The house is somewhere in Lincoln Park. I believe it's on Wrightwood between Sheffield and Clark.

I used to live down the street from this home. In many ways it's quite beautiful, but in my opinion the structure doesn't fit with the surrounding neighborhood and architecture.

Lincoln Park: on Wrightwood (600 block), between Orchard and Clark. Awful monolithic box in a neighborhood of mostly grey/brown stones. All the surrounding neighbors called the place "The Fortress of Solitude". I always felt sorry for those who lived across the street from it.

I've been inside it once for a fund-raiser. From what I remember of it, it's pretty spare on the inside, at least in the more public areas on the first floor. Almost museum-like with lots of art - mix of modern and ancient. The pictures don't quite show it, but there is a large 2nd-floor outdoor space hat runs almost the entire length of the house, which is where the fund-raiser was held. I spent a majority of my time upstairs in the back of the house in the library, which is much more low-key and is full of books (obviously) and photos and mementos. It is a very beautiful place, especially during the summer where you can spend most of your time walking around the house outside.

It looks like a prison.

While it might not be to everyone's taste I would love to see more of the inside. I use to live just down the street and still live in the neighborhood, I can't think of a more interesting modern house that I've seen in lincoln park.

The owner bought the three flat next door to supervise construction. There were rumors that some of the concrete wasn't up to snuff aesthetically and had to be torn down and repoured, it really was an exacting process. They had to use specially coated formwork to get the smooth finish.

Despite that level of precision and perfectionism, Ando is known for having condensation on inside glass... He did an interesting house on the coast in Sri Lanka, which is much more outward looking.

I met Mr. Ando - he desgined the library at Asia University, where I learned chinese in Taiwan. His style is very brutal, lots of concrete, with a heavy focus on the interplay between light and shadow. A truly amazing architect, I'm honored to have met him.

That is one of my favorite houses in Chicago. I would love to see the interior.

The neighborhood architecture is beautiful. This is totally out of place. See the Google Map of Ando house

Boo! I used to live near this house and always wanted to see the inside. Clicked the link hoping to see pictures. I bet it's gorgeous.

"The Fortress of Solitude" ....hahahahaha

I dunno, I don't like when something comes in and ruins the flow and vibe of the block. I can appreciate architecture like this, but not in this setting.

Another Tadao Ando creation is in Chelsea/NYC-
the beautiful Morimoto Rstaurant owned by Steven Starr in conjunction w/ the "Iron Chef" himself.
http://www.morimotonyc.com/

I happen to think all those new-built, faux-French chateau/ Italian villa, single-family homes all over Lincoln Park are abominations that ruin the neighborhood, too. While I wouldn't want to see a block full of houses like Ando's, kudos to the owners for hiring an actual architect rather than buying some crappy builder McMansion.

I got to tour the house under construction, no picts though (that I know of...its been a bit and they'd be on film). They did indeed have to repour some of the sections (they even had to remove an entire portion when a floor plan change was made, a bathroom or something was changed around which resulted in having to repour the walls and floor as everything was cast in place).

The construction company used coated forms and only used them once and then sent them off to be used on other jobs. When we were there there was a group of about 4 people going around and filling in the air bubbles. they were mixing mortar and applying it _by hand_ - no tools per Ando's office.

fortress of solitude? bah, I'm with catiaelizabeth on this one, there's a lot of other crap out there. You wouldn't want an entire street of these, but there's nothing wrong with one being part of a larger streetscape.

The street is littered with houses of different styles. There's even a factory nearby! Why single out this one?

The house is amazingly beautiful. It adds to the character and charm of the neighborhood.

One of my favorite things about chicago's neighborhoods is the wonderful diversity in architectural styles. And personally, I think the contrast between this house and its neighboring vintage homes is quite beautiful. Beauty comes in many forms...

The garage door on the front is what really gets me. I always wonder when I walk past, do they raise open the garage door for the pizza delivery guy? But I suppose anyone who'd live here wouldn't eat anything as pedestrian as pizza.

The only awful style of house to have hit Chicago are those McMansion, cheap brick deal. I can't believe those things were allowed to be built.

Oh, let's not forget the Mcmansion looking condo unit buildings... disgusting!

I was in it once, maybe ten years, ago and was knocked out by its beauty. It was an early autumn evening, the light was perfect, the sheet of water in the atrium was like a piece of glass. Later, I found out someone had spent a few hours removing every leaf, every speck of windlown litter from the atrium's pool. Basically, it's a Modern version of heaven, and just as hard to get into, or, maybe, if there were a power outage, to get out of, since I don't remember any of the doors to the outside having anything as plebian as an actual handle. Then again, this place probably has its own generators in the sub-sub basement. And yes, the concrete was like silk.

!!!! I lived next door to this house 2 years ago and always wanted to know who built this. The address is 661 W. Wrightwood I believe. (I lived at 659 W. Wrightwood.)

My room mate and I called it the Robot House when we lived there. Whoever lived there had insane parties with glowing purple and blue lights shining from inside the walls, with legit bouncers standing outside that gate. Very strange.

Having been to the museum in Fort Worth, I can say that the experience of the structure with all that concrete and those windows, light & shadow--is actually quite something. Don't know if I'd want to live in a museum-like space, though.