CHICAGO | 1000M (1000 S Michigan) | 805 FT | 73 FLOORS

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Kumdogmillionaire

This difference there is that the original facades(and some buildings) were kept for the Legacy, this building looks like it's using shit materials for a look-a-like design of many of these older streetwall buildings. :/

Helmut Jahn has never used "shit materials". I'd be shocked if he started now.

Virtually every building he's done in the last 30 years has had intricate, finely-detailed curtain walls with beautiful reflectivity.

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Virtually every building he's done in the last 30 years has had intricate, finely-detailed curtain walls with beautiful reflectivity.

Really? I hold the opinion that his stuff usually looks like streaky garbage after five years. Happy to be proven wrong here...

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by r18tdi

Really? I hold the opinion that his stuff usually looks like streaky garbage after five years. Happy to be proven wrong here...

Don't let Thomson Center color your opinion of Jahn all salmon and powder blue now. That structure has aged poorly due to massive VE efforts by the state during construction and virtually zero maintenance since it was built.

If you look at the rest of his body of work, it's all aged quite phenominally. Xerox could have been built yesterday, 600 N Fairbanks looks like tenants just started moving in.

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

If you look at the rest of his body of work, it's all aged quite phenominally. Xerox could have been built yesterday, 600 N Fairbanks looks like tenants just started moving in.

I do realize that Thompson Center is a bit of special case, but Jahn's O'Hare terminal is looking a bit shabby these days too.

[new.slang]

Originally Posted by spyguy

delete it/cancel it

[maru2501]

confused as to what is supposed to be happening here architecturally. Seems it would make more sense to make that break even with the neighbor if you're going to do it, which you shouldn't

[Kumdogmillionaire]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Don't let Thomson Center color your opinion of Jahn all salmon and powder blue now. That structure has aged poorly due to massive VE efforts by the state during construction and virtually zero maintenance since it was built.

If you look at the rest of his body of work, it's all aged quite phenominally. Xerox could have been built yesterday, 600 N Fairbanks looks like tenants just started moving in.

Just my two cents but 600 N Fairbanks is one of the ugliest buildings in the city, and hasn't aged well at all. It looks like it was made out tupperwear!

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by Kumdogmillionaire

Just my two cents but 600 N Fairbanks is one of the ugliest buildings in the city, and hasn't aged well at all. It looks like it was made out tupperwear!

Are you sure you are thinking of the right building? Because this looks nothing like Tupperware:


Condo finder.com

[Kumdogmillionaire]

http://cribchatter.com/?p=11378


Yeah, this building looks like plastic trash to me. You picked about the only flattering picture I've ever seen of that building, and it was because you can't see all the half-drawn shades that further enunciate the odd color/opacity of glass that was used for this building. The base is pretty nasty too

[chicubs111]

Originally Posted by Kumdogmillionaire

http://cribchatter.com/?p=11378


Yeah, this building looks like plastic trash to me. You picked about the only flattering picture I've ever seen of that building, and it was because you can't see all the half-drawn shades that further enunciate the odd color/opacity of glass that was used for this building. The base is pretty nasty too

Your Certainly entitled to your opinion..but of all the bad looking buildings that Chicago does have , 600 north Fairbanks certainly was not one that many people , especially on this forum were super critical about

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by r18tdi

I do realize that Thompson Center is a bit of special case, but Jahn's O'Hare terminal is looking a bit shabby these days too.

How do you figure? T1 was a building ahead of its time, and is very well maintained. Shabby is not the word I would use to describe it. It's a timeless design and I am always impressed every time I spend time there and see clever details I hadn't noticed before.

In fact, when O'Hare looked to rebuild the front section of all terminals with a unified curtain wall and canopy, they hired Jahn again, so he got a chance to do a sympathetic renovation to his original work. He exercised a pretty light touch on T1, but the renovated check-in areas in T2 and T3 are just beautiful.

[denizen467]

What ardecila said x 10. IMHO one of the timeless aspects is the lighting at night -- it is indirect, restrained, and not overbearing; yet, it's entirely adequate. It's kind of a lighting level you'd feel when taking a pleasant evening stroll down a pedestrian promenade in some old European city center after the bustle has quieted down.

I have to guess that r18tdi was referring to T1's interior fixtures (or specifically carpeting and furniture). The original carpeting and furniture was carefully custom designed for T1, but many decades on, it's showing lots of wear and tear (though much has been replaced by now, by stuff of questionable aesthetic quality).

Also, the ceiling "big-ass fans" circulating air in the check-in hall are wholly incongruent with the design. However they probably are the only cost effective solution to whatever hvac issue they had (the fritted glass was supposed to limit solar gain but maybe it wasn't enough).

[k1052]

Originally Posted by denizen467

What ardecila said x 10. IMHO one of the timeless aspects is the lighting at night -- it is indirect, restrained, and not overbearing; yet, it's entirely adequate. It's kind of a lighting level you'd feel when taking a pleasant evening stroll down a pedestrian promenade in some old European city center after the bustle has quieted down.

I have to guess that r18tdi was referring to T1's interior fixtures (or specifically carpeting and furniture). The original carpeting and furniture was carefully custom designed for T1, but many decades on, it's showing lots of wear and tear (though much has been replaced by now, by stuff of questionable aesthetic quality).

Also, the ceiling "big-ass fans" circulating air in the check-in hall are wholly incongruent with the design. However they probably are the only cost effective solution to whatever hvac issue they had (the fritted glass was supposed to limit solar gain but maybe it wasn't enough).

I know where he is coming from. I almost never fly United so have little reason to be in T1 but the last time I saw it I was amazed by how worn the facility was allowed to become. Also the multitude of buckets that seemingly have to be deployed in the event of precipitation...

Architecturally the buildings are still impressive but it would seem their care has (or had if they actually have renovated) largely fallen by the wayside.

[Kumdogmillionaire]

I feel like i'm taking crazy pills. The Thompson Center is one of the ugliest buildings I've ever seen, its massing is awkward, and it has aged horribly with stains on the glass, visible rusting, and just no proper integration into the downtown. Foot for foot it is the least efficiently used space in the city and the block is being wasted with its existence. Imagine how much better of a building or buildings we could have in its place

[ardecila]

^^ I hadn't realized the big ass fans were a later addition to the design of T1. They seem appropriately high-tech to match the building's original aesthetic.

Originally Posted by Kumdogmillionaire

I feel like i'm taking crazy pills. The Thompson Center is one of the ugliest buildings I've ever seen, its massing is awkward, and it has aged horribly with stains on the glass, visible rusting, and just no proper integration into the downtown. Foot for foot it is the least efficiently used space in the city and the block is being wasted with its existence. Imagine how much better of a building or buildings we could have in its place

I guess you're entitled to your opinion, but you might be taking crazy pills...

The interior of Thompson Center is a vast, dynamic space that is totally appropriate for the heart of a 10M+ metropolis. I don't think the massing is awkward at all. Environmentally, it made some poor choices by putting a huge atrium with a southern exposure.* But the south-facing atrium was intended to be an urban design move, opening up the building to the city and county government south of Randolph. The design also places the office portion smack up against Lake, buffering the sound from the L and giving state workers a pretty short walk to the train platforms.

Thompson Center's been poorly maintained - the colors have faded, interiors need a refresh after nearly 30 years, etc. That's not a design problem, it's a maintenance problem caused by years of terrible mismanagement by state government.

The only complaint I keep hearing about Jahn's designs is that they are expensive and complex... which is true. But arguing that those are problems is essentially admitting that, in the world's richest country, we can't have nice things.


* = The HVAC engineers totally screwed the pooch by not anticipating the heat gain on Thompson Center's curtain wall. Jahn learned from this when he designed Sony Center, where the "atrium" is actually open-air, it doesn't face south, and the surrounding buildings have an exterior insulated wall facing the atrium. That would have alleviated the HVAC problems at Thompson Center, but we wouldn't have gotten the awesome spatial qualities of elevators zipping up and down, and people walking back and forth and up and down on the balconies. That decision sends a symbolic message; Jahn wanted the public to understand the size and scope of state govenment and see the human beings who work there, without stuffing them all behind walls where they remain hidden.

[Mr Downtown]

^The engineers did anticipate the heat gain. It's just that the state stupidly VE'd away the double glazing and other original specs.

Also, in Chicago's climate, heat gain from solar exposure is only a problem three months out of the year. The rest of the time, it's a feature.

[Kngkyle]

Terminal 1 and the Thompson Center from the inside are quite impressive. From the outside, however, they both look worn and dated. Both of the buildings just need a proper cleaning. I have no complaints with the designs themselves, unlike this building.

[Sequenza]

Not certain we've seen this image and view yet.
http://www.goldcoastrealty-chicago.c...1_5d.0_800.jpg

[munchymunch]

Podium doesn't look too bad from this angle


link

[TallBob]

Nice tower....Just not sure about the podium!