For an architect, working on a Mies van der Rohe project can be both a blessing and a curse: How to contend with another’s architectural legacy while remaining true to your own? For Eric Rothfeder, founder of his eponymous firm Eric Rothfeder Architect (ERA), the challenge emerged in a commission to renovate in Mies van der Rohe’s Commonwealth Plaza, a landmark 1957 residential tower in Chicago. The client, over the course of decades, had purchased each unit on the floor and was seeking to combine them into one. Rothfeder reimagines the space by using the building’s famed curtain wall as interior context, an approach that doesn’t seek to imitate Mies but work in conversation with him.

“You have to, and maybe we’ll get in trouble for saying this, get out of the mindset of ‘What would Mies do?’” Rothfeder told AN Interior. “You kind of have to step back and allow the project to develop its own order, rationality, and logic, so that it can be cohesive and have its own integrity.” The approach then was not to mimic but to naturally evolve the preexisting language of the building. New additions maintain the clean lines and order that define the building but in a way that feels at home to the space and its new needs.

The 5,000-square-foot apartment was reorganized to create a more continuous plan. In doing so, the architects maintained cross views to take advantage of the 150-inch long panorama of floor-to-ceiling windows. The shifting of rooms was a tricky dance for the architects. As Rothfeder explained, “You have the rationality of the structure and the facade, but with the reality that all the other building systems—the pipes, plumbing, electrical risers, HVAC ducts—are all distributed according to [Mies’s] very modest and very efficient apartment layouts. This becomes very apparent during demolition, where you really see the perfect grid, and then there’s just pipes in seemingly the most arbitrary places.”

Still, ERA persisted in moving technical areas like the kitchen in places they had never been before, much less set up for. The studio pushed all public-facing areas to the south end of the floor where the best views are. This creates a long, continuous space that flows from a casual seating area to the kitchen, dining area, living and media room, and then office. Conversely, all the private areas like bedrooms were pushed to the north elevation where lighting is darker.

Using a restrained color and material palette, the panoramic views and facade system bring magnitude to the project. White walls, glass doors, and neutral finishes allow this exterior element to emphasize the defining character of the building. The departure from glass and aluminum arrives with the use of custom millwork to provide articulation of each program in the space. For instance, a horizontal storage element transitions into floating open shelves that divide the kitchen from the bar area.

These custom moments further allowed ERA to work with the specific context of the building and its original architect. “When you look at Mies’s detailing of the woodwork in his American projects, there’s always this tendency to express the panel. There’s always a sense that there is a kind of shallow depth to it. With this attempt to not just repeat what Mies has done, it was a matter of how do you do something that speaks to solidity and depth but in a new way?” The answer became solid wood with a triangular profile. In place of the re-entry corners common amongst Mies’s work, ERA designs 45-degree chamfered corners, a subtle nod to Mies.

The furniture selection stems from the same approach of working in relation to the architecture but not replicating it. Rothfeder worked with Luminaire to find furniture from the 20th and 21st century that is in conversation with Commonwealth Plaza. Charlotte Perriand, Piero Lissoni, and Poul Kjaerholm are featured in the living room, while Jasper Morrison, Patricia Urquiola are included in the kitchen and dining room. Like the millwork and overall concept, the furniture selection stems from the same approach of working in relation to the architecture—not replicating it.