Slice of Life: Skyscraper Sunrise

The sun peeks out over Lake Michigan and illuminates the skyscraper forest of Chicago on an early morning.  From this vantage point, several buildings clearly stand head and shoulders above the rest:

• Trump International Hotel and Tower (401 North Wabash Street)
• Willis Tower (233 South Wacker Drive)
• 300 North LaSalle (300 North LaSalle Drive)
• The Park Tower (800 North Michigan Avenue)

Why no 100-story John Hancock Center (875 North Michigan Avenue) in the photograph?  Because it was taken from the John Hancock Center.

Have You Seen Our Skyline Lately?

It's hard to see the forest for the trees.  And it's hard to see the skyline for the skyscrapers.  That's why sometimes it's good to get out of the city and take a step back in order to appreciate what we have.

This is what the skyline looks like these days, as seen from the Adler Planetarium (1300 South Lake Shore Drive).  If you haven't taken a close look at it in a while, you may notice the Legacy at Millennium Park (21 South Wabash Street) sticking up in the middle of the action.  Also the Trump International Hotel and Tower (401 North Wabash Street) makes its presence known in the center, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois Tower (300 East Randolph Street) has new prominence now that its vertical expansion is done.

This picture is provided as a public service because the Chicago TV stations do a really awful job of showing what the city looks like.  WFLD tries, but its studio background ("cyc" [pronounced "sike"] in TV lingo) is so over processed and cartoonish it's hard to believe what you see.  And WGN-TV's bumps are so archaically outdated that they still show the old Sun-Times building that was torn down six years ago.

So do yourself a favor and click on the picture to see the Chicago skyline in all its glory.  Or at least what my CrappyCameraPhone™ can reproduce.

Donald Trump's Electric Snail

Back in the early days of the internet, back when e-mail addresses were just starting to get "@" symbols in them, I heard something quite remarkable.

I was told that the French don't have an equivalency for the @ symbol, so instead of calling it "at" they call it "snail."

I'm reminded of that every time I walk past the Trump International Hotel and Tower (401 North Wabash Street) and gaze upon its adjacent parking garage ramp.  Like a giant electric snail it sidles up to the glass building and threatens to climb up the side.

It's function is utilitarian, but the vehicular helix is a nice design element.  From afar, you can't see it -- only the building as a whole.  And when you're near the building, you can't appreciate it as a whole, but you get to see this element instead.  Something for everyone.

Chicago's Newest Empty Mall

It wasn't that long ago that Chicago Place decided it couldn't make a go of it as an urban mall and decided to reinvent itself.  Since then, the city's retail landscape hasn't gotten any better.  In fact, there are dozens and dozens of premier retail locations at the heart of the city from Oak Street to the Michigan Avenue corridor to State Street and beyond that are sitting vacant.

So while much has been made of Block37's retail woes, and the retail reformation at Chicago Place, and speculation about the future of urban retailing in the Windy City, guess what hasn't been getting much attention -- the empty mall at the base of the Trump International Hotel and Tower (401 North Wabash Street).

It was able to fly under the radar of scrutiny mostly because it's been under construction for years.  Every time a responsible publication would inquire about potential stores, Trump flacks would wax eloquent about premier names that would populate the riverside plaza and make it a shopping destination.  And always, they would stop just short of actually naming names.  Any name.

Now that the construction on the plaza mall appears to be mostly done, how much longer can the Trump people dodge the elephant in the store: Is anyone coming to the Trump mall, and if so, who are they and when?

On Track To The Past

Whether most people see them or not, railroads are still the lifeblood of Chicago's economy.  But there once was a time when train lines were far more intertwined with daily life in the city than they are now.

This old line runs along West Carroll Avenue -- a street in River North many people don't even know exists.  It carried newsprint to the old Chicago Sun-Times Building before trucks made the line redundant.  This was long before the Sun-Times building was torn down to make way for the Trump International Hotel and Tower (401 North Wabash Street).

Mayor Daley would like to use the tracks to run a trolley or light rail service from Union Station to Michigan Avenue.  But these days a lot of Hizzonor's dreams are going unfulfilled for reasons that are beyond the scope of this blog.

Interestingly, the reason the old Sun-Times Building was located along the Chicago River is the same reason the Chicago Tribune's current print house at the Freedom Center (777 West Chicago Avenue) is also located on the river -- so that newsprint could be brought in by barge.  I've never seen any old pictures of newsprint being unloaded at the Sun-Times site, and I've read that the Tribune has never used its barge unloading capability at the Freedom Center.

Slice of Life: Trump Above the Tracks

If the Wabash elevated line continued north, it would plow right through the Trump International Hotel and Tower at 401 North Wabash Avenue.  Too bad it doesn't, because the combination of massive tower, a drawbridge over the river, and a passage through a building would certainly be a great engineering feat, and make a heck of a great post card.

Slice of Life: Mather Will Not Go Quitetly Into The Night

Chicago's historic Mather Tower at 75 East Wacker Drive will not sit down and be quiet while everyone gawks at the Trump Tower behind it.

Mather demands, "You will respect my historah!"

A Trump Project Gets Less Tacky

It seems counter-intuitive, but a Donald Trump building has actually gotten less tacky recently.

With the removal of the exterior crane, and significant progress being made on the ground- and river-level retail at the Trump International Hotel and Tower, the big "Trump" banners that used to cling to the concrete columns have come off.

All that remains on the support structure at 401 North Wabash is smooth, sleek, lickable* stainless steel.

Now we anxiously await word of what retail will occupy this space.

* Please don't lick the Trump Tower.  There's probably germs.

Chicago: City of Spires

Prague is often referred to as the "City of Spires."  I've been to Prague , and I think Chicago has it beat.

I started thinking about it a couple of days ago when the Chicago Tribune's architecture critic complained about the spire atop the Trump International Hotel and Tower .  He called it little more than a "toothpick."

I'm certainly not going to disagree.  It's a shame of a structure, and a disgrace that it's not illuminated at night like the spires of the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center .

But there are many other toothpicks in this city of spires, as the photo above illustrates.  One Prudential Plaza may be the earliest examples of such toothpicks.  But at least at the time it served a purpose -- it was a radio and TV transmission antenna.  Trump serves no such purpose.

Looking out my window, other buildings with toothpicks large and small:

• Two Prudential Plaza 
• AT&T Corporate Center (4)
• Grand Plaza (4)
• The Park Tower (4)
• Northwestern University's Feinberg Inpatient Pavilion (2)

If you can think of any others, post them in the comments section below.

When the Sky Scrapes Back

For the last five months or so we've been staring out the window at the massive edifice that is the Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago .  Over the months we've grown to appreciate the building that has so drastically altered the city's skyline.  Especially, the way it plays with light at sunrise and sunset.  But today we saw the Trump Tower play a different game.

What you're seeing in this craptastic camera phone picture is the sun hitting the Trump building, which is then throwing an enormous beam of light upwards into a low-hanging deck of clouds like a giant spotlight. The show lasted for about 15 minutes until the sun moved to a new position.

It's a neat, if unintentional, trick and just another way that the city's newest super tower plays with light.

If you haven't done it yet, it's worth taking 30 minutes out of your day to watch the sun slowly slide down the side of the building during sunset, or take a look at it around 5:30 in the morning when the rest of the skyline is dark and gray, but Trump is a bright silver candlestick in the middle of the city.  It's all pretty neat.

Slice of Life: Trump's Helix

While the building is still not completed, and the reviews are mixed, Donald Trump's Trump International Hotel and Tower is starting to grow on us.  The spire on top helps make it seem more complete, even though we dismiss it as a height manipulation stunt.  But the base is not without its charms.

The public sidewalk is still closed, but the parking garage is open and that necessitates a way to get in and out.  In this case, local shop SOM designed an illuminated helix tacked on to the north side of the tower.  The lighting is nice and adds a good bit of visual interest to what could have just been a hole in the wall.  SOM did a similar helix with another of its supertowers, the John Hancock Center.  But in Big John's case, it's only lit up during cold weather because the lighting is actually heat lamps to keep the outdoor ramp from icing up.

We still aren't in love with the top of Trump's Chicago tower, but the bottom is turning out nice anyway.

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 sections, it remains unsheathed.  And it remains to be seen how it will be lit.  Right now there's just a steady red beacon on top.  It would be nice if it got the white illumination and a white strobe to match the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center.

The video posted here is a smaller, but better quality version of the video that we posted on YouTube late last week.  

The largest and best version on the net is over at the Artefaqs Corporation gallery. 

If you like time-lapse city movies, see our other ones on our YouTube page.

The Artefaqs Corporation owns the Chicago Architecture Blog, Chicago Architecture Info, and a brazillion other architecture web sites around the world.

Stick A Spire On It -- It's Done

After years of waiting, the spire is finally on the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.  While the spire still needs a few tweaks before it can be called "done," we're not about to wait to take pictures.

But that's the problem -- the spire went up on an ugly, cloudy day.  Since then it's been snowing on and off and the top of the building has been mostly hidden in the clouds.

That's why we were lucky to get the snap above. Taken about 5am a couple of days ago, the clouds lifted and sunlight filtered in from Michigan to illuminate Chicago's new trophy.  Hopefully the spire will be illuminated at night so we can take some great night time shots.

Trump Gets His Spire On

After months of delays and one false start, the spire is finally being installed on top of the Trump International Hotel and Tower downtown.

The last few weekends have been rainy, windy, snowy, or a combination of all three making installation impossible for construction crews.  There was also a scheduling conflict with the pilot who flies the sky crane.  Apparently there are only a few people in the country crazy skilled enough to pilot such a beast.

Here you can see the helicopter lowering the first additional piece of the spire onto the stub that's been waiting at the top of the 92-story building for the last three months.  You can also see the Sears Tower looking on, disapprovingly at the shenanigans that Trump is employing to get his 1,362-foot height.  Trump Tower is allowed to count the spire as part of its height, while neither the Sears Tower nor the John Hancock Center are allowed to count their roof-mounted antennae.  The Trump Tower is really only 1,170 feet to the top of its mechanical penthouse.  The decorative spire accounts for nearly 200 feet of claimed height. It was one thing when the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur flew through this loophole.  It's quite another thing when a neighbor pulls the same stunt.

As this is being written, the second piece of the spire has been fastened in place and the helicopter has gone off to get another piece.  Once all the parts are installed they will be covered with a white fiberglass sheath.  The Trump organization hasn't released any details about whether the spire will be lit (not "lighted," thankyouverymuch).  One would assume that the spire will be illuminated cheaply with flood lights like Sears and Hancock.  But maybe... just maybe... the fiberglass is thin enough that the rig could be illuminated from within.  It would be a more dramatic glowing element in the night sky, rather than another crazy needle.

At least the wait won't be too long to find out what happens. The Tribune reports that once the spire is in place it will only take a couple of weeks to install the fiberglass and declare this puppy done.

The Third Time is NOT the Charm for Donald Trump

Donald Trump has a permit for this morning to hoist the spire pieces to the top of his Trump International Hotel and Tower .  But with fierce winds and heavy rain, it looks like it's just not going to happen.  Again.

This is just the latest in a series of tries for The Donald.  A couple of weekends ago a sky crane actually flew with a piece of the spire attached to a cable:

But it was not to be.  Strong winds scuttled that attempt, too.

Today's permit expires at noon, and the weather is only expected to get worse by then.

He has a permit for tomorrow, Sunday December 28th, 2008, as well.  We'll see if mother nature is any kinder to him.