Construction is underway on SOPHY, a 98-room boutique hotel in Chicago’s South Side Hyde Park neighborhood. The hotel is scheduled to open in summer 2018. New York–based Stonehill & Taylor and Chicago project architects GREC Architects are collaborating on interiors that draw inspiration from science, mathematics, art, literature and gospel music.
When finished, SOPHY’s interior will feature works by contemporary Chicago artists and playful design elements such as barn doors and references to the World’s Columbian Exposition. Circular motifs that recall the first Ferris Wheel—introduced at the exposition—will appear throughout the design. Located at 53rd Street and Dorchester Avenue, the hotel sits close to the University of Chicago campus, the Museum of Science and Industry and the planned site of the Barack Obama Presidential Library.