sureshot Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 I follow architecture and development as a hobby. Anyway, the latest (probably close to final) plans were released today for the 2000', 150 floor Chicago Spire designed by Santiago Calatrava. This will drastically change Chicago's skyline. What do you think? From a distance I'm still not sure, but damn from up close its a knockout. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sureshot Posted March 27, 2007 Author Share Posted March 27, 2007 it looks like a penis. in a poor location that isnt build to handle the traffic, it will fit the skyline but its unneccesary.. i thought this building was just a hypothetical stunt for that architect to show off his conceptual building id like to see a guy who has a penis that looks like that. if anything, i think it has the outline of the washington monument. as far as traffic, i dont see the issue. the residents will basically use a private road/ramp which leads onto lake shore drive. i dont see how that will back up traffic. if this building isnt built, that parcel will be developed no matter what. the reason streeterville residents are behind this in the first place (which is pretty rare) is because they are getting one tall slim tower rather than a cluster of 2-3 nondescript squat ones which will actually be more condos that this is. also, the building wont be open to the public, so its not like you will have tourists lining up for an observation deck. this is by no means conceptual. the developer (whos a billionaire) has essentially said he will pay for this out of his own pocket if he has to. he just bought a mansion in the gold coast for 8 million (hes originally from ireland), so hes very serious about being here for the duration of the project. they're talking about order caissons for the foundation within the next 2 weeks. heres blair kamins assessment. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cryptique Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 i thought this building was just a hypothetical stunt for that architect to show off his conceptual buildingThe same guy designed this one in Malm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
quarter23cd Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 The same guy designed this one in Malm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ikol Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 The Swedish one looks pretty cool. The giant unicorn horn on the other hand... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sureshot Posted March 27, 2007 Author Share Posted March 27, 2007 The Sun Times Architecture Review http://www.suntimes.com/entertainmen...pire27.article Skyline could have a brave new lookLatest design of Spire similar to birthday candle March 27, 2007BY KEVIN NANCE Architecture Critic Forget the drill bit. Forget the dancing lady and the twisting tree trunk and the curl of smoke. The new visual metaphor for Santiago Calatrava's Chicago Spire -- the latest and "final" design of which the Spanish architect presented at two public meetings on Monday -- ought to be that of a birthday candle. The twisting, 2,000-foot tower on the lakefront near the base of Navy Pier is once again as skinny as a birthday taper, topped off after dark with a shaft of light.But the candle metaphor isn't appropriate just because that's what the tower design looks like. If built as currently envisioned -- and that remains a big if, with everything depending on developer Garrett Kelleher's ability to pull off this gargantuan project -- the Spire will mark nothing less than the birth of an entirely new Chicago skyline. In his public comments on Monday, Calatrava suggested that his tower will fit organically into the existing skyline. It will not. Jutting up at midpoint of the north-south line between the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center, the Spire will reinvent, as those great skyscrapers did in the 1960s and '70s, the way we visualize Chicago. This is both because of its awesome height -- 549 feet taller than Sears and a whopping 873 feet taller than Hancock -- and its uniquely poetic form. Change is jarring, of course, but Calatrava's latest design makes this brave new world a welcome prospect. The new iteration retreats from the fattish, stubby, clumsy version offered late last year as a response to Kelleher's demand to add more units and do away with the antenna-like spire, which he saw as financially unfeasible. Spire 4.0, as we might call it, returns instead to the more slender, elegantly tapering form of the first two versions, resolving almost to a point at the top. The twisting effect created by a gradual rotation of the floorplates, which had stalled well short of the summit at about 270 degrees in the previous design, has been restored to a full 360 degrees.While the new version lacks the physical spire that topped the early designs so satisfyingly, the renderings unveiled at a meeting of the Grant Park Conservancy show that magical nighttime lighting effect, a 21st century answer to the great Art Deco spires of the 1920s and '30s. In an interview, Calatrava was openly skeptical about this ghost-spire feature but seemed to recognize that it may be necessary to pass regulatory muster with the administration of Mayor Daley, who is famously fond of spires. "I think it's unnecessary," Calatrava told me, "but if that's what Chicago wants, I'll do it." My guess is, Chicago wants. And like the third version, 4.0 keeps the parking underground, offering instead an adjacent plaza that could become a small but signature public space. The plaza, which the renderings show featuring an abstract sculpture (with, naturally, a spiraling shape) by the architect himself, is shielded by a stand of trees from Lake Shore Drive, and transitions easily into the planned DuSable Park just east of the drive. The renderings also depict the tower's soaring four-story glass lobby at its base, in which the building meets the ground with seven steel columns circling the concrete inner core. The lobby's transparency is important to Calatrava, obviously, in part because the Spire won't be in any substantial sense a public building. It will be primarily a residence for millionaires, but the architect wants the rest of us to be able to approach it, peer into it, dream ourselves inside it as much as possible. He needn't worry. Even for Chicagoans who never set foot in it, which is to say most of us, the Spire will be the stuff of dreams. Open your eyes anywhere in this city and there it will be. Close your eyes and it'll be there, too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sureshot Posted March 27, 2007 Author Share Posted March 27, 2007 Does he realize all his buildings are twisty? Maybe he should go buy a new ruler or something. I wouldnt say all, but he does like "organic" design, which seeks to use nature as an inspiration. There arent too many straight edges in nature. This was proposed for New York, although it was never built: and of course, hes famous for the Milwaukee art museum Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cryptique Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 I'm just glad people are talking about a contemporary architect who's not Frank Gehry. I can't abide most of that man's work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
embiggen Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 I'm just glad people are talking about a contemporary architect who's not Frank Gehry. I can't abide most of that man's work. Frank Gehry is about to unveil this building in NYC: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
quarter23cd Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 I wouldnt say all, but he does like "organic" design, which seeks to use nature as an inspiration.I was kidding, I really like the curves and the fluidity in the designs. Although I think the "unicorn horn" description was dead on, so I think he may be using a D&D manual as his nature reference. But hey, it kind of works... I'm not sure if I remember seeing that design proposal for NY or not. Most of the proposals I saw were spectacularly awful, so I stopped paying attention to them, I think. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wheelco Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 hmmm . . . I'm not a particular fan of this What is up with the Chicago building boom anyway? Most cities are building nothing right now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reni Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 I think it's pretty hideous Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MrRain422 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 I think it looks sort of neat, but it does not fit in with its surroundings even a little bit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cryptique Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Frank Gehry is about to unveil this building in NYC: Huh. That one actually looks pretty cool. I may have spoken too harshly of Gehry. What I despise from his portfolio are buildings like the Experience Music Project in Seattle -- that's just a steaming pile of elephant dung. I just browsed through pictures of several of his other buildings, and I found myself digging far more of them than I expected to. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 And Reni says:I think it's pretty Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Edie Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 I don't know whether I will like it or not. However, the change will not be jarring. It will take years to complete, and we all will have plenty of time to get used to it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sureshot Posted March 27, 2007 Author Share Posted March 27, 2007 hmmm . . . I'm not a particular fan of this What is up with the Chicago building boom anyway? Most cities are building nothing right now. Chicago is having one of its biggest skyscraper booms in its history, def biggest since the 60's/70's. its absolutely incredible. in fact pretty unprecendented. some of the others going up right now: trump international hotel and tower300 n lasallewaterview towerthe elysianlegacy at millenium parkaquamandarin oriental int'l680 n rush (proposed)park michigan (proposed)intercontinental n tower (proposed)1 museum park Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sureshot Posted March 27, 2007 Author Share Posted March 27, 2007 I think it looks sort of neat, but it does not fit in with its surroundings even a little bit. the sears and hancock sure as hell didnt fit in with their surroundings when they were built either Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reni Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Sears Tower - not a fan Hancock Building - one of my favorites Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Jules Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 I like it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
socbret Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 I think it's a nice looking building. Makes my inevitable move to Chicago even sunnier. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
OOO Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 I think it's a nice looking building. Makes my inevitable move to Chicago even sunnier. actually, it'll probably cause more shade if you think about it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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