The Chicago Open Gate Brewery design blends historic charm with modern functionality.
PROJECT
The opening of the Guinness Open Gate Brewery was momentous for many reasons. As the 50th Guinness brewery globally and the 2nd in the United States, the OGB is also the first-ever Guinness brewery to incorporate a bakery onsite. Located in a former 1908 Pennsylvania Railroad train depot, the project transforms a long-vacant historic structure into a state-of-the-art brewery, taproom, restaurant, and bakery- all within 15,000 square feet.
A massive, hand-painted mural adds a touch of personality, while a bubbly amber light fixture evokes the iconic Guinness head. But the centerpiece is undoubtedly the nearly 10,000-pound harp sculpture, its layered lighting casting a warm glow over the main taproom bar. This unique combination of old and new reflects the brewery's mission of marrying Guinness' rich heritage with Chicago's innovative spirit.
PROJECT CHALLENGE
Repurposing a 115-year-old rail depot for a modern hospitality and brewing operation presented a layered set of mechanical engineering constraints:
Historic preservation restrictions prohibited altering the building's original brick walls, exposed structural beams, and soaring arched windows — eliminating conventional overhead and perimeter duct solutions that would require wall or ceiling penetrations.
Indoor-outdoor connectivity was a core design intent. A street-level patio was added to activate the exterior during Chicago's warm-weather months, connected to the interior Barrel Room via large glass garage doors. This transition zone — open to the exterior when doors are raised, subject to significant heat loss when closed in colder months — required a perimeter heating solution that could perform under Chicago's warmer months demand without compromising sightlines or the historic character of the fenestration.
Mixed-use complexity compounded the challenge. The 10-barrel brewhouse, taproom, full-service restaurant, and bakery have distinct occupancy loads, ventilation requirements, and temperature control needs — all within a single open space under a historic roof structure.
AIRFIXTURE SOLUTION
To address the perimeter heating challenge along the garage door wall, the design team selected AirFixture's SoHo-E Electric Fan-Powered Linear Trench Heater. This was chosen as a supplementary heating solution, integrated into the floor along the building's perimeter.
The SoHo-E was selected for three specific reasons:
Preservation compatibility. The low-profile, slender frame installs flush at floor level, requiring no wall or ceiling modifications — consistent with the project's historic preservation requirements.
Customizable geometry. The SoHo-E can be manufactured to custom lengths and orientations, allowing the unit to follow the garage door wall configuration precisely and deliver conditioned air to the targeted transition zone between the interior and the patio.
Aesthetic integration. The unit's clean linear profile complements the project's industrial-modern design language without competing visually with the arched windows, exposed brick, or the nearly 10,000-pound harp sculpture that anchors the main taproom bar.
The SoHo-E functions as supplemental heating to the primary HVAC system, providing a dedicated thermal boundary at the most vulnerable point of the building envelope — the operable glass garage doors — and maintaining occupant comfort in the Barrel Room and adjacent patio-side seating during transition seasons.
RESULTS
The Guinness OGB Chicago was designed and built to Diageo's global sustainability standards, with several measurable outcomes now verified:
Solar Energy System Windfree Solar installed a 98.80 kW DC Solar PV system on the building's large south-facing roof, using Q-Cell 480W panels and a SolarEdge inverter. The system has:
- Achieved 99.84 kWp peak power capacity
- Offset 33,736 kg of CO2 emissions since installation — the equivalent of planting approximately 561 trees
100% Renewable Electricity The brewery sources 100% of its electricity from a combination of the onsite solar array and renewable energy credits.
100% Electric Brewing The brewhouse operates with a fully electric boiler — eliminating combustion from the brewing process entirely — and uses that electric boiler to generate the steam required to heat the mash and complete the boil.
Zero Waste to Landfill The OGB Chicago operates as a zero-waste-to-landfill facility.
LEED Certification The project is certified LEED Platinum.
Brewery and hospitality projects in historic structures represent one of the most technically demanding categories in commercial MEP design. The constraints are real — preservation requirements remove standard HVAC pathways, mixed occupancies create competing load profiles, and indoor-outdoor activation (the feature that makes these spaces commercially successful) creates the exact thermal challenge that conventional overhead systems handle poorly.
The Guinness OGB Chicago demonstrates that high-performance perimeter heating can be achieved without compromise to historic character, design intent, or occupant experience. The SoHo-E's installation at the garage door perimeter is not a workaround — it's the engineered solution that made the client's vision achievable.