Archinect - News

Chicago's Willis Tower could face another name change following Aon takeover

2020-03-11T15:58:00-04:00

In a $30 billion deal, Aon is buying Willis Towers Watson, a rival in business insurance and risk consulting, but it raises one question in the mind of most Chicagoans: What will happen to the Willis Tower name now that we’ve gotten used to calling it that? The deal between the two London-based companies was announced Monday. Executives said the combined operation will use the Aon name, not Willis.

Willis Tower, which once reigned the skyscraper ranking as the world's tallest building for nearly 25 years under its former name Sears Tower, will likely not be renamed again anytime soon as the naming rights contract with Willis Towers Watson insurance does not expire until March 2025.

Crain's Chicago Business reports that United Airlines, by far the largest tenant in the 110-story tower, could potentially also make advances towards putting its name on its headquarters building after hinting at such aspirations in the past.

"It's unclear whether Aon, which already has its name on one of the city's most recognizable towers—Aon Center in the East Loop—would have the right to unilaterally change the name," Crain's adds. "If Aon can change it, it's conceivable that the city could soon have Aon Center and Aon Tower in a flex of the company's skyline muscle."

Los Angeles honors President Obama with renaming of two roads

2018-09-05T16:13:00-04:00

Rodeo Road will be renamed after President Barack Obama, city leaders decided this week. But it’s not the first roadway in LA that lawmakers agreed to name after the 44th president. In 2017, the state legislature approved a resolution to designate the stretch of the 134 freeway that runs between Pasadena and Eagle Rock as the President Barack H. Obama Highway. A year later, however, there’s little evidence of that decision.

A 3.7 mile stretch of road in Los Angeles, now called Rodeo Road, will be renamed Obama Boulevard honoring the country’s first African American president. Located in the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw neighborhood, the road was chosen for its significance in the black community and its relation to a 2007 rally site Obama held at the beginning of his campaign.

Obama Boulevard is not scheduled to be fully renamed until Presidents Day in 2019. Another Obama named stretch of road in Los Angeles is also awaiting new signage. A stretch of the 134 freeway running between Pasadena and Eagle Rock has been approved to be named the President Barack H. Obama Highway, however the money for new signage has yet to be raised.

Farewell John Hancock Center — Hello 875 N. Michigan Ave.?

2018-02-13T15:26:00-05:00

The John Hancock Center is getting a name change, nearly a decade after another of Chicago’s most beloved skyscrapers — the Sears Tower — switched identities and caused a civic uproar. Owners of the 100-story John Hancock Center said the building’s namesake, the insurance company that built the tower almost five decades ago, asked that its name and logos throughout the building’s interior be removed immediately.

Until the owners of the building, Chicago-based developer Hearn Co., find interested buyers for its naming rights, the iconic landmark tower will be known simply by its address, 875 N. Michigan Ave.

If Chicago's John Hancock Center gets a new owner, it could get a new name

2017-05-22T18:55:00-04:00

[Hearn's] venture also controls rights to the building's name, which has remained unchanged since John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. developed it [...] Hearn has been in talks with companies interested in putting their name on the skyscraper since the structure's namesake no longer pays for that right. "We've had interest in it, but have not made a deal yet," Hearn said. That process could be resumed by a new owner.

Chicago-based developer Hearn Co. currently plans on selling the John Hancock Center's office space, parking garage and, perhaps most interestingly, its naming rights later this summer. According to the Chicago Tribune, Hearn would use the proceeds from the naming rights toward a $10 million redevelopment of the tower's plaza.

Naming names: how do architecture firms choose what to call themselves?

2016-03-02T14:12:00-05:00

Unlike industries such as automotive, which spend big bucks hiring branding and naming experts, architects often name themselves – sometimes on the fly. There’s the story about ARO (Architecture Research Office) in New York. The name is generic, but what can you expect from the partners who named themselves on the way to a meeting, said Christian Unverzagt, design director at Detroit-based M1/DTW, a multidisciplinary studio specializing in design.

Architects spend years designing a single project, so it may come as a surprise that they sometimes name themselves in only a few minutes. While some firms have chosen a more clever approach to naming—Design, Bitches and BIG (with web address BIG.dk) spring to mind—many firms seem to choose from the oblique vowel-less bin, sounding less like design entities and more like grim governmental agencies. Many of them just cut to the chase:

What's the ideal architectural name? A while back, Archinect's forum commentors took a crack at naming:

Daydreaming: Your studio/firm name?

How NYC institutions raise billions of dollars for new projects

2015-10-26T12:06:00-04:00

But still strong is the seduction of the Bilbao Effect — when an architecturally exciting project makes an institution more of a destination, like Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim in Spain. And with the success of the new Whitney Museum of American Art, which is drawing droves downtown, everyone seems to be grabbing for hammers

Robin Pogrebin explores how with more than a dozen New York cultural institutions planning major projects, fundraisers are hoping to tap into the deepest pockets. Strategies include selling naming rights, targeting heavyweights donors, remembering certain 'Dos and Don’ts' and expanding boards to increase the pool of donors.

All that being said, perhaps these organizations would be wise to remember the 2012 results of Set in Stone, from The Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago. The authors found that "It found that in many instances, building new or expanding existing facilities proved challenging and put enormous strain on institutions" or as the NYT summarized For Arts Institutions, Thinking Big Can Be Suicidal.