Baba Architects

Visualizing the potential of a new client’s house.
Architectural drawings communicate a great deal — but not always to the person who matters most. For many clients, reading plans and elevations feels like decoding a foreign language. Visualization bridges that gap, translating intent into something immediate and legible.

This Naperville split-level is a familiar typology in the Chicago suburbs — reasonable footprint, awkward massing, exterior that reads as background noise. The renovation concept recomposes the facade entirely: craftsman detailing, stone base, arched entry, and a dark palette that grounds the house against its site and lets the mature tree canopy do its work.
The interior follows suit. The existing kitchen and living area are replaced with a single open sequence — coffered ceilings with rift-sawn oak framing, a marble waterfall island anchoring the kitchen, and a living room that borrows light and visual depth from the kitchen beyond.

Some projects never get built. This one stays with me.
A master suite addition in Wilmette, IL — conceived as a private retreat within the home. The program was deceptively simple: a place for parents to exhale. What emerged was something more considered.
Exposed rafters with steel rafter tie connections read as structure made honest. Skylights pull the sky into the peak. A double-sided fireplace divides the room without closing it — the bed on one side, a sitting area on the other, and a window bench where the light lands in the afternoon.
The fireplace surround is custom — blackened, tactile, scaled to hold the room. The palette throughout is restrained: natural wood, warm white plaster, aged metal.
Unbuilt, but not unrealized.

Affordable housing doesn’t have to mean anonymous architecture. This new independent senior living community in Indiana challenges that assumption — four stories of thoughtfully composed facades, carefully considered amenity programming, and residential scale that respects its occupants. Pickleball courts, bocce ball, walking paths, dog wash stations, a fitness room — spaces that support an active, dignified life.

PROJECT UPDATE: VITA Lafayette has officially closed on financing — construction begins soon!

VITA Lafayette is an active adult independent senior housing campus featuring 123 apartment units and 33 cottage-style homes. This LIHTC affordable housing development helps meet the growing demand for senior housing in Indiana while easing pressure on the broader housing market.

Designed with community and wellness in mind, the project offers a rich array of amenities — pickleball and bocce courts, dog wash stations, walking trails, and indoor spaces including a café, community kitchen, and multipurpose “town hall” for rotating activities and local vendors.

Baba Architects is proud to be part of VITA’s expanding portfolio of thoughtful, affordable senior living communities.

This century-old home is getting a new lease on life — reimagined for modern living while honoring its historic roots. Our clients came to Baba Architects with a vision: to expand their home for a growing family and design it to gracefully support aging-in-place for years to come.

The transformation includes a new five-bedroom layout, a finished walk-out basement featuring a golf simulator and outdoor kitchen, and a regraded backyard that now opens to a new pool and pool house overlooking the sloping site.

We’re excited to see this home evolve into a place that truly grows with its family — built to last for generations.

Affordable live-work mixed use apartment proposal in Indiana.

SEMI CUSTOM HOMES

Your vision, simplified. Introducing our new architect-designed semi-custom home collection for Chicago's standard lots. Choose from a variety of stunning aesthetic styles that range from traditional to contemporary, or work with us to design to your stylistic taste.  Live the luxury you've dreamed of, without the custom build complexities.  

Baba Architects is proud to be mentioned in this recent IFF article highlighting two of Vita Investment Holdings’ latest affordable senior housing developments — projects I’ve had the privilege of shaping as design architect and consultant over the past three years. These are just the first in a larger portfolio of senior communities planned across Indiana.⁠

In both Westfield and Lafayette, we’re creating walkable, amenity-rich environments that support a continuum of care — from independent cottages to assisted living and memory care — all while remaining accessible to low and middle-income seniors through thoughtful financing and design.

These developments are more than housing — they’re a response to a demographic and housing crisis that demands quality, affordability, and long-term vision.⁠

Read more via IFF: https://www.iff.org/bridging-the-gap-between-affordability-and-quality-in-senior-housing/

Welcome home.

Our new series of architect-designed, semi-custom homes is built for Chicago’s standard city lots — offering the flexibility to reflect your style, with the clarity of a well-defined process.

Each plan is just the beginning. From façade to finishes, we collaborate with you to create a home that feels distinctly yours — whether your taste leans traditional, modern, or somewhere in between.

It’s a design-forward approach for those who want a home that feels personal, without the demands of a fully custom build.

Because coming home should feel like you belong.

The Good Life Cooperative is a conceptual co-housing project rooted in the idea that aging in community should be both dignified and attainable. Partnering with WJW Archtiects, Baba Architects helped design the conceptual building, intended to be located in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago.

This vision originated with Rowena West, a graduate of Elevated Chicago’s Equitable Ambassadors program—an initiative that equips everyday residents with the tools to shape development in their own neighborhoods. Her passion and clarity of purpose were unmistakable: affordable, cooperative housing for older adults in Woodlawn, built on values of mutual support, cultural continuity, and belonging.

As architects, we’re often called to solve design problems. But sometimes, the most compelling projects begin not with a site or a budget, but with a story. Baba Architects is proud to have supported Rowena’s vision with an early design concept for a housing model that honors care, affordability, and community agency.

Featured in NOVOGRADAC https://www.novoco.com/periodicals/articles/illinois-launches-initiative-encourage-bipoc-affordable-housing-developers

The perfect summer escape, right in your back yard. This rooftop deck in Lincoln Park is designed for summer gatherings and everyday use. Built over a garage, this space features a custom steel pergola, integrated planters, and bench seating that frames the space while offering flexibility for dining and entertaining.

This project reflects how even modest urban footprints can be transformed into functional, well-detailed outdoor rooms.

Interested in creating something similar? Contact Baba Architects to learn more or to explore design options for your home.

Design-driven homes without the custom build stress.

Introducing our new collection of architect-designed semi-custom homes, crafted for Chicago’s standard city lots.

Enjoy the elegance of a fully custom home — tailored facades, curated interiors, and elevated finishes — without the overwhelm of starting from scratch.

⁠Choose from timeless traditional to sleek modern styles, or work with us to refine every detail to match your taste.

⁠This is refined living, designed by architects, delivered with clarity.