Getting to Zero” Summit, we were excited to support an event inspiring growth, innovation, and discourse in the green building community, of which is central to our work.
HUSarchitecture has been recognized as a 2024 Inner City 100 (IC100) award winner! This honor places us among the 100 fastest-growing businesses in under-resourced communities across the United States, a testament to our commitment to community-centered, sustainable design.
Don’t miss the upcoming panel discussion, “Starting Your Own Firm: How to Lead on Your Terms,” where three women architects will share their experiences on building their practices and redefining leadership in the Building sector.
HUS sponsors Days of Service that help our team reconnect with our company values. While our Day of Service for Earth Day helps us reflect on our mission for sustainability, our Day of Service for Juneteenth gives us space to explore our social mission.
At the SFx Panel, small firm leaders shared their journeys of balancing risk, staying true to their mission, and building lasting community impact.
HUS’ location at the corner of Halsted and Cermack lands us in between three diverse Chicago neighborhoods: Pilsen, Bridgeport, and Chinatown. We want to utilize this central location to forge relationships with our community partners that help uplift the communities that we intersect.
On the surface, professional networking can seem like a bunch of awkward small talk, swapping business cards, and free drinks. We see networking as the core of community building – one of our values at HUS.
Our founder and Principal of Architecture and Sustainability, Chyanne Husar, has been featured in Canvas Rebel magazine, a storytelling platform for entrepreneurs and creatives.
The 2024 Springboard to Success (S2S) Gala: The Power of Potential raised $70,000 which will fund 35 scholarships to CHA students! Our Principal of Sustainability, Chyanne Husar, and Director of Architecture, Bruce Weber, spent the evening listening to inspirational stories from the S2S alums and connecting with other supporting organizations, CHA & S2S staff, and community members from across Chicago.
As a sustainability firm, we spend our time enhancing energy efficiencies of large building portfolios and building systems. This year on Earth Day, we reflected on the best ways to incorporate our value for sustainability into our daily lives, focusing on using our own building at 2202 S Halsted in Pilsen as a test case.
The Day of Service came in two phases…
HUSarchitecture was excited to be one of the sponsors for the 2024 IGA Women in Green Building Leadership Luncheon. As a women-owned business with workforce development goals for non-architects, making space for more diverse voices in the building sector is important to our firm’s mission. The Luncheon’s theme, Fresh Perspectives, explored how, as a community, we can infuse new ideas, innovations, and technologies into our existing workflow to set the groundwork for a greener future.
Our team’s commitment to environmental responsibility and compliance led us to the SWPPP certification to better protect the environment on construction sites.
Among our many sustainability services, we are excited about our upcoming work in Building Envelope Commissioning (BECx). BECx is relatively newer to the building world, there are only a handful of commissioners state-wide, and owners/contractors don’t always understand how necessary it is to ensure a holistic approach to energy efficiency. We are excited our Vendor Viewpoint feature in Construction Business Review (CBR) addresses the ways Building Envelope Commissioning is a critical piece to building sustainably.
We are excited to announce an expansion of our leadership team to follow the expansion of our mission for sustainable architecture. We welcome Bruce Weber as HUS’ Director of Architecture.
We are honored to be awarded one of the Top 10 Green Construction Services Providers of 2023 by the Construction Business Review. In a world where buildings use 80% of the world’s total energy usage, we are grateful to be advocates for a better future.
We brought the team to Springboard to Success’ (S2S) gala event, Flipping the Script: CHA Youth Change the Narrative, of which Chyanne was a member of the host committee. The event “showcased S2S students and alums who have flipped the script of what is expected of youth growing up in public housing.”
Chyanne had the pleasure of representing the Women in Architecture panel for the National Organization for Minority Architecture Students (NOMAs) Design + the Future Symposium at at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on February 10. The panel was intended to focus on the experiences of being a woman in the workplace and what growing architects can do to create more equality in architecture in the future.
We’ve just submitted a video to the SCORE Small Business Association highlighting our work with affordable housing and low income property owners. The grand prize is $15,000 and a trip to a business development conference where we will be paired with a mentor who will help us build up our company and strengthen our work in Chicago supporting affordable housing options.
This is the final week to catch our CommUNITY Station show in Gary, Indiana that closes on Feb. 4, featuring student work, the Decay Devils and a silent auction. During the 2017 Fall semester, we worked with architectural graduate students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to design a new structure around Gary’s long abandoned Union Station. Since Jan. 12, our students have shared prints, 3D models and video walk throughs illustrating ideas to transform Gary’s Union Station. In partnership, the Decay Devils also have been presenting their artistic work reflecting their mission to revive Gary.
This April husARchitecture turned five and I nearly missed it among the rush of permit drawings, design concepts, and programming for husART but five years definitely deserves some reflection.
I started husARchitecture in response to a need for my own creative outlet, a need to be able to chase dreams as they became reality, and as a security in the post recession era. It sat quietly for a few years picking up a few side projects while I developed as a project architect at Holabird & Root and learned more about international business.
The best discussions happen over food and drink. The Uncovered Discussion Series hosted by husART Design Collective seeks to promote focused conversations in the context of potluck around a communal dinner table. Topics will range from arts, community, sustainability, science, business and more. In depth topics will be in a serial format over consecutive weeks.
Heads of table are close to the issues at hand, whether expert, involved citizens, or active participants, they will give a background for the discussion and all participants are free to share their ideas, perspectives, brainstorm solutions, or just listen and enjoy.
Did you know that buildings consume 75% of the U.S.'s electricity according to the EIA? As we move towards April's Earth Month, we will be building up our sustainability knowledge. This is so we can be better advocates for renewable energy and be more environmentally responsible architects working to reduce our buildings' reliance on fossil fuels.