Archinect - News

Tribune Tower voted Chicago’s best building in 2024

2024-04-11T12:53:00-04:00

Chicago’s Tribune Tower has been voted the best building in the city by readers of Urbanize Chicago. Thousands of votes were cast in the Urbanize Chicago People’s Choice Best Building 2024, with the Tribune Tower seeing off competition from the second-place Wrigley Building.

Designed by Howells and Hood and completed in 1925, the iconic Gothic Revival building was the result of an international design competition held by the Chicago Tribune newspaper. The winning design drew inspiration from the medieval Gothic cathedrals of Europe, reinterpreting their features for a modern skyscraper.

The tower rises to a height of 462 feet, culminating in a series of flying buttresses that crown its top. The building's façade is adorned with sculptural details and stone carvings that evoke the craftsmanship of Gothic architecture.

Related on Archinect: 16 designers to display new "Tribune Tower" models at the 2nd Chicago Architecture Biennial. Image: Wikipedia

A notable feature of the tower is it...

Plan to add exterior glass elevator to Chicago's Aon Center is approved

2020-02-11T14:13:00-05:00

A plan created by architects Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) and developer 601W Companies that aims to bring the tallest exterior glass elevator in North America to the Edward Durell Stone-designed Aon Center in Chicago has been approved by the city's Department of Planning and Development. The project was first announced in March of 2019.

Detail shot of the proposed exterior glass elevator. Image courtesy of the Chicago Department of Planning and Development.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the $185 million project will create the city's third sky-high observation platform, following those at the Willis Tower and John Hancock Center. The project aims to bring a 1,000-foot exterior elevator to the northwest corner of the tower that will ferry passengers from a new ground level pavilion up to the top of the tower.

View of the ground level entry pavilion that is being added to accommodate the new observation platform. Image courtesy of the Chicago Department of Planning and Development....

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill unveil modest changes for Chicago's second-tallest tower

2019-11-13T21:00:00-05:00

Plans for a new 1,422-foot-tall tower designed by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill Architecture haven taken a step forward in Chicago, where developers Golub & Co and CIM Group have unveiled their latest iteration of the spire.

The four-sided tower is wrapped by curved and flat exposures and rises to a flat top marked by a pair of pointed corners resembling "the ears of Batman’s mask," according to The Chicago Tribune. As currently proposed, the glass-wrapped tower would rise just 29-feet shy of the Willis Tower, Chicago's longstanding tallest building. The tower would surpass the city's 1,380-foot Trump International Hotel & Tower, which is designed by Adrian Smith while he was a design partner at SOM Chicago, prior to founding AS+GG.

The 96-story tower is still a long way from being cleared for construction, however, as zoning approval for the project is still pending. The latest designs for the tower have made accommodations for site planning concerns raised by community members wh...

Chicago Architecture Center opens in new location this Labor Day weekend

2018-08-30T14:25:00-04:00

The oversized skyscraper models in the window, one of them 38 feet tall, are the undisputed stars of the show, but they’re not the only reason to visit the Chicago Architecture Center, the engaging new home of the organization previously known as the Chicago Architecture Foundation. There is also the dramatically expanded Chicago Model, an expanse of mini skyscrapers and other buildings that offers a helicopterlike overview of the city’s sprawling downtown.

Previously announced back in January, the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) will now be open to the public this coming Labor Day weekend beginning Friday August 31. Formerly known as the Chicago Architecture Foundation, the CAC opens in its new location featuring everything architecture in Chicago through tours, programs, and exhibitions.

The building, originally designed by Mies van der Rohe, has been renovated with interiors by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS + GG) in partnership with museum planning and design firm Gallagher & Associates. If you're in the area be sure to check out this new addition to architecture and the city. Plan your visit with more information here.

Plans unveiled for Chicago's second tallest skyscraper alongside repurposing the Tribune Tower

2018-04-17T15:59:00-04:00

Developers on Monday unveiled plans for Chicago’s second-tallest skyscraper, a tapering shaft of metal and glass that would soar above historic Tribune Tower, resemble the top of Batman’s black mask and be only 29 feet shorter than Willis Tower. If completed, the $1 billion-plus project to repurpose Tribune Tower and build a skinny, 1,422-foot high-rise just northeast of it would bring more than 700 residences and 200 hotel rooms to an area north of the Chicago River.

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture are working with Los Angeles developers Golub & Co. and CIM Group to build Chicago's next skyscraper. Their design would take over Trump International Hotel & Tower's title of second-tallest in the city.

Current plans for the new tower have construction beginning in late 2019. The new skyscraper would house a 200 room hotel, 439 rental apartments, and 125 condos in its upper floors. The site would be on what it now a surface parking lot behind Tribune Tower.

Their plans also call for repurposing Tribune Tower with 163 condominiums. This conversion will be headed up by Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB), with Vinci Hamp Architects brought on as historic preservation consultants. The earliest of these condo's would be ready by 2020.

Tribune Tower project rendering, Chicago. Image: Golub & Co. and CIM Group.

Zaha Hadid Architects' conceptual rendering for Chicago Spire site

2018-01-02T13:43:00-05:00

While 2017 saw developer Related Midwest remain tight-lipped on its plans for the site of the defunct 2,000-foot-tall Chicago Spire project, a rendering showing a pair of very tall skyscrapers rising at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive recently reignited speculation regarding the site’s future redevelopment. The rather slender image surfaced online, credited to Britain’s Zaha Hadid Architects.

Another rendering for the vacant Chicago Spire site recently surfaced online. The image was confirmed as a proposal from Zaha Hadid Architects; however, the developer Related Midwest will not be pursuing the design.

While the project will not be built, the organic towers are certainly a stunning site to behold. Characteristic of ZHA's work, these sci-fi shaped towers appear to break the 984-foot tall supertall threshold. For now, future plans for what will be built at 400 N. Lakeshore Drive are still anyone's guess.

Image note: the previous image has been removed by request, as it was not intended for publication.

Perkins+Will proposes 80-story timber skyscraper in Chicago

2016-10-13T13:56:00-04:00

As part of its ongoing Riverline community project, Perkins+Will has proposed an entirely conceptual 80-story, 300 unit residential skyscraper made from timber called the River Beech Tower.

Announced 145 years after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, this proposed tower would feature a massive central atrium and an aluminum veneer over the exposed diagonal lattice timber beams. While engineers say it is structurally possible, Perkins+Will is currently trying to figure out just how much it would cost to build.

The River Beech Tower distinguishes itself by being one of the tallest wooden structures currently proposed; for a round-up of other tall wooden structures, take a look at these recent news stories:

Jeanne Gang's proposed Wanda Vista tower could be Chicago's third-tallest

2015-04-14T15:26:00-04:00

The outlines of what could be Chicago's third-tallest skyscraper came into sharp focus Monday when the project's developers unveiled their latest plan for the riverfront tower — a trio of interconnected high-rises that would bring stacks of undulating glass to the city's skyline. [...] Details about the plan, designed by Chicago architect Jeanne Gang and her firm Studio Gang Architects, were revealed at a community meeting called by Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd [...].

Why China is turning to Chicago for advice on its new skyscrapers

2014-04-01T19:30:00-04:00

Architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune, Blair Kamin, writes about China's building boom in his story, "Designed in Chicago, made in China." [...] "Chinese developers lack the expertise to do great skyscrapers," he says. "During the Cultural Revolution their architectural profession was decimated. It really became more about purely engineering. So if you're a Chinese developer, you go to Chicago."

Also read Blair Kamin's recent three-part series for the Chicago Tribune about China's building boom, "Designed in Chicago, Made in China."

Massive Development Anchored by Old Post Office Proposed in Heart of Chicago

2011-07-26T15:36:52-04:00

Architect Booth Hansen and developers just revealed plans to turn the underutilized area just east of Willis (Sears) Tower into a retail center capped with 120 story twin towers and a 20 acre rooftop park. Planned in three phases, the $3.5 billion dollar project is anchored by a renovation of the historic post office. The next two phases will increase the square footage to 16.1 million square feet

What seems to be a rarity in the States now the massive project proposal promises to be everything for everyone placed in the heart of Chicago. The developer claims to have enough money to start the first phase of renovating the post office now.