The curved under-hang thing looks so strange in person. I can't believe they went with steel studs to build that whole thing. It reminds me of Heatherwick's hairy pavilion of something.
__________________
If all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed, if all records told the same tale, then the lie passed into history and became truth. -Orwell
__________________
Harry C - Urbanize Chicago- My Flickr stream HRC_OakPark
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. B Franklin.
__________________
Harry C - Urbanize Chicago- My Flickr stream HRC_OakPark
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. B Franklin.
That is an amazing piece of architecture. I know cost is of concern nowadays to replicate something like that but in the olden days, architecture was just on a different level.
Its somewhat what happens when you remove or reduce the "manual labor" aspect of things and introduce fabrication and automation with portions of towers. One thing is for sure, like somebody knitting a sweater versus a machine doing it, you can never really replicate the painstaking detail on a manual level that was conducted in the olden days versus some of the stuff rising now.
And fun part is that some of those olden towers rose quickly and have unparalleled detail to them.
I mean they could replicate it but in today's age, would take to long and money is always of a concern.
I just hope the city continues to upkeep some of those gems. That's the nice thing with Chicago that not many cities in the world can say they have, a time line of the decades displayed in the skyline. Like an architectural time machine with respect to skyscrapers.
This tower is not the fall of western civilization. It's amazing from some angles and has some unfortunate features. It is not unlike One World Trade Center in that aspect. I can't get past the unfortunate treatment of the spire, but I rarely remark on it when I see it and I certainly don't care to wax eloquent about it on some forum ad nauseum. Our understanding of art and architecture changes over time. Many buildings age gracefully while others are fall out of favor in short time. The entire Brutalism movement fell out of favor but seems to have gained a renewed appreciation. Personally, I am glad to see St. Regis in the Chicago skyline and think it is a wonderful addition while understanding some of the criticisms.
I think its a success because of how it blends with the urban fabric. Complements the river, complements the lake and works well with various type of lighting conditions throughout the year. A dark blue hue balancing out the river in the winter/fall and a more open, playful cyan in the summer/spring that again, goes well with the river. The angles and essentially how this tower morphs into a different tower depending on where your looking at it is a key feature. More blocky when viewed away from the water but more wavy when near the river and lake front. It's a trippy tower with many personalities IMO.
If you take the image above and move it to the top of your screen
to a point where the St. Regis is visually cut off at the level of the top floor of Blue Cross, you can get an idea of how much stronger a visual statement this building could
have been. By re-allocating the last frustum downward and the 2nd highest tower section upwards - say to about 310 meters - this could have been a much better building
visually. It also would have, almost certainly, eliminated the NEED for that gaping hole which will continue to reflect badly on the designers.
As it is, the last (highest) approximately 25 floors are the worst addition to the skyline of Chicago. They have been attenuated for the exclusive vanity of the people who can
afford them. It looks like a giant extended pinky finger and its main purpose is to make filthy rich people feel superior and further removed from the real fabric of the city.
Egotism has rendered itself a poke in the eye at the expense of the rest of the skyline.
-------------------
This negative nancy must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed lol all i see is a dope building, have some gratitude
That's the color the glass was intended to be (green) but they balked at the extra cost. Still not exactly sure how a particular dye costs more than another. Whatevs.
Prev
Hybrid Mode