Henry and Myrna Knepler Freshman Essay 2nd Prize

The McDonald’s Chicago Flagship by Ross Barney Architects: Wall-E’s Plant in Boot

Le Thuc Ny Phan

Ihad passed by the McDonald’s Chicago Flagship once before I knew it was one of the buildings we would study. When I first visited it, I could not help but feel a sense of dismay. Something about it invoked my skepticism, something about it screamed dystopia, but I can not determine precisely what it is. After I decided to study this structure, I revisited it. The structure is easily recognizable from any angle. Its cuboidal overall shape usually would feel rigid, but the spacey columns and the actual structure is smaller than the pergola, thus creating a sense of openness and transparency. The primary materials are glass and steel, giving it a modern and cold look. However, the user experience within the space is vastly different. The site is in a bustling area downtown, but the atmosphere completely changed as I entered the building. The light floods through the glistening glass and fills the space. The acoustic blocks all of the outside noises. The green walls and the wooden roof frames soften and warm up the space. Everything about it was deliberately designed for the ultimate user experience and is exceptionally unique for fast food services. Even so, the inkling from the beginning still stuck with me, and I still could not explain it. Thus, I decided to analyze, research, and study more about the structure to help explain my doubt, primarily through the lens of environmental consciousness.

As we approach the end of 2022, it is no surprise to anyone that we are on a slippery slope toward irreversible climate damage. It has been depicted over and over again in numerous media. Everyone feels the need for immediate action, but it requires a conscious effort from everyone, from the everyday consumer to big conglomerates. Corporations are catching on to the rising green culture, and many are taking steps; some are genuine, and some are rather deceptive and misleading. McDonald’s is one of those companies setting out to tackle climate risks, from long-term processes, such as participating in the United Nations Race to Zero campaign and COP26, to more immediate actions, like transitioning to more efficient buildings (McDonald’s 2017). Particularly, the McDonald’s Flagship in Chicago is one of their short-term changes, built with sustainability as its essence.

Commissioned by McDonald’s, Ross Barney Architects (r-barc) set out to design an oasis in the hectic part of downtown that is becoming less green by the day. The structure was built in 2018 on a site with which McDonald’s has a long history. Dating back to 1983 with their iconic Rock n’ Roll McDonald’s or their 50th anniversary McDonald’s in 2005.

Putting their flagship on this site represents an architectural transformation, shedding the old structures to build a new structure that embodies the promise of climate stewardship.

One of the main features of the sustainable design is the solar pergola. The pergola is composed of 1,062 south-facing solar panels that can produce around 60% of the energy that the structure needs, and it has exceeded those expectations multiple times in the following years (r-barc 2018a). With just enough structural columns giving it a futuristic and minimalist look, the roof “scales the restaurant with neighboring buildings” (MCHAP 2022). In addition, its cuboidal form unifies the area underneath into one single solidified space while still allowing ample pedestrian walking space and shade.

The building structure utilizes Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) and glued laminated timber (glulam) beams that have less ecological footprint than glass or steel (r-barc 2018a) while also softening and warming up the space. It is the first commercial project in Chicago that uses CLT and the first quick-service restaurant to achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification (MCHAP 2022), once again establishing itself as a pioneer in the architectural transformation of sustainability.

At the center of the main dining area is a garden in a glass box hanging from an opening in the roof. The type of trees planted was consciously considered: “Apple Trees, Arugula, Broccoli, Chives, Kale, Swiss Chard, and Carrots, the produce harvested is donated to the local Ronald McDonald House” (r-barc 2018a). Seventy-five percent of the site is pervious and allows stormwater to drain, with the green roofs able to store up to 7,000 gallons of water (r-barc 2018a). In addition to sustainability, the atrium and green walls hanging down from the roof amplify the user experience with improved air and acoustic quality and embody the storytelling message of hope for a more environmentally friendly future.

While experimental, specific classical architectural methods are still present. For example, the primary material of the structure is glass. Pedota and Laura Román from Schuler Shook collaborated with Ross Barney Architects to design the lighting. They designed the majority of the facades to be glass with “ 69% transmittance and shading along the sun-facing wall” so that the light could come through but still keep the user experience comfortable and preserve the indoor plants (Nale 2020). Besides the bountiful natural light, they used light fixtures of 3000K; as Pedota said, “we utilized exactly what we needed and nothing more.” The emphasis on the minimalistic “less is more” principle and the glass box look is both Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s signature style, as seen in the famous S.R. Crown Hall on the IIT Campus. Simple, yet elegant.

The Flagship’s architectural design has drawn multiple resemblances; one of the notable of which is the McCormick Tribune Campus Center (MTCC), designed by Rem Koolhaas. Specifically, the MTCC was built after the Old Commons, a dining building. Koolhaas decided that MTCC shall “consume” the Commons, making it a part of the new structure. Similarly, the Ross Barney design team kept the previous kitchen and basement through the adaptive reuse method in architecture. “In the process of re-cladding existing walls, the thermal value was improved significantly to enhance overall building performance” (r-barc 2018a).

Besides the Chicago Flagship, it is crucial to look at the McDonald’s Flagship in Florida Disney World, also by Ross Barney Architects, to understand the dystopian feel of this type of structure. Like the Chicago Flagship, this structure was designed with ecological sustainability. However, “McDonald’s makes its buildings the way it makes its food—fast: the timeline from design through construction was a year and a half” (Broome 2020). Although Ross Barney successfully delivered this time, with many design choices reused from the Chicago Flagship and the existing structure, it is only the second of many more environmentally friendly structures to come. There is a reason for skepticism that this might become just another cookie-cutter project. It is not exactly a bad nor a good thing to have many structures that look the same, consistency can be good for the environment, so there is hope. Nevertheless, there is also fear that corporate greed will abuse said cookie-cutter mass production for profits.

The dystopian feel of the McDonald’s Chicago Flagship and other structures of this style can be understood through the plot of WALL-E (2008). Set in a perhaps not-so-distant future, humanity has abandoned earth after completely trashing it to live on a spaceship. WALL-E is a cleaning robot left behind, doing his seemingly futile job, when he discovers a sliver of hope, a plant. A small plant that sprouts from a boot, like a garden inside a glass box. While it is a step and hopeful, it is also bleak that we are there already. More important is what we do with it. Are we going to be AUTOPILOT, willing to destroy the hope of a future for humanity to maintain a status quo? Or are we WALL-E’s trying to clean up the mess we made, bit by bit, while treasuring a crumb of effort from the main contributors of our environmental death?