The office is an incubator for creative enterprise, and the springboard of a new community in a changing neighborhood.

Wall PhotoCollage Wall

The irreverent card game Cards Against Humanity encourages players to constantly probe the boundaries of offensiveness. The self-proclaimed “party game for horrible people” has grown to become the best-selling game on Amazon.com, and earns that spot because – as it turns out – when you’re with friends, being bad is good.

The same social paradigm that makes the game so fun to play is also what drives the games’ eight founders in their professional endeavors. The group sees social connections and the cross-pollination of ideas as a crucial aspect of a creative culture.

They envision the work-share office typology as an opportunity to bring together graphic designers, artists, photographers and writers into a creative co-working space that encourages collaboration. After years in a cramped storefront office, Cards Against Humanity renovated and moved to a 12,000 square foot warehouse along a busy industrial corridor in Chicago. A new space provided an opportunity to expand their involvement in the local design community and beyond.

Cards Final Part1Concept Diagram

Because of the varied interests of the many artists and inventors occupying the building, the program needed to be flexible while providing for many specific requirements.

The flexibility of the building has allowed its occupants to reach many different communities, from local designers to fans around the globe, and everywhere in between. In addition to the theater and podcasting studio, a large open office area, an open shipping and receiving area, bike parking, coffee bar, screen printing studio, and artist’s gallery all provide specific functions with ancillary uses. By sharing and overlapping spaces, they respond to the many other uses that occur.

CollagePlan Collage
Cards Against Humanity Office Chicago 11Shipping Container Panel Detail Nicholas James
2015 Ia Cardsagainsthumanity SustainabilityEnvironmental Stewardship Nicholas James
Cards Final Part2