Defrosting a Building: Otherworldly Icescapes Inside a Historic Chicago Cold Storage Facility | Colossal

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Defrosting a Building: Otherworldly Icescapes Inside a Historic Chicago Cold Storage Facility ice history Chicago architecture

For nine decades Fulton Market Cold Storage Company operated in Chicago’s meatpacking district with a full ten stories of freezing storage situated close to major railways. Last summer the company decided it was time to start fresh in a state-of-the-art facility outside of Chicago, so the building was sold to SRAM, a bike component manufacturer who will use the space for its global headquarters. Architects Perkins + Will were hired to help convert the ice-encrusted space into a new, modernized office building and were also tasked with the most epic refrigerator defrost in history.

Defrosting a Building: Otherworldly Icescapes Inside a Historic Chicago Cold Storage Facility ice history Chicago architecture

Defrosting a Building: Otherworldly Icescapes Inside a Historic Chicago Cold Storage Facility ice history Chicago architecture

Defrosting a Building: Otherworldly Icescapes Inside a Historic Chicago Cold Storage Facility ice history Chicago architecture

Defrosting a Building: Otherworldly Icescapes Inside a Historic Chicago Cold Storage Facility ice history Chicago architecture

Photos by Gary Robert Photography

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