Wild Mile Framework Vision recognized by ILASLA with Honor Award

Omni Workshop received an Honor Award from the Illinois Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ILASLA) for its work on the Wild Mile Framework Vision. The ILASLA awards program recognizes projects that exemplify diversity within the profession and illustrate how landscape architecture positively impacts everyday interactions with the surrounding environment.

The Wild Mile transforms a one mile stretch on the east side of Goose Island into a wildlife haven and recreationally focused community gathering place. This human-made branch of the Chicago River is transformed into a corridor that serves wildlife, people, and the environment. The Wild Mile is designed as the world’s first 17-acre floating eco-park, and with a series of floating gardens, ecosystems, walkways, kayak launches, and other amenities, the project is designed to restore the river as a public trust.

Providing a new standard for urban waterfront and riverfront design that identifies innovative ways of reintroducing nature to industrial waterways while connecting the community with their local environment is a larger goal for the project. By advancing a community-led vision of renewed urban ecology, the framework helps strengthen neighborhood connectivity, generate cleaner water, and support more vibrant ecosystems.