Midtown Athletic Club in Chicago is not your typical health club. The recent expansion of Midtown Athletic Club and Hotel transformed what was the largest indoor tennis club in the country into the largest lifestyle center in the country. The hybrid health club and hotel exudes intentional details designed by DMAC Architecture, located in Evanston, IL.

According to Dwayne MacEwen, principal at DMAC Architecture, in designing the 250,000-square-foot expansion, the lobby needed to give a first impression and be consistent with the overall design. “In the lobby at Midtown, granite blocks are showcased to tell their story,” said MacEwen. “While considering the wall cladding for the lobby, we knew we wanted a natural material that would be unexpected. In the process, we came across some end blocks of Absolute Black granite, blasted form the mountainside with deep grooves and rough edges. These scarred blocks would normally be discarded, but we saw beauty and power in these wounds. They told a story. They would be the first of many stories hidden and revealed throughout Midtown’s design.”