A Day of Discussion and Lessons from the Field...
QC Experience went way beyond a typical Thursday as architects, installers and manufacturers gathered for a tour of two projects that show new façades shaping Chicagoland. Hosted by QC Facades and Centerline, this event showed that sometimes the best design conversations happen on the sidewalk.
We started at Northwestern Medicine in Bronzeville, designed by Lamar Johnson Collaborative. The design team brought a sharp, modern sensibility to the project, making sure this healthcare building did more than just check boxes for performance. It also needed to feel clean, inviting and rooted in the community.
The façade, featuring flat and perforated QC plate panels in a custom bronze finish, helped deliver the project’s aesthetic. The undulating façade installation delivered a modern take on a woven look while the panels’ resilient aluminum construction ensured it will meet the performance demands of Chicago winters and summers for decades.
Walking the site, the group dove into what makes or breaks a project like this: material choices, installation details and how all the small design decisions add up to a strong presence in the neighborhood. Installers chimed in with real-world stories about constructability, tolerances and why certain detailing decisions save headaches later.
From Bronzeville, the group headed to the riverfront to see The Reed at Southbank, a tower designed by Perkins&Will that’s redefining residential living downtown. With the river on one side and skyline views on the other, this building is all about context.
The façade here tells a different story, using exposed concrete, sleek glass surfaces, and meta accents to blend luxe living with an industrial feeling appropriate for the site’s heritage.
QCglass panels with a custom-printed linear frit evoked a subtle texture, like a pattern that reveals itself when the angle is right. It’s the kind of move that architects geek out about—and geek out we did.
Discussions centered on panel size (how big is too big?), durability in a high-rise urban setting, and ways that patterned glass panels balance subtlety with impact. Walking along the river, everyone had a take, and the energy was contagious.
What made the QC Experience special wasn’t just the projects, it was the conversation. Seeing the buildings in person turned abstract specs into tangible design lessons. Architects compared notes, installers swapped tips, and everyone listened in on what matters most to the people bringing these buildings to life. It felt less like a tour and more like a day out with colleagues who happen to love talking about panels, patterns and performance.
The following day, Facades+ extended the engaging conversations. QC Facades proudly sponsored this façade industry event, a wider gathering of architects and other industry members from around Chicago.
If the QC Experience was the opener, Facades+ was the concert, bringing a variety of other ideas, innovations and collaborations into the mix.
Taken together, QC Experience and Facades+ both highlighted how important it is to learn about façades by engaging with them deeply, asking questions, and hearing the perspectives of the people who designed, created, and installed them.