CHICAGO | 500 N Lake Shore Drive | 497 FT / 151 M | 47 FLOORS | COM

[Guiltyspark]

Originally Posted by Taller

I hope some day the city will have more complex looking skyscrapers instead of the usual box type, still good building though

Yeah, I hope so too. Right now all Chicago has as far as complex looking skyscrapers is the Roosevelt University Dormitory, Lincoln Park 2520, Elysian, Trump International Hotel & Tower, Aqua, One Museum Park, Legacy at Millennium Park, The Columbian, Joffery Tower, Sofitel Chicago Water Tower, Park Tower, Chicago Title & Trust Building, United Building, USG Building, Two Prudential Plaza, 211 South Wacker, 181 West Madison, City Place, AT&T Corporate Center, 900 North Michigan, NBC Tower, Citicorp Center, 190 South LaSalle, 123 North Wacker, Smurfit-Stone Building, One Magnificent Mile, Madison Plaza, One South Wacker, Three First National Plaza, River Plaza, the freaking Sears Tower, the freaking John Hancock Center, Chase Tower, Lake Point Tower, Marine City I, Marine City II, Merchandise Mart, Victor Lawson YMCA, Chicago Board of Trade, La Salle-Wacker Building, One North LaSalle, 33 North LaSalle, Civic Opera Building, Palmolive, Randolph, Willoughby Tower, Carbide, Hotel International, Mather Tower, Drake Tower, Pittsfield Building, 35 East Wacker Drive, American Furniture Mart, Tribune Tower, Roanoke Building, Chicago Temple Building, Metropolitan, Wrigley Building and the Chicago Water Tower.

[J_M_Tungsten]

Burn!

[chicubs111]

Originally Posted by Guiltyspark

Yeah, I hope so too. Right now all Chicago has as far as complex looking skyscrapers is the Roosevelt University Dormitory, Lincoln Park 2520, Elysian, Trump International Hotel & Tower, Aqua, One Museum Park, Legacy at Millennium Park, The Columbian, Joffery Tower, Sofitel Chicago Water Tower, Park Tower, Chicago Title & Trust Building, United Building, USG Building, Two Prudential Plaza, 211 South Wacker, 181 West Madison, City Place, AT&T Corporate Center, 900 North Michigan, NBC Tower, Citicorp Center, 190 South LaSalle, 123 North Wacker, Smurfit-Stone Building, One Magnificent Mile, Madison Plaza, One South Wacker, Three First National Plaza, River Plaza, the freaking Sears Tower, the freaking John Hancock Center, Chase Tower, Lake Point Tower, Marine City I, Marine City II, Merchandise Mart, Victor Lawson YMCA, Chicago Board of Trade, La Salle-Wacker Building, One North LaSalle, 33 North LaSalle, Civic Opera Building, Palmolive, Randolph, Willoughby Tower, Carbide, Hotel International, Mather Tower, Drake Tower, Pittsfield Building, 35 East Wacker Drive, American Furniture Mart, Tribune Tower, Roanoke Building, Chicago Temple Building, Metropolitan, Wrigley Building and the Chicago Water Tower.

I think we get the point ..I think the person you were responding too was talking about more recent skyscrapers in the city being simple boxes..which for the most part is definitely true...Chicago needs to change it up a bit on the average design..I think we mastered the diff shades of blue glass and box design fairly well.. hopefully we get some buildings with setbacks and tappering in hieght.. perhaps decorative top hats more along the lines of NY life building in NY would be def welcome additions to the skyline

[Rizzo]

If I'm to interpret what Taller said, I think he meant it would be nice to see some new proposals that aren't a midrise podium with a taller more slender tower stacked on top.

All the buildings Guiltyspark mentioned are a variety of designs we no longer pursue. Remember the original design that had a different shape? Holy crap it was gorgeous (excluding the parking base)

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by Hayward

Remember the original design that had a different shape? Holy crap it was gorgeous (excluding the parking base)

It was Perkins+Will. And it was pretty great.



Until 2003, I guess this was there?



link

[denizen467]

^ Opposite side of the street, but yeah, and it's stunning how 8 or 9 years have led to such a transformation of south Streeterville. I guess the same could be said of LSE and the South Loop - these are amazing times for the city.

Edit - whoops, I hadn't read through the discussion leading up to this, about diversity of form/massing. The P+W design indeed would've been fantastic from various standpoints. I also really wish Carley's Waldorf shard would have made it through, but it was extremely ambitious and had no chance after the market collapsed.

[Guiltyspark]

Originally Posted by Hayward

If I'm to interpret what Taller said, I think he meant it would be nice to see some new proposals that aren't a midrise podium with a taller more slender tower stacked on top.

All the buildings Guiltyspark mentioned are a variety of designs we no longer pursue. Remember the original design that had a different shape? Holy crap it was gorgeous (excluding the parking base)

About a quarter of the buildings that I listed are from the last decade. I think we are still pursuing unique buildings.

For filler, I think this building is pretty good (or would be if it was not for the horrible glass). Be happy about your mid rise glass boxes, in Detroit we do not even get those...

[J_M_Tungsten]

I found this pic from 1987. What a difference!

http://www.okrentassociates.com/imag...er/slide3.html

[denizen467]

^ Mind-blowing; can you imagine Michigan Avenue and Tribune Tower being basically the easternmost part of the city in that area?

What's unique about this photo is that it's in that couple-year window after LSD was realigned (looks like they are constructing the final leg of Wacker in the photo) but before Cityfront Center and south Streeterville got underway. It even still has the giant Mandel (or some name with an "M" I believe) warehouse existing next to 401 Michigan.

[ChiPhi]

They've got a few new vs. old comparison pics and w/o getting too far o/t, I suggest everyone looks through them b/c they are mind blowing.

Also, I thought that lowrise facing ogden (river east arts center) was an old warehouse but I can't see it in the picture.

[JoninATX]

Nice infill going on in Chicago, I'm also liking the glass that's being put on.

[BraveNewWorld]

Originally Posted by J_M_Tungsten

I found this pic from 1987. What a difference!

http://www.okrentassociates.com/imag...er/slide3.html

[xXSkyscraperDudeXx]

Originally Posted by BraveNewWorld

Wow what a difference! Looking at Millennium Park too it also change a lot!

[the urban politician]

^ Well, even the second pic is pretty well outdated. No Aqua, the BCBS tower expansion hasn't happened, Coast, and (of course) 500 N LSD aren't in the picture either.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by ChiPhi

They've got a few new vs. old comparison pics and w/o getting too far o/t, I suggest everyone looks through them b/c they are mind blowing.

Also, I thought that lowrise facing ogden (river east arts center) was an old warehouse but I can't see it in the picture.

Look again. They removed the white paint when it became North Pier in the early 90s.

Actually, that building (and Ogden Slip) used to go all the way west to Fairbanks IIRC. They cut both warehouse and slip off at McClurg in the 80s when they wanted to put new streets through for Cityfront Center.

[J_M_Tungsten]

I know this is probably too o/t, but what spawned the growth of this area so quickly? Barely 20 years and a complete neighborhood has matured.

[Duck From NY]

Originally Posted by xXSkyscraperDudeXx

Wow what a difference! Looking at Millennium Park too it also change a lot!

Wow is right. Look at how much lusher Grant Park looks, and all the empty lots are gone.

[denizen467]

Originally Posted by J_M_Tungsten

I know this is probably too o/t, but what spawned the growth of this area so quickly? Barely 20 years and a complete neighborhood has matured.

The three "L"s of real estate, my friend . But also I think the primary initial developer (I think McLean bought it from the Dock & Canal Trust?) was able to acquire the land very inexpensively (after all, it was wasteland -- and Navy Pier was too) perhaps analagously to Magellan at LSE or Fogelson City at Central Station. And, not unlike those projects, starting with a clean slate on giant parcels enabled easier planning and larger scale.

Originally Posted by Duck From NY

Wow is right. Look at how much lusher Grant Park looks, and all the empty lots are gone.

I was going to point out how the trees in Daley Bicentennial are like night and day in those two photos. Too bad we have to start over with the trees in 2015.

But also interesting is DuSable Harbor -- it is inside the locks, adjoining the river, in the 1980s but is outside, part of the lake, today. That must have been an interesting project; I wonder when it was done -- and was the motivation just the pent-up demand for lake slips or was it a long-term plan of the Army Corps, MWRD, or something like that?

[Duck From NY]

Originally Posted by denizen467

I was going to point out how the trees in Daley Bicentennial are like night and day in those two photos. Too bad we have to start over with the trees in 2015.

But also interesting is DuSable Harbor -- it is inside the locks, adjoining the river, in the 1980s but is outside, part of the lake, today. That must have been an interesting project; I wonder when it was done -- and was the motivation just the pent-up demand for lake slips or was it a long-term plan of the Army Corps, MWRD, or something like that?

What do you mean start over with the trees in 2015?

I'm curious, when did they reverse the flow of the Chicago river away from the lake?

[modkris]

Regarding the photos 7 posts back- the second one looks to be from about 2008 with the Tides under construction. It would be nice to see a 2012 version of this shot. Even more of a dramatic change.