Top 4 Chicago high-rises echoing the past
Chicago is famously considered the birthplace of the skyscraper. In 1885, the Home Insurance Building was completed using a steel-frame method that was first used in the city. The tower initially stood at 10 storeys, a huge height for the 19th century, before being demolished in the 1930s. 9 of the city’s 100 tallest buildings were constructed during the construction boom of the the 1920s and 1930s that arose from advances in steel-frame construction and the invention of the elevator. Today, there are almost 1,400 completed high rises and many more being planned and built, populating the ever changing skyline and some take design queues from neighbouring historic buildings or pay hommage to other tall buildings.
Here are our top 4 Chicago high-rises that take inspiration from historic buildings.
1/ Rafael Vinoly - NEMA tower
Vinoly’s 76-storey residential tower is inspired by the different height rectangular volumes of the Willis Tower, 1973 (originally the Sears Tower), which held the title of the tallest building in the world from 1974 to 1998. It is the tallest all residential apartment rental building in Chicago.
Left: The staggered rectangular forms of NEMA tower viewed from above railway tracks at the Art Institute of Chicago pay homage to the Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) built in 1973. Image credit: 4 S Architecture
Right: The Willis Tower (renamed in 2009) taken on a previous Chicago trip in 2000. Image credit: 4 S Architecture
2/ Morris Adjimi - The Row, Fulton Market
The multi-use multifamily building is defined by the dark metal superstructure which references the “muscular yet elegant structure of Chicago’s ubiquitous ‘L’ tracks, defined by steel beams and curved aluminium brackets”. Morris Adjimi wanted to reinterpret recognisable industrial motifs that relate to Chicago’s larger context whilst responding to the historic texture and scale of the neighbourhood.
Left: The Row, Fulton Market designed by Morris Adjimi echos the solid industrial motifs of Chicago’s L-Trains. Right: The L Train tracks which inspired The Row. Image credits: 4 S Architecture.
3/ bKL Architecture - The Dylan at 160 N Morgan
Located in the rapidly developed West Loop - the former meat packing district - this mixed-use high rise sits on a brick warehouse style base that takes design queues from the neighbouring low rise brick industrial buildings with their regular rhythm of brick piers and large windows.
4/ John C. Lahey - The Legacy Tower
The tall glassy Legacy high-rise initially appears to be located on the street behind the main high street of the historic Jewellers Row District of Chicago, but look closer and you will see that a low white brick building with a black cornice and large “Chicago windows” which responds to the datum lines and rhythm established by the adjacent lower historic building is in fact part of it. This ‘trick’ of setting the main tower back by half a city block away from the historic shopfronts allows the rhythm of the historic district to be continuous, and for the high-rise to appear as if it is in a different neighbourhood entirely.
Left: The Dylan appears to sit on an old brick warehouse base referencing the original brick warehouses adjacent to it. Image credit: 4 S Architecture.
Right: The Legacy appears to be located on the street behind, but is actually connected to a low rise stone clad block which continues the historic rhythm of stone and ‘Chicago Style’ windows in the Historic Jewellers Row District of Chicago. Image credit: 4 S Architecture.
At 4 S Architecture we undertake research trips each year to broaden our understanding of how different countries approach conservation and restoration of historic buildings and neighbourhoods and to get fresh architectural inspiration that inform our projects. Read more about our trip to the Venice Biennale here last year.