Aon Center’s 80’s-Themed Plaza Removed
It sounds like something James Brown would sing: “You gotta get down to get on up.” Such is life at Chicago’s Aon Center. December, 2020 rendering of the Aon Center’s south plaza (Courtesy of the Office of Alderman Brendan Reilly) Until recently, in order to access the 83-story building from its address of 200 East Randolph Street, one had to use a small elevator or a set of stairs to descend from street level...
What’s Underneath Chicago’s Urban Parks? Disappointment, If You’re a Worm
It’s always fun to listen in to tourists at Millennium Park ooh-ing and aah-ing at the amazing job the City of Chicago has done preserving such a large slice of nature in the heart of the city. The vast majority of them don’t know that underneath the wild-looking flowerbeds, the stately lawns, and the carefully channeled rivulet is a vast parking garage, and a commuter train station. But that’s OK. They came to...
Two New Loop Skyscrapers Top Off
While the bulk of the architectural press in Chicago has been focused on the St. Regis Chicago tower, just a block away two other skyscrapers have been quietly growing in its shadow. Well, “quietly,” unless you live in Lakeshore East, which has been under constant development since we started publishing way back in 2003. But such are the perils of urban living. January, 2021 rendering of Cirrus (Courtesy of Lendlease)...
O, No! Last Lakeshore East Skyscraper Downsized Again
The plan for the last skyscraper in Lakeshore East in The Loop has been revised again. Building O will occupy the cleft between Aqua and 300 East Randolph. Eventually. We’ve been waiting for Building O for some time now. Even moreso after an Aqua leasing agent swore up and down that no building would ever be built in that space, blocking anyone’s views. Ever. Prominse. Pinky swear. Days later, the first plan for Building O...
Bowing Down Before Saint Regis in The Loop
Remember back at the beginning of the pandemic, when we were all going to use our quarantine time to learn a new language, read Somerset Maugham, and write The Great American Novel? Somehow none of that happened. Like a Big Gulp cup on the side of the Edens, all those aspirations somehow escaped our grasps. Just like the New Year’s resolutions we made 75 days earlier to be nicer to Larry in accounting, call our mothers more...
With Vista in the Rear Mirror, Focus Shifts to Cirrus and Cascade
We’ve been watching Lakeshore East evolve since before construction started, and this is the first time that it’s had three skyscrapers under construction at the same time: St. Regis, Cirrus, and Cascade. Cascade under construction (Courtesy of YoChicago!) Lots has already been written about the St. Regis Tower, formerly the Vista Tower, formerly the Wanda Vista Tower, (formerly the Dailan Wanda Vista Tower), so...
Four Minutes of GEMS: Chicago’s Urban Vertical School
It’s been a few years since GEMS World Academy opened its Lower School in Lakeshore East. The bKL-designed building won a bunch of awards, and did a great job of filling in a difficult space with something that looks like it belongs. What an awesome school facade looks like. Recently, bKL put out a promotional video showing off its work. Even if you’re familiar with this project, it’s worth seeing it again...
Downtown Chicago Fertile Ground for Mechanical Beanstalks
If you’re going to get jumped in downtown Chicago, try to be a crane. Cirrus and Cascade under construction (Courtesy of YoChicago!) Crane jumps are scheduled for this week at Lakeshore East. Lendlease is increasing the height of the tower cranes building the Cirrus and Cascade residential towers on the southwest corner of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. The window for the big yellow beasts to become super-sized opened on...
Jim Lowenberg 1934-2020
The man who turned a grotty corner of The Loop into an architectural showcase and ushered in an age of downtown Chicago mega-developments has died. Jim Lowenberg was 86 years old. Lowenberg went into the family business after earning a degree in architecture from M.I.T. Building on a successful career designing skyscrapers around downtown Chicago, he helped found Magellan Development in 1996. That enabled him to create his crowning...
Cirrus, Cascade Construction Continues
Since nobody except the employees of WBEZ have been to Navy Pier lately, chances are you’re not up to date on the construction progress of Cirrus and Cascade. Cirrus and Cascade under construction (Courtesy of YoChicago!) Fortunately, the lens crafters at YoChicago! are, and sent in these photographs taken from the roof of North Harbor Tower showing the progress on the two new skyscrapers at Lakeshore East. We hear that the ‘rona is...
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Aon Center’s 80’s-Themed Plaza Removed January 25, 2021 -
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