![Chicago’s Loop Gets Its First Scramble Crossing [Video]](https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Photo-5_31_13-9.31.58-AM-5-578x280.jpg)
![West Loop Model Makers Bring Small Scale To Big Developments [Video]](https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Columbian-Model-Staff1-578x280.jpg)
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Chicago’s Loop Gets Its First Scramble Crossing [Video]
As the Chicago Department of Transportation continues to prioritize pedestrian safety and mobility, it’s opened Chicago’s first scramble crossing. The intersection of South State Street and Jackson Boulevard was re-striped early this morning not only with zebra stripes in the city’s usual four-square configuration, but also with diagonal crossings cutting across the intersection. Once per cycle the traffic lights...
![West Loop Model Makers Bring Small Scale To Big Developments [Video]](https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Columbian-Model-Staff1-240x240.jpg)
West Loop Model Makers Bring Small Scale To Big Developments [Video]
A few minutes after I entered Columbian Model & Exhibit Works (1528 West Adams Street), I expected to see Lilliputians scurrying around. The exhibit and architectural model company operates out of a sprawling second-floor West Loop warehouse and is chock-full of scale-model replicas of buildings you see all around town. Except for those that never made it past the design stage. But that’s the whole idea of models — a real estate...
Video: Trump Tower Time Lapse
Here’s a little fun for your weekend. It’s a time-lapse video we made earlier this week of clouds around and reflected in the Trump International Hotel and Tower (401 North Wabash Avenue). You can see how the skin of the building changes color in reaction to its environment. Architects always talk about that sort of thing, but here you can really see it in...
Video Slice: Spring at Chicago’s Osaka Garden
Spring has stubbornly refused to spring in Chicago. But in some parts of the city, the flowers are pushing forth anyway. Here are some photos and a video we took at the Osaka Garden in Jackson Park last week. Think warm thoughts! ...
Video: What’s So Great About the Fulton River District?
Have you ever asked yourself, “Self, what’s so great about the Fulton River District?” I haven’t either. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t great things there. For tens of thousands of people, it’s a way to get from their offices in the Loop to their homes in the suburbs. But the Fulton River District Association wants people to know there’s a lot more going on on the...
Raccoons Are Not Afraid of the El
Digging through some old files I came across this piece of video. It shows a raccoon getting its dinner on an El platform while passengers and trains come and go. The critter doesn’t seem to care. The video is pretty poor quality because it was shot in 2003 with a Sony Clie UX-50 — a kind of souped-up Palm Pilot. It was state of the art at the time, but the art has changed a lot since...
Historic Video of the Unveiling of Chicago’s Picasso
There’s a video on YouTube showing the unveiling of the massive Picasso sculpture in front of the Daley Center back in...
Video: Chicago "City of Superlatives" in 1948
This video is making the rounds these days, and I thought people here on the Chicago Architecture Blog would enjoy it. It’s a travel film produced in 1948. It’s a great look at where Chicago was just 60 short years ago. The city looks very different, and very familiar...
Chicago’s Other Riverwalk (with video)
Mayor Daley has been bursting with pride lately as his long-desired Chicago Riverwalk finally takes off. What was just a patchwork of concrete and pioneering restaurant kiosks for the last couple of years have finally developed into a cohesive system of walkways, eateries, pocket parks, bicycle rental places, and even a pair of minor museums. Tourists and Loop workers both seem to be embracing the new outdoor venues along the main...
Time-Lapse Video: Assembling Trump’s Spire
After weeks of delays, it finally happened — on January 3, 2009 the spire was finally assembled at the top of the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago. Doing so raises the building’s height to 1,326 feet, making it the second-tallest building in the city, and the third-tallest in North America (if, of course, you count spires but not antennae). The spire isn’t quite done yet. With the exception of three...
