Story

Chicago, Illinois, 2005.  Located next to an architectural icon in the heart of Chicago’s downtown, this 40-story tower creates a strong skyline image and a major urban plaza. It is certified by the U.S. Green Building Council as a Silver LEED-Core and Shell building, the first high-rise building in Illinois to achieve this status. Setting the building back from the street reveals the formerly obscured north face of the classic Inland Steel building, whose elevation is echoed in the curtainwall elements defining the tower’s first 19 floor. This set back also creates a tree-lined plaza that joins a sequence of downtown public spaces. Rich materiality, such as sculptural cast glass lobby walls and a back-lit marble wall masking parking, distinguish the tower as a Class “A” property.  The tower meets the skyline with an extended curtain-wall of textured glass that conceals mechanical elements.  Within this wall, two large, east- and west-facing openings, screened by angled, frosted low-iron glass, track moving sunlight shadows by day and become illuminated beacons by night.