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. — chicago.curbed.com
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.
7 Comments
Lame and mediocre surface treatment of banal glass towers. ZHA is certain putting that good name to use--lots of upcoming projects that lack ZAHA's vision!
The shape of the tower is probably dictated by he existing unfinished foundation from Calatrava's Spire.
Absolute crap - ugly and worthless. I live in Chicago and this is a horrendous rendering - this is the best you could come up with?
Shoemaker is running the firm now. Straight into the ground.
Is this a result of Patrik's vision?
Then again, if I inherited a premium design brand, I’d squeeze every dollar out of it. Help those autocrats clean up their money.
Ron White was right: “you can’t fix stupid.” — Calatrava give you the prettiest skyscraper since the Tribune Tower, destined for the same love as the Empire State Building to become the icon of the skyscraper age; Dubai would forever hang its head in shame — if the developer can’t figure out what to put in that exquisite envelope to make an enormous profit, they are in the wrong business — I could do it a heartbeat, (but then, I have lasted long enough to know the best); what a shame for the city that could use a jolt of architectural sanity these days — I predict that whatever is built there will fail miserably, it is just karma!
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