Status Update: Wacker Plaza

There's not too much to say about this project at 400 South Franklin Street.  At this point, it's just a sign showing a pretty nice building in a great location.  But of course, it's all up to the economy and the bailed out banks to decide if this will actually happen.  If the developer intends to meet that 2011 deadline, it had better start turning dirt soon.  Or get a more ambiguous sign.

Status Update: 235 Van Buren

One of the few rationally-priced new condo towers in Chicago's core is coming along nicely.

It's always a challenge for architects to make balconies more asthetically pleasing.  Sometimes they're hidden.  Sometimes, as in the case of Aqua , they're celebrated.  That's the direction 235 Van Buren is going.

Instead of hiding the balconies, they're used as a focal point adding texture to the building.

A Fisher of Compliments

Chicago is one of those places where it pays to look up.  Sure, no one wants to look like a tourist, but at the same time many of the city's architectural delights aren't at eye-level.

Case in point: The Fisher Building.  This Chicago School masterpiece is loved by architecture enthusiasts around the world.  But unless you live in the building you may not have noticed that it's best face is actually hidden beneath the elevated tracks on Van Buren street.  The snowycam photo above simply doesn't do the relief justice.  The building's main entrance on Dearborn Street lacks the elaborate ornamentation.  Instead, it's saved for the dank, noisy side.

In a way, this makes sense.  At the time the Fisher Building was erected (1906) there was probably streetcar tracks running on Van Buren, and not the elevated structure we see today.  So the building actually did put its best face forward.  It's just that the world revolved away from it.