Columbian Model Works Takes On Annual Cleaning Of Miniature Chicago In CAF Lobby
The intricate model of the City of Chicago in the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s lobby started out as a temporary exhibit. That was six years ago. It remains a popular site with visitors, as was evident during Open House Chicago weekend last month. The lobby of the C.A.F. at 224 South Michigan Avenue was humming with architecture fans and many were there to check out the scale model of the city. West Loop-based Columbian...
Smoking Hot Model: The Streeter and that Other One That’s Not Streeter Place
In honor of this weeks’s announcement that Streeterville skyscraper Streeter Place has changed its name to Atwater Apartments, we present this smoking hot model showing the building along with its sister tower, The Streeter, inside the offices of Chicago architecture firm...
Smoking Hot Model: 720 North LaSalle
Before you know it, the Howard Johnson motel in downtown Chicago will be gone, replaced by a new residential tower. For those of you who can’t wait to see what the finished product will look like, here is a model of the tower known as 720 North LaSalle. The model inside the offices of friends-of-the-blog bKL Architecture shows both the private greenspace on the roof of the parking/retail podium as well as the new quasi-public...
Smoking Hot Model: Wolf Point West
The first of three skyscrapers is rising at Wolf Point, the über-visible promontory intruding upon the confluence of the Main and North branches of the Chicago River. As Wolf Point West (350 North Orleans Street) takes shape on the city’s riverfront, it’s getting easier and easier to imagine how the tower will look when it’s done. But if you can’t wait until it’s done, step with us into the studios of...
Smoking Hot Model: 645 West Madison
It’s been a while since we’ve featured a Smoking Hot Model on the blog, so here’s one that’s so hot it’s red. This is bKL Architecture’s model for 645 West Madison Street, the 20-story, 268-foot-tall office building proposed to slide in between Presidential Towers and the Kennedy Expressway. Above you can see the building in detail. Below you can see it in its West Loop context. Unfortunately,...
Smoking Hot Model: 200 North Michigan
As developers work to remake the stretch of North Michigan Avenue between Millennium Park and the Chicago River, one of the biggest projects in the neighborhood rises from the ground. 200 North Michigan was designed by friends-of-the-blog bKL Architecture, and is just steps away from the architecture firm’s Lakeshore East headquarters. The model above is in the bKL studios, and shows how the completed 200 will relate to its...
Smoking Hot Model: Streeterville in Wood and Plastic
We post a lot of pictures of architectural models in this publication. People love them. Of course, the mac-daddy of them all is the massive downtown model sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Foundation on display (for free!) in the lobby of the Railway Exchange Building (224 South Michigan Avenue). The grand-daddy of them all is the one with all the model trains zipping through it (not even remotely close to free) down at the...
Smoking Hot Models: Lakeshore East Goes Blue
A few months ago, we brought you Smoking Hot ModelsSM: The Light-Up Lakeshore East. The photos of that candy-colored miniature were taken when the display was in the hands of Magellan Development. As noted in that article, the model is now in the hands of bKL Architecture, which has placed it on public display in the windows of its office in Aqua at 225 North Columbus Drive. bKL has also taken the flavor out of the buildings....
![Smoking Hot Models: The Light-Up Lakeshore East [Video]](https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/IMG_2983-240x240.jpg)
Smoking Hot Models: The Light-Up Lakeshore East [Video]
Magellan Development, the people behind the downtown architectural Disneyland that is Lakeshore East, have this wonderful model of their project that gets updated as more and more buildings go up. Sure, lots of companies have little models of their buildings. But this one’s different — it lights up! The completed buildings are illuminated from inside, and the effect is really nice. Here’s the best part — We...
Smoking Hot Model: Harold Washington and Friends
It’s been a while since we’ve done an installment of Smoking Hot Models, so here’s a bonus edition — with both winners and losers. This time it’s the Harold Washington Library Center (400 South State Street). In the southeast corner of the eighth floor of the library are the models of the losing entries into the contest to design this building. They show that, for all the flack this building takes, it...
