CHICAGO | Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) | 1,451 FT / 442 M | 108 FLOORS | 1974

[george]

3-2

[DrNest]

Originally Posted by george

10-16

Awesome photo.

[theWatusi]

cut the city v city crap. any more and it's suspension time

(edit)

well if that's the way he wants it, that's the way he gets it

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by SkyscrapersOfNewYork

3 Columbus Circle converted its art deco stone facade to a glass facade to be more marketable for modern tenants.


http://nyc-architecture.com/wp-conte...AGAAR28-03.jpg

Actually this pretty much failed and has struggled miserably since to attract new tenants.

It's what matters on the inside...the space where the employees spend their time, not the fleeting glimpses of the facade walking in.

I've worked on some office reno's in vintage buildings. You really got to have vision and possibly even build out a model office floor to prove to the client they can have just as open office space as any of those new shiny Class A Towers.

Interestingly, the vintage building seem to give you more opportunities to create cool spaces. The more modern 1960's and 70's buildings are sometimes a pain to deal with. Some of them have unusually low ceilings with messy ductwork that forces you to drop your clearances. The grid modules of mid-century buildings seem odd too. I'm guessing because workspaces then were about open desks and enclosed perimeter offices. Today it's more about open cubicles, open tables, more conferencing, and support spaces. For some reason, they tend to be a difficult fit at times in mid-century high-rises.

[Chicago103]

I have three questions regarding exact elevations in relation to the Sears Tower. I can guess all of them having been there many times but I am curious if anyone has blueprints or knowledge of exact figures.

1.) What is the height difference between upper and lower Wacker Drives in front of the Sears Tower (i.e. between Adams and Jackson)?

2.) What is the height of the upper Wacker Drive entrance above the surface of the Chicago River closest to the tower (i.e. between the Adams and Jackson street bridges)?

3.) What is the total height of the rise of the Skydeck elevators, the elevators go from Lower Level 2 to the 103rd floor (I know it is 1,353 from the street to the 103rd floor)?

[THE BIG APPLE]

Sears Tower + Blue/White Cladding = Blah. The building will lose its identity if they replace the cladding.

[Chicago103]

Originally Posted by Chicago103

I have three questions regarding exact elevations in relation to the Sears Tower. I can guess all of them having been there many times but I am curious if anyone has blueprints or knowledge of exact figures.

1.) What is the height difference between upper and lower Wacker Drives in front of the Sears Tower (i.e. between Adams and Jackson)?

2.) What is the height of the upper Wacker Drive entrance above the surface of the Chicago River closest to the tower (i.e. between the Adams and Jackson street bridges)?

3.) What is the total height of the rise of the Skydeck elevators, the elevators go from Lower Level 2 to the 103rd floor (I know it is 1,353 from the street to the 103rd floor)?

I remember a few years ago some forumer poster a diagram directly from the city of Chicago buildings department that had exact measurements from street level of every floor of the Sears Tower but the forum and my old computer has been purged long ago. I wish I could get my hands on that information again, maybe someone here still does.

[Zapatan]

This is my favorite building in the world. Period.


Also, the thread title should be changed to Sears tower to not give in to that Willis tower BS.

The original name is so much cooler

[wrab]

Originally Posted by george

3-2

Awesome pic!

[ri89]

Hi! Has anyone the construction details of the Willis Tower? It's very important!!!!

Thanks

[george]

3-17

[jd3189]

A Modern Marvels episode on the Sears Tower(Willis is not acknowledged).

• Video Link

[george]

Thanks for that ^, jd3189... always fun to watch.

[J_M_Tungsten]

^^^

[Chicago103]

Originally Posted by Chicago103

I have three questions regarding exact elevations in relation to the Sears Tower. I can guess all of them having been there many times but I am curious if anyone has blueprints or knowledge of exact figures.

1.) What is the height difference between upper and lower Wacker Drives in front of the Sears Tower (i.e. between Adams and Jackson)?

2.) What is the height of the upper Wacker Drive entrance above the surface of the Chicago River closest to the tower (i.e. between the Adams and Jackson street bridges)?

3.) What is the total height of the rise of the Skydeck elevators, the elevators go from Lower Level 2 to the 103rd floor (I know it is 1,353 from the street to the 103rd floor)?

I found a few partial answers myself:

#1 The height difference between lower and upper Wacker Drives in the double deck portions is 18 feet 6 inches, this is from street slab to street slab.

#2 Having visited Quincy Park on the Chicago River in front of the Sears Tower I can guess. I know it is 18 feet down to the Lower Wacker Drive level and then about 4 feet down a small landing of stairs to the pedestrian walkway right next to the river and then 5-7 feet down to the water level itself (depending on variable level of river due to water discharge from Water Reclamation District, etc.). So that comes out to 27-29 feet difference from the Chicago River to the sidewalk of upper Wacker Drive in front of the tower, in other word's it is 1,380 feet (give or take a few feet) from the Chicago River to the 103rd floor Skdeck.

Also as a reference point the Trump Tower's Wabash Drive entrance is 27 feet higher than the riverside promenade level (where the measurement for the whole building comes from), to the waterline it would thus be about 33 feet below Wabash. This is higher than the difference with Sears because Wabash Street slopes upwards a few feet once it crosses north of the river, you can tell this when you visit Tump Tower.

#3 I know that Lower Level 3 of Sears is 43 feet below street level, so given that the express elevators are on Lower Level 2 that should be at about 29 feet below street level or the total rise in the express elevators from there to 103 would be about 1,382 feet. Then again I am not sure if the 43 feet measurement is from Franklin Street or Wacker Drive, of which there is a four foot difference.

[marshall]

Does anyone have any photos/videos from the actual roof of Willis Tower? That would be pretty cool to see, and I have not seen any anywhere around thus far..

[Immovable_Media]

Hi everyone!

I was in Chicago in the summer of 2011 and made this HD Video of the skyline for a client of mine. Since the client never ended up using the footage, I though I'd share it with the community: http://youtu.be/hfryI-oRe8A

-Martin @ Immovable Media -

[george]

[xXSkyscraperDudeXx]

http://cdnfiles.hdrcreme.com/34344/m...jpg?1324061510

Check out this Picture i Found!
I think is really cool, i like the details.

[Chicago103]

For those of you that might not know, a 30 foot section of the Sears Tower's eastern antenna was removed on Sunday, it was an old analog antenna from 1982 that will soon be replaced by a digital one. The taller western antenna is still 1,730 feet tall so the pinnacle height has not changed but the western antenna right now is about 1,677 feet tall instead of the usual 1,707 feet.
http://chicagoist.com/2012/07/09/wor...rom_top_of.php