![\"Vanessa](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ctc-l-keegan-041926-14_261728412.jpg\")
Vanessa Sanchez is the director of Yollocalli Arts Reach, a youth-oriented after-school arts initiative in a decommissioned and remodeled firehouse at 2358 S. Whipple St. in Chicago on April 16, 2026. (Terrence Antonio James\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\nYollocalli Arts Reach, a youth-oriented after-school arts initiative of the National Museum of Mexican Art is still settling into its new digs in the Little Village neighborhood. The program occupies a decommissioned two-story-tall firehouse at the corner of West 24th and South Whipple streets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The project is an unusual exercise in restraint by its architects, one that preserves the character of the old building while allowing Yollocalli\u2019s young users \u2014 ages 13 to 24 \u2014 to leave their own marks on the design.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see this idea of the architecture getting out of the way,\u201d Civic Projects founder and principal architect Monica Chadha said. \u201cIt tries not to be overly prescriptive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chadha led a design team that included Wallin\/Gomez Architects Vice President Joanna Ruiz and Yollocalli Executive Director Vanessa Sanchez.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The traditional urban firehouse is an almost perfect neighbor \u2014 matched in scale and material to the predominantly residential neighborhood while using subtle details that indicate its status as an official civic structure. The original brick and limestone trim has been cleaned, and the architects have restored the substantial copper cornice on the front face of the building. Windows have been replaced, and the firehouse doors have been swapped out for large glazed openings facing Whipple.<\/p>\n
This is the program\u2019s first fully owned space since its inception in 1997; it previously rented spaces, first in Pilsen, then in Little Village. It was not your usual architectural brief: Chadha recalls the design challenge from one young woman they interviewed during the predesign phase: \u201cI want a place that feels like my best friend\u2019s bedroom, but not my best friend\u2019s bedroom,\u201d she said. \u201cI want a space where I can be weird and we can be weird together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vanessa Sanchez is the director of Yollocalli Arts Reach, a youth-oriented after-school arts initiative in a decommissioned and remodeled firehouse at 2358 S. Whipple St. in Chicago on April 16, 2026. (Terrence Antonio James\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Thus, the designers were working with emotions and feelings while answering the question, \u201cWhat\u2019s a space you could be creative in?\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer involved maintaining many of the original firehouse details: glazed brick and tin ceiling on the first level, a spiral stair now headed to nowhere, and even the plugged holes where the fire poles once were (the fire company took those iconic elements with them to their new home just a few blocks away). The two large firehouse doors facing Whipple have been replaced with large glass windows, one of which can be opened to the small exterior plaza at the front that provides a ramped entry and space for gathering in nicer weather. Surprisingly, the low concrete benches do not have the standard issue bumpers that are usually deployed to foil skateboarders. \u201cI encourage skateboarders,\u201d Sanchez said.<\/p>\n
The ground floor is predominantly open with a small lobby, an enclosed office, a central event space and a recording booth. An open metal stair toward the rear of the space connects the two floors. The second floor is devoted to four studios with one configured for pottery production with a kiln room. Each studio has windows that look out over the street and interior windows that provide visual access between them. The hall widens at several points to encourage informal gatherings, and a small lounge at the front offers opportunities for unstructured fun.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a definite dichotomy between upstairs and downstairs. \u201cIt\u2019s the party on the top here and business on the bottom,\u201d Chadha said.<\/p>\n
Color plays a big role throughout the building, with the kids developing the palette. \u201cThere\u2019s 17 different paints in here,\u201d Chadha said. And yet many of the walls on the first floor remain white. \u201cWe imagine they\u2019re going to decide what they want to put on the walls,\u201d Sanchez said. Not to mention the desire for more stuff throughout the building. They are hoping to install more disco balls to reflect what they had in their previous space.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about creating a sense of joy and fun,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cWho doesn\u2019t want disco balls?\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of Yollocalli\u2019s staff members are artists or have an arts background. \u201cWe\u2019re about having spaces that are malleable because art can squish and change in so many ways, especially with young people because they\u2019re always going to be changing too,\u201d Sanchez said.<\/p>\n
Yollocalli\u2019s programs cater to youths between 13 and 24 years old. \u201cWe noticed that after high school, they still want support,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cThey still need something to do, places to just be creative and meet new people.\u201d And there is a strong sense of legacy and continuity at Yollocalli; many of the artists involved with the program are alumni. Sanchez is an example; she first came to Yollocalli in 2001 when she had an internship while in college.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ctc-l-keegan-041926-20_261728398.jpg\")
The Yollocalli Arts Reach, with its new cornice, is in a decommissioned firehouse at 2358 S. Whipple St. in Chicago, as shown April 16, 2026. (Terrence Antonio James\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
\u201cI had the struggle between wanting to do something for my community, but wanting to be an artist,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cYollo taught me that arts and community can be together and that artists can serve a community and that the arts can serve a community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yollocalli\u2019s new neighbors have come knocking on the door to inquire about its activities. \u201cIt became apparent once we got in here (that) we need to do programming for other age ranges, too,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cSo, we hired a new person who\u2019s going to focus on seniors, families, (and) adults.\u201d But these expanded offerings won\u2019t impede on Yollocalli\u2019s mission to give youths a place of their own to be weird. Sanchez promises that new programs will be relegated to the downstairs space.<\/p>\n
The new Yollocalli Arts Reach is a particular type of renovation that should be encouraged throughout the city \u2014 rescuing an abandoned civic structure with good bones to serve community-based initiatives. And yet this is the type of building that seems always to be in danger of wanton destruction in Chicago. This is what good development can and should look like whenever possible. As demolition is evidence of civic failure, thoughtful renovation like this is civic triumph.<\/p>\n
And the designers have invested a great deal of trust through their open-ended design decisions: trust in Yollocalli\u2019s young participants and their creativity, trust in the program\u2019s administrators and trust in the Little Village neighborhood. While the design will continue to evolve, early results suggest that this faith is well placed.<\/p>\n
Edward Keegan writes, broadcasts and teaches on architectural subjects. Keegan\u2019s biweekly architecture column is supported by a grant from former Tribune critic Blair Kamin, as administered by the not-for-profit Journalism Funding Partners. The Tribune maintains editorial control over assignments and content.<\/p>\n
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here<\/a> or email letters@chicagotribune.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yollocalli Arts Reach, a youth-oriented after-school arts initiative of the National Museum of Mexican Art is still settling…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":738641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,271917,304905,5386,1818,53975,304904,304906,304903],"class_list":{"0":"post-738640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-chicago-architecture","10":"tag-civic-projects","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-illinois","13":"tag-little-village","14":"tag-national-museum-of-mexican-art","15":"tag-wallin-gomez-architects","16":"tag-yollocalli-arts-reach"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116431081324803137","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=738640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}