For many, Chicagos South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC) warrants no introduction. The countrys oldest, independently run, and continuously operating Black arts institution has helped boost the careers of many, many African American artists. Floating Museums Faheem Majeed, one of the last Chicago Architecture Biennials curators, got his start there, and Theaster Gates has long worked with SSCAC, to name just a few. Now, Chicago architects, artists, builders, and consultants are helping SSCAC grow. Future Firm, wrkSHp | kiloWatt, Brown & Momen, Berglund Construction, and URBAN ReSOLVE are all part of the centers redevelopment team. An addition planned for the art center will expand SSCACs visitor capacity by 398 percent, the partners shared, while also helping make it more accessible to those with disabilities.The addition will contain new gallery spaces, but also offices for artists, educators, and staff. (Courtesy SSCAC and Future Firm)The $15 million addition and refurbishment project entails attaching a new, 10,000-square-foot building to SSCACs existing location, a stately 19th-century brick abode with bay windows. The addition, the design team said, will help SSCAC facilitate many more exhibitions and interactions with Black artists while increasing access for community members, researchers, arts administrators, historians, and educators.A South Side StapleSince 1940, SSCAC has operated out of an old, multistory brick house in Bronzeville, located at 3831 South Michigan Avenue. The institution was founded as a WPA project, when the federal government poured copious resources into organizations around the U.S. to help put artists back to work after the Great Depression. SSCAC, having survived the Red Scare, eventually morphed into the established South Side presence it is today. In 1994, it was listed as a Chicago Historic Landmark and, in 2017 and on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018. In its mission statement, SSCAC said its main goal is developing and showcasing Black artists at every stage of their careers, an ethos which dates back to its founders. A lot of Black museums have opened up, but were the only one that grew out of the indigenous Black community, Dr. Margaret Taylor-Burroughs, a visual artist who helped cofound SSCAC, said of the institution. We werent started by anybody downtown; we were started by ordinary folks.The addition will help make SSCACs collection more accessible to those with disabilities. (Courtesy SSCAC and Future Firm)The forthcoming addition will go toward the existing buildings rear; it will include new gallery space and cutting edge sustainability tech to help SSCAC meet its energy goals. The new building will have a geothermal well field and solar-ready roof to help ascertain LEED Silver certification.The extra gallery space will host SSCACs permanent collection and loaned works. There will also be new classrooms, improved archival storage, and updated offices for artists, educators, and staff. The additions rooftop will provide much needed event space, the team shared.Some gallery spaces will be covered in wood paneling. (Courtesy SSCAC and Future Firm)Other gallery spaces will adopt the traditional white box aesthetic. (Courtesy SSCAC and Future Firm)So too will there be a new stepped terrace. This element is meant to evoke the original stoop of SSCAC. The additions facade also conceptually links to SSCAC; it will celebrate the pattern of nail roles found in the historic Margaret T. Burroughs Gallery, through the implementation of a custom perforated exterior panel system, through the implementation of a custom perforated exterior panel system, designers shared. The interiors finishes will oscillate between wood and white walls, depending on the setting. The additions lobby is an all-white ensemble. (Courtesy SSCAC and Future Firm)A classroom is faced with large windows. (Courtesy SSCAC and Future Firm)Ann Lui, principal of Future Firm, has long worked in Chicagos South Side, and sees SSCACs expansion as transformative for the region. We are excited and honored to collaborate with South Side Community Arts Center, to use architecture and design to support the organizations mission of creating space for Black artists and their work, Lui shared. We describe ourselves as architects for changemakers and are so excited to help provide flexible, functional, and memorable spaces for SSCAC that will serve the organization and its community at large, Lui continued. Its an exciting opportunity to look for ways a building can help to do that work: from the scale of a single wood panel to a spatial vision for growth and change in the coming decades.Sitting on the shoulders of those who came before us, we are thrilled to be able to preserve the legacy of the South Side Community Art Center, while creating space to celebrate and inspire the next generation of Black artists, added Monique Brinkman-Hill, SSCAC executive director. As we celebrate over 85 years in operation, we look forward to continuing our work with the development team and members of our community to ensure our historic home and expanded campus will continue to serve this community for the next 85 years.Construction is expected to start later this year, and conclude in 2026.