Baba Architects

Some projects never get built. This one stays with me.
A master suite addition in Wilmette, IL — conceived as a private retreat within the home. The program was deceptively simple: a place for parents to exhale. What emerged was something more considered.
Exposed rafters with steel rafter tie connections read as structure made honest. Skylights pull the sky into the peak. A double-sided fireplace divides the room without closing it — the bed on one side, a sitting area on the other, and a window bench where the light lands in the afternoon.
The fireplace surround is custom — blackened, tactile, scaled to hold the room. The palette throughout is restrained: natural wood, warm white plaster, aged metal.
Unbuilt, but not unrealized.

PROJECT UPDATE: VITA Lafayette has officially closed on financing — construction begins soon!

VITA Lafayette is an active adult independent senior housing campus featuring 123 apartment units and 33 cottage-style homes. This LIHTC affordable housing development helps meet the growing demand for senior housing in Indiana while easing pressure on the broader housing market.

Designed with community and wellness in mind, the project offers a rich array of amenities — pickleball and bocce courts, dog wash stations, walking trails, and indoor spaces including a café, community kitchen, and multipurpose “town hall” for rotating activities and local vendors.

Baba Architects is proud to be part of VITA’s expanding portfolio of thoughtful, affordable senior living communities.

SEMI CUSTOM HOMES

Your vision, simplified. Introducing our new architect-designed semi-custom home collection for Chicago's standard lots. Choose from a variety of stunning aesthetic styles that range from traditional to contemporary, or work with us to design to your stylistic taste.  Live the luxury you've dreamed of, without the custom build complexities.  

The Good Life Cooperative is a conceptual co-housing project rooted in the idea that aging in community should be both dignified and attainable. Partnering with WJW Archtiects, Baba Architects helped design the conceptual building, intended to be located in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago.

This vision originated with Rowena West, a graduate of Elevated Chicago’s Equitable Ambassadors program—an initiative that equips everyday residents with the tools to shape development in their own neighborhoods. Her passion and clarity of purpose were unmistakable: affordable, cooperative housing for older adults in Woodlawn, built on values of mutual support, cultural continuity, and belonging.

As architects, we’re often called to solve design problems. But sometimes, the most compelling projects begin not with a site or a budget, but with a story. Baba Architects is proud to have supported Rowena’s vision with an early design concept for a housing model that honors care, affordability, and community agency.

Featured in NOVOGRADAC https://www.novoco.com/periodicals/articles/illinois-launches-initiative-encourage-bipoc-affordable-housing-developers

The perfect summer escape, right in your back yard. This rooftop deck in Lincoln Park is designed for summer gatherings and everyday use. Built over a garage, this space features a custom steel pergola, integrated planters, and bench seating that frames the space while offering flexibility for dining and entertaining.

This project reflects how even modest urban footprints can be transformed into functional, well-detailed outdoor rooms.

Interested in creating something similar? Contact Baba Architects to learn more or to explore design options for your home.