Wilmette is making progress on a new beach house at Gillson Park. The Wilmette Park District Board of Commissioners selected Chicago-based Woodhouse Tinucci Architects to design a new beach house and parking lot for Gillson Park at a meeting on December 12.
The Park District issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) in September, receiving 10 responses from architectural firms and narrowing it down to five options. In November the Lakefront Committee interviewed those five architectural firms, each of which submitted design ideas for a new beach house as well as a redesigned parking lot.
Since the $14.5 million lakefront referendum was overwhelming rejected by voters in April 2015, the Park District has been working toward developing a scaled-back plan for the lakefront parks which would include new beach house for Gillson Park. In July, the board decided to make a new beach house and parking lot a priority, after reviewing a community-wide survey on potential lakefront improvements.
While the Park District utilized the floor plan of the previous beach house plan to develop a program for the RFQ, the new beach house will be about 1,000 square feet smaller than the original design. The parking lot redesign is aimed at dealing with flooding problems, by minimizing the lot’s impermeable surface while keeping the same number of parking spaces.
Woodhouse Tinucci submitted three designs all of which make a point of blending the beach house into the landscape. Commissioner Ryrie Pellaton, chair of the Lakefront Committee, noted that Woodhouse Tinucci is best known locally for designing the Rosewood Beach facilities in Highland Park and the boathouse at Northwestern University.
Commissioner Bryan Abbot said the committee received a lot of community input throughout the process. “It was a difficult choice in the end but that was a blessing because we had some really great choices,” he said. Commissioner Abbot noted that Woodhouse Tinucci was the best choice because of the firm’s experience designing beach houses. “My personal feeling is that Woodhouse Tinucci is an extremely thoughtful designer and have proven that they are responsive to the community,” he added.
Going forward, Steve Wilson, Park District Director will work with Woodhouse Tinccu to finalize the terms of the contract. Wilson told DailyNorthShore he hoped to complete this process by January, but no later than February.