Archinect - News

Whither 400 Lake Shore Drive? Chicago critic Edward Keegan asks for a firm answer

2024-08-15T13:05:00-04:00

Chicago’s most infamous vacant site of the 21st century is finally getting a tower. But will we be getting the architect’s best vision — or just half of a good design? A look at some recent history of large projects in the city offers some guidance, and reason for concern. I have no reason to doubt Related’s stated intention to build both towers, but if history is a guide, it’s more likely than not that the single tower will never see its sibling.

The Windy City's newest architecture critic, Edward Keegan, explains 400 Lake Shore Drive (designed by SOM's Chicago office with David Childs) against five other similar projects that never saw the original vision of their architects fully realized. He says a potential void might become a permanent edifice where once Santiago Calatrava endeavored to build his 2,000-foot Spire tower if Related Midwest is not kept to task by city officials and an active group of "concerned citizens."

"We need a planning mechanism that pays more attention to the interim state of larger projects without becoming too enamored with the complete design," he writes further for the Tribune's newly established architecture column. "Because city building is always a work in progress, as a number of orphan towers can attest."

The first half of the project broke ground in June and expects to be ready for its initial tenants to move in by the fall of 2027.

SOM's 400 Lake Shore Drive officially breaks ground in Chicago

2024-06-18T15:25:00-04:00

Yesterday marked the official groundbreaking ceremony for Developer Related Midwest’s Chicago Spire replacement designed by the Chicago Office of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) with David Childs. What will become a pair of new architectural centerpieces for the Lakefront and Streeterville neighborhood are set to be realized at 857 and 765 feet each, with the first tower ready to move in the first of its 635 new residents by the third quarter of 2027.

“As we break ground today, we do so with immense optimism for the future of Chicago […] 400 Lake Shore is a testament to the enduring strength of our great city and I am confident it will inspire future generations to continue building and dreaming big," Related Midwest's Curt Bailey said at the ceremony. Its progress follows last week's topping out of the TWBTA-designed Obama Presidential Center museum building on the South Side. Demolition work on the Thompson Center to make way for Google's new $280 million takeover has also be...

SOM-designed towers planned atop Chicago Spire site finally set to begin construction this year

2022-04-11T17:19:00-04:00

Fifteen years ago, a world renowned architect planned to bring the Spire to Chicago a giant luxury condo building with sky high prices. Years later, all that's there is hole in the ground, at a prime spot by the river and the lake. Now, a new project may actually come to life there.

Construction is set to start later this year at 400 Lake Shore Drive after more than a decade as an empty plot. The site was originally reserved for the Chicago Spire, a 2,000-foot tall, twisted tower designed by Santiago Calatrava. The project, however, was canceled following the onset of the 2008 recession. Left as a mere hole in the ground, the site was acquired in 2014 by developer Related Midwest with a proposal to build two sister luxury apartment towers.

Previously on Archinect: 1,100-unit SOM towers in Chicago head toward construction

The SOM-designed project received city approval in 2020 but was delayed due to the pandemic. Now, its groundbreaking is planned for the end of 2022. The towers will be built alongside a fellow long-awaited endeavor, DuSable Park, a 3.44-acre reimagined space set to be completed in 2025.

Elyn Zimmerman’s Marabar installation finally has a new home

2021-12-29T19:28:00-05:00

The fate of one of the most iconic artworks in the nation’s capital has been officially resolved months after The Cultural Landscape Foundation assured that its future would be set in stone.

Artist Elyn Zimmerman’s massive granite Marabar installation has found a new home after a planned modernization at D.C.’s National Geographic Society previously caused uncertainty about its future.

The New York Times is reporting that the million-pound installation will now be relocated to the campus of American University following an agreement between the two institutions. The university’s art museum is taking the piece that served as the centerpiece of the David Childs-designed building since its inception in 1984.

The Society had previously announced its intention to do away with the piece in lieu of a new plaza from Hickock Cole and OLIN which featured a pavilion and trendy rooftop garden. The installation seemed doomed after the city’s Historic Preservation Board okayed the removal be...

1,100-unit SOM towers in Chicago head toward construction

2020-09-04T12:10:00-04:00

A twin-towered residential development slated for the former Chicago Spire site on Lake Michigan has received formal municipal approvals and is now heading toward construction.

The project, developed by Related Midwest and designed by SOM will bring 1,100 residential units to the site across a pair of glass and aluminum-wrapped towers rising 875- and 765-feet, respectively.

Previously on Archinect: "Twin towered development by SOM slated for failed Spire site advances in Chicago." Image courtesy of SOM.

The project design has been updated to remove previously proposed hotel and condominium components, YIMBY Chicago reports. Additionally, a previously proposed above ground parking podium will be replaced with a 300-spot below ground garage.

With approvals in hand, the project team will now go about initiating construction for the project, which will be built as two phases. Under this plan the taller, northern tower will be built first with the shorter, southern tower following short...

Polished stone sculpture threatened by National Geographic expansion prompts reconsideration

2020-05-29T14:49:00-04:00

A District of Columbia preservation panel told the National Geographic Society on Thursday to suspend its current campus redesign plan pending further review of the proposed removal of an acclaimed sculptural installation on the site.

A controversial plan to demolish an existing stone sculpture located at the National Geographic headquarters complex in Washington, D.C. has hit a road block as the city's preservation board has asked the project team to reconsider their designs in an effort to save or repurpose the artwork.

Rendering of the proposed campus entry lobby situated where the Marabar sculpture is currently installed. Image courtesy of Hickock & Cole.

Architects Hickok & Cole and OLIN are behind the new proposal, which would require demolishing the 1980s-era "Marabar" sculpture created by artist Elyn Zimmerman. David Childs of SOM, the architect who commissioned the sculpture as part of an SOM-led expansion of the headquarters in 1984, has come out against the demolition, as have over a dozen other design, museum, and cultural heritage professionals and organizations, including The Cultural Landscape Foundation, which has led efforts to save the sculpture.

Twin towered development by SOM slated for failed Spire site advances in Chicago

2020-05-22T13:14:00-04:00

A long simmering SOM-designed skyscraper pair slated for the former Chicago Spire site has taken a step forward in Chicago, where the city's planning commission has given the green light for the project to proceed.

Now that the project has been approved by the Chicago Planning Commission, it must be approved by the Chicago City Council's Zoning Committee and by the Chicago City Council itself before the project can break ground.

Writing in The Chicago Tribune, critic Blair Kamin reports that the 1,100-unit development will bring housing, pedestrian connections, and needed funding for a new park adjacent to the site. The project is being developed by Related Midwest.

Made up of towers that will rise 875- and 765-feet respectively, the spires feature stepped crowns that gradually grow thinner in profile as they rise. The project, designed by David Childs of SOM, is set to be developed in phases, with the northern tower set to be completed in 2024, assuming the project team can coord...

Take a look at new renderings of 35 Hudson Yards ahead of sales launch (apartments starting at $5 million)

2019-03-06T13:46:00-05:00

New details and renderings have been released for 35 Hudson Yards, set to be the tallest residential tower in the Hudson Yards neighborhood at over 1,000 feet. The boutique apartments come with a wide array of in-house lifestyle services, some provided by the Equinox Hotel, which is part of the development. David Childs and Skidmore Owings & Merrill are the architects, while interior design is being led by Tony Ingrao.

To make 35 Hudson Yards your new home address, be prepared to open the checkbook extra wide — two-bedroom condos start at $5 million, while the average unit of the overall 134 apartments will set you back $11 million ($4,100 per square foot). The three penthouses have yet to be priced, reports the New York Times.

Image: Related-Oxford

"35 Hudson Yards offers a collection of 143 two- to six-bedroom condominium residences starting on the 53rd floor with sweeping, panoramic views of the Hudson River, Manhattan skyline, the Hudson Yards Public Square and Gardens, and its centerpiece temporarily named Vessel," reveals the announcement from developers Related Companies.

Image: Related-Oxford

"Our tower, 35 Hudson Yards, with its combination of retail, office, hotel and residential uses, is a city within Hudson Yards, exactly in the way Hudson Yards itself is a full mixed-use city within Manhattan," said architect David Childs.

Image: Related-Oxford

C...

New two-tower development at Chicago Spire site could dominate the city skyline

2018-05-16T14:05:00-04:00

The long-awaited vision for the 2.2-acre site along the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, unveiled in the first community meeting for the project, is toned down a bit from the 2,000-foot-tall Spire plan that stirred emotions but never advanced beyond a 76-foot-deep foundation hole. The design, by One World Trade Center architect David Childs, includes a south tower rising 1,100 feet and an 850-foot north tower.

Ever since work on Santiago Calatrava's 2,000-foot-tall Chicago Spire came to a halt in 2008 due to financial troubles, the city was left with a gaping hole in the ground rather than the nation's tallest building.

Rendering: Related Midwest.

A new proposal by Related Midwest for a pair of towers at 400 Lake Shore Drive, designed by architect David Childs with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, could rehabilitate the site.