CHICAGO | Aqua | 858 FT / 262 M | 87 FLOORS

[sledhead35]

this is probably a stupid question, but with all the variations in balcony sizes, wont it be a headache developing a system for window washing ?

[EarlyBuyer]

Stunning shot hydrogen!

[EarlyBuyer]

Originally Posted by sledhead35

this is probably a stupid question, but with all the variations in balcony sizes, wont it be a headache developing a system for window washing ?

sledhead35, here's a video on window washing previously posted by YoChicago1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cflhx...rom=PL&index=1

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by i_am_hydrogen

Taken on 9/4:

Nice ridiculously blown out blue dusk sky.

[J_M_Tungsten]

^^^ My favorite time of day in Chicago, and what Hydro is amazing at capturing!

[EarlyBuyer]

Update released by Magellan on 9/1/09:

"...30-day closing notices are scheduled to go out this week for floors 57 & 58. These floors will be scheduled for early to mid October closings..."

[harryc]

Aug 25 - morning sun on the Northern Balconies


Sept 3 - lunch


Sept 3 - after work

[spyguy]

Ade Oshineye/ flickr

Ade Oshineye/ flickr

[uaarkson]

Wow

[denizen467]

^ Awesome! Would love to see more well-done night pix like that of the LSE area.

[i_am_hydrogen]

Here are a couple from last weekend:





LSE has truly been transformed with the completion of Aqua. In the past, I felt that it was relatively inaccessible, disconnected from the rest of downtown, and lacking in community atmosphere. After visiting last weekend for the first time in 4-5 months, many of my concerns were allayed. Aqua’s podium, by providing additional entry points, has ameliorated the issues of inaccessibility and disconnectedness that have plagued this development. The podium is a wonderful new piece of the urban fabric that offers tremendous views and creates a sense of intimacy and cohesiveness between the Illinois Center and LSE. Two once distinctly separate groups of buildings feel closer to being a unified whole. For example, the Aon Center, from certain vantage points, looks as though it could be just another building in LSE. There is a better ebb and flow, which also manifests itself in the number of pedestrians passing to and from LSE who are no doubt pleased that they are no longer as cut off from downtown. Lastly, what excited me most during my visit was the number of people out and about. It actually felt like a bona fide neighborhood. I encountered families, groups of friends, kids, etc. all walking around enjoying the park. The dynamic park ties things together visually and creates a focal point of activity for residents and nonresidents alike. It really seemed like the soul of the development. Ultimately, I had a fun time exploring the area and left feeling really enchanted by the place. I could easily live there.

[Tom In Chicago]

I've lived in this area since 2005 and our offices are in Aon Center. . . it's certainly been a transformation, but as you said with the completion of the Aqua podium it has really tied things together. . . I often take the stairs along Lake Street from Columbus down to the park on my way home from work as opposed to merely walking along Randolph. . . and the access to Wacker via the stairs along South Water offers me a shortcut to Michigan Ave. . .

. . .

[the urban politician]

^ I observed those things about LSE as well during my last 2 visits to the area in the past few weeks. The park seems to get a lot of use, and I enjoyed visiting that coffee shop (Caffe Rom or something?), struck up a little conversation with some of the people working there. One of the ladies working there was surprised when I told her that I remember when this whole site was a giant gravel lot. She says that LSE has been like this as long as she's been here. Amazing how short some peoples' memories are...

[ardecila]

Yeah, Caffe RoM is one of my favorite places to hang out when I'm downtown.

Now, if only they could link the two walkways across Field Boulevard so that Harbor Drive wasn't a pedestrian cul-de-sac anymore... I expect that to happen when they get around to building Arquitectonica. It's still incredibly irritating. Also confusing is how to get to Navy Pier from the end of Harbor Drive... a situation that I have found several tourists in, and found myself unable to give a simple set of directions.

I love how LSE envisions a dramatically unique new form of cityscape, rather than a rote extension of the street grid like Central Station or the various CHA replacement projects. However, this new form of cityscape does not repeat the modernist mistake - it surrounds parks with towers, rather than surrounding towers with parks.

[EarlyBuyer]

Financial Times article

Is your nest safe for birds?

"...A passing bird might mistake the terrace-level gardens of the Aqua apartment tower in Chicago for one of the city’s many parks and open spaces but the attraction will not necessarily prove fatal. This is no accident, since the building’s designers, Studio Gang Architects, have provided visual cues that should keep avian visitors from flying into it.

The Aqua high-rise resembles eroded cliffs, with organically shaped balconies flaring out irregularly from the underlying rectangular tower. To fence in the terrace, the designers convinced the developer to use fritted glass (etched with grey dots) and pickets spaced at 4in intervals, thereby preserving views while making the barrier visible to birds. It’s a marked contrast with the glass towers that birds have a tendency to slam into..."

Much more in the the full article: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/6c59b4fa-9...44feabdc0.html

[Nowhereman1280]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I love how LSE envisions a dramatically unique new form of cityscape, rather than a rote extension of the street grid like Central Station or the various CHA replacement projects. However, this new form of cityscape does not repeat the modernist mistake - it surrounds parks with towers, rather than surrounding towers with parks.

To add to that it also uses the unieque site perfectly. On one hand it provides a new link for neighborhood car traffic (lower lower wacker to Upper Randolf) but keeps it just inconvenient enough that no thru traffic bothers with it. The development also does a great job of taking advantage of the triple streets to bury service entrances and force cars underground where they won't intimidate pedestrians. Living in this development is as good as living right off the freeway since you can zip over to either LSD if you are going south and take 55 or take Lower Wacker to Congress and jump on 94 if you are going north. So you get the best of both worlds, very inconvenient to use cars for anything local, but extremely convenient to get to places that are far away and inaccessible by mass transit.

In my opinion Lake Shore East is just the latest addition to Chicago's long resume and string of groundbreaking new ways of thinking about urban planning. I think when its fully built out it will really affect the way people plan perhaps even as much as things like the Burnham Plan and IIT Campus plan did. I think Mies would be pleased with how his innovative Illinois Center Plan was completed.

[EarlyBuyer]

Update released by Magellan 9/11/09:

"...Magellan Development is proud to report that the very first closing at Aqua is scheduled this afternoon at 1:00 p.m. Construction is progressing with dry wall up to floor 74, cabinetry installation through floor 64, tiling through floor 59, and wood flooring thorugh floor 58 and appliances installed through floor 56..."

[andydie]

Hello friends,

maybe somebody can answer this questions about the roof for me. In the renders it always looked like there either would some form of cladding or some other from of hiding the mechanical house thats on the rooftop now. So any idea if that still will happen at some point? Or will they leave the roof like it is now? Thanx guys

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

One of the ladies working there was surprised when I told her that I remember when this whole site was a giant gravel lot. She says that LSE has been like this as long as she's been here. Amazing how short some peoples' memories are...

I remember when it was a golf course; I played there! And of course, it was rail yards before all of that.

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by i_am_hydrogen

There is a better ebb and flow, which also manifests itself in the number of pedestrians passing to and from LSE who are no doubt pleased that they are no longer as cut off from downtown. Lastly, what excited me most during my visit was the number of people out and about. It actually felt like a bona fide neighborhood. I encountered families, groups of friends, kids, etc. all walking around enjoying the park. The dynamic park ties things together visually and creates a focal point of activity for residents and nonresidents alike. It really seemed like the soul of the development. Ultimately, I had a fun time exploring the area and left feeling really enchanted by the place. I could easily live there.

Yes I've noticed this too, having spent a great deal of time there this summer coincidentally for various reasons. This is the first year that it really feels like a cohesive 'neighborhood' to me, in terms of street life and continuity of the built environment. All the more impressive given that there are still a number of gaping holes to be filled in, such as the eventual 'market' retail along the park, the empty 'Arquitectonica' site, and the large sites on the NE corner - not to mention other nearby sites like the Mandarin Oriental. Very, very livable.