This past weekend I was in Chicago where there was a heat wave and no wind. It was on the architectural boat tour where I learned that it was no fluke that the air was still. Am I the only one that thought that the city got it’s nickname because of the breeze?
Apparently after the city was rebuilt from the Chicago Fire the local government decided they needed to do something big to show the world that they were back on the map. They determined that earning the hosting responsibilities of the World’s Fair would be the answer. They sent their most convincing, talkative personalities to do the job of ensuring that this happened. Finally, it was determined that the Chicagoans were the most relentless “wind bags” talking nonstop about their great city and managing to persuade decision makers, and so the World’s Fair would be theirs. It was that scenario which prompted the nickname “The Windy City”.
So, my family and I were in Chicago for my youngest brother’s wedding. The wedding was beautiful and I pulled off a pretty entertaining Best Man speech and toast, if you ask me.
A huge benefit of spending 4 days in Chicago is getting to embrace the architecture. In the couple times I have been to that city I have been in awe of the amazing buildings. On the first day of our suffocatingly hot trip (Chicago broke heat records every day we were there) we took the Wendella Architectural Tour recommended to us by friends. That’s where I heard The Windy City story.
This 1 ½ hour boat right down the Chicago River and out to the meeting point with Lake Michigan was guided by a retired project manager of an architecture firm in town. The guide’s thorough narration of every building we saw was informative, conversational, and effortless. He clearly had a passion for his city and its buildings.
Prior to this trip (where somehow even on the boat the air was still and the sun relentlessly baking us) I had no idea there would be a story to all of these structures. So often it feels like too many concessions have to be made by designers in order to meet budgetary needs, but this was clearly not the case when it came to designing buildings along the famed river.
One of my favorite stories was that of the infamous Chicago Fire. Did you know that Henry David Thoreau upon hearing about the devastation sent thousands of books to the city in order to single handedly stock the rebuilt library? The only thing he didn’t know was that the city never had a library. Of course, its people were all too happy to build one to house the new books they never had.
Bertrand Goldberg believed that no architecture should have right angles because there aren’t right angles in nature. He created some of the most striking condominium buildings we saw, named Marina City. Interestingly, homeowners are not permitted to park their own cars here. Valets are responsible for ensuring the cars are parked properly and safely on the curves. For the movie, The Hunter, a car was actually driven off the side of the parking lot and into the river in a chase scene.
For many years, the real estate where 150 N. Riverside now sits was vacant. This is because the space is so narrow (due to the train tracks on one side and the river on the other) that it was essentially determined that no building could be erected there. However, early this year, 150 N. Riverside opened for business and is now touted as one of the most eye-grabbing buildings in town.
Feats of engineering and architectural design worked in concert to create this design which was unveiled in 2013 by the tower’s architects, Chicago’s Goettsch Partners, and their structural engineers, Seattle-based Magnusson Klemencic Associates. The building resembles a wine glass because the base is so much narrower than the rest of the building with its expanded floors above.
Another building, The Boeing International Headquarters, also has to compensate for the Amtrak tracks beneath one of its sides. This was executed via the steel trusses visible above the building. This means that the back side of the building is actually floating above the ground only supported by those trusses above. Engineers continue to monitor any shift in the building and thus far, since completion in 1990, no adjustments have been required to ensure the structure’s stability.
I told you these buildings were amazing! These are just 3 of the seemingly endless number of buildings discussed on this tour, each one more interesting and iconic than the last. If you’re ever in Chicago, especially given that you are all in the architectural industry in some fashion, you’ve hands down got to go take this tour as your number one priority. And if you’re lucky, it won’t be 94 degrees the day you go! (I wasn’t so lucky.)
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