This has soooo much promise. Kinda reminds me of a jigglin' obelisk of jello. You can almost see it shimmy. :banana:

I agree with you Steely Dan, this is going to look nothing like Watertower Place. There has way more kineticism in this design.

BTW, we are soooo spoiled, ...................but it feels great!!!!!:notacrook:

wow... just wow!

fantastic design! chicago is really kicking some serious arse here! i would rather the tower be glass and steel, but for once, concrete actually looks good. i cant wait for a more detailed design!

I'm not disappointed at all. There's a lot of potential in that model. As long as it isn't that dull cardboard color it will look fantastic. It reminds me a little bit of The Wave, currently under construction in Gold Coast City, Australia:

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=208619

I'm not sure I like the interruption 2/3 of the way up, but I'd have to see a better rendering.

^ I like the interruptions (there's another near floor 20) - it's the only hint of structure the form provides. And it complements the crown nicely.

I like the approach, of course the devil is in the details that we haven't seen yet. This does have the potential to look kinda [flamesuit]dumb[/flamesuit]. It could end up looking like a futuristic blob of parts (think 1st freedom tower, valencia towers, the wave, etc)... yet I'm sure the renderings will look stellar and this will come out a winner.

Hope this one breaks 900', it would fill in the gap at 900' on the boom rundown lists.

i gotta see it with its supposed color, it looks pretty bad in those models however. They better get the coloring just perfect

I was hoping for a more expressive crown. Again, I understand these models are extremely preliminary.

Thank god for the waves, otherwise this would really be a boring box. Tall and thin is nice when its not too wide (e.g. Hotel intercontinnental proposal), but its width now (I presume the North/south faces) remind of dated designs.

I think all of us were highly anticipating this one, so I understand that it probably would never live up to my expectation. I anxiously await more detailed renderings.

It reminds me of 50 Biscayne, and before you say it is nothing alike or what the hell? I mean while it doesnt have the wave glass curtain the columns sort of are wavey in the same asymmetrical way. The building the wave seems more like a twist to me. The part that I like about this tower is that it is not symetrical that it has this flow. Really amazing (I have no idea how you architect people do that crap, but I love you for it).

I think it looks stunning. With a name like "Aqua" I was fearing some sort of wavey Arquitechtonica-esque cr*p (I hate that firm). But this is innovative and has movement without breaking too radically with Chicago's overall buttoned-down structural look.

How expensive will it be to have such a randomly different form for each floor! And wouldn't it be a little annoying not to be able to look directly down from your condo (I assume the extrusions don't have any balcony function)?

Here is the link to 50 Biscayne

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=204607

i'm quite certain that the wavy concrete extrusions will be used for balconies. in fact, i would be SHOCKED if they weren't. balconies are a huge selling point for condos so what reason would they possibly have for not using that space for balconies?

I like it.

It's too early to tell. . . jury is still out on this one. . . my first impression is back to the drawing board!!!

:sly: it looks....dented...kinda...watery.

kinda meh for 900' though.

however, it'll probably look better with some bluish green glass action.

Some of you have to use your imaginations. Just picture some type of blueish-green type deal with the glass. I know all thats provided is a cardboard model but the good thing about us humans we have the capability of imagination. If there are balconies, I hope that theyre recessed to not disrupt the wavy texture of the building. I didnt set my expectations stratospherically high so Im pleasently surprised and satisfied. Like I said before expect refinements. I think the glass work will be beautiful, with its wavy texture (that be a bitch for some glass company) and the color and how it plays with the sunlight, it should great. It wont look like any thing else in the city and it continues the march to put Chicago back in front of the game of modern architecture. We have a diamond in the rough, now we just have to shine the bitch up all nice and pretty. Its a winner.

Now, I didnt wanna do this but remember we couldve had the "L" person. :gaah:

To go with the Aqua theme, it would be really different if there was a huge fountain on the roof of this tower, lighted at night, that would serve as it's aqautic spire. It would animate the building like no other in the world, yet I know that idea will be an unrealized fantasy. The expense of pumping that volume of water 900 ft. up would probably be prohibitive.

After looking at the prelim floorplans for the building, I'm going to agree with Steely that it does indeed have balconies on the wave. They are recessed for a little bit (looks like a recess of 1 to 3 feet from the edge). You can even see the slide glass doors in the lay out. The curvey exterior will NOT be covered in glass.

Or if we're going there how about instead of a fountain a water, you see how the top is pretty much a block, turn that into a glass block filled with water with light shining from under it at night. And during different times of the year, they change its color according to the holiday. That watery effect lighting up the night sky could come out extremely magnificent. I believe with the effect that light has on water, it would be different and classy, so NO fish request people.

correct. the glass will not be following the curving concrete floorplate extrusions on the outside of the building, rather it will sit recessed into the structure. the balconies will be integral with the wavy concrete floorplate extrusions.

Then if its not covered in glass then why waste the design because you wont be able to appreciate it. And if the balconies are recessed you could still have the glass follow the curves of the building elsewhere. Im sure the building isnt going to be littered with balconies. I feel It would be such a complete waste of a great design if you couldnt appreciate its curvy texture from the exterior (outside).

^ you will appreciate the wavy texture from the outside, thanks to the floorplate extrusions. think of it this way, this is simply a completely orthagonal glass box skyscraper with the concrete floorplates extruded beyon the perimeter wall to create all these wavy forms. the balconies for the various units will be directly on these floorplate extrusions. the building will be littered with baclonies; curving, waving bands of them that wrap compeltely around each floor level, to be more precise.