CHICAGO | 740 N Rush/739 N Wabash | 725 FT | 60 FLOORS | CANCELLED

[rlw777]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

The arched elements on top of the tower are structural.

The X-bracing you see at the base, those columns rise up and arch over and are apart of the actual structure.

Wow. That's some impressive structural expressionism. I want to know how that works.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

The arched elements on top of the tower are structural.

The X-bracing you see at the base, those columns rise up and arch over and are apart of the actual structure.

Awesome, thanks for sharing. I'm definitely more into this.

But I can't help but ask: how was the NIMBY shit-show?

[BVictor1]

I'll try to get some other shots up later. I have a final project to finish up right now.

• Video Link

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

But I can't help but ask: how was the NIMBY shit-show?

TRAFFIC

One guy said it took 55 minutes one day to Uber from like Chicago & Rush to Millennium Park. Would have taken 10 minutes if he'd used the redline.

[BVictor1]

NOTES

Site Area - 37,500 sf

-60 stories

-216 hotel

-120 time share

-246 condo

-325 parking

30,000 retail B1, 1 and 2nd floors

18,4 FAR

$8,000,000 neighborhood opportunity fund
$6.2 M affordable housing

portion of facade of Giordano’s being demolished.

all vehicle loading from the alley

took 5’ off property in alley for turning radius easement

retail frontage on superior and wabash

no curb cuts along wabash, rush, or superior

older buildings don’t qualify for landmark status

18-24 far in surrounding area

DX-12

[Randomguy34]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

all vehicle loading from the alley

took 5’ off property in alley for turning radius easement

retail frontage on superior and wabash

no curb cuts along wabash, rush, or superior

Still think that the massive podium is unnecessary

[the urban politician]

^ You could probably cut the parking but that would annoy the Association of NIMBY Dipshits (A.N.D.) who believe in an ironic bizarro world they invented (in collaboration with L Ron Hubbard's resurrected zombie brain) where you alleviate congestion by adding ever more parking.

[The Lurker]

I can't decide how I feel about the structural arches. It's something different I guess but it looks awkward from a lot of angles. Also still seems a hundred feet short of the 725' figure but I'm sure that is subject to change.

Originally Posted by BVictor1

TRAFFIC

One guy said it took 55 minutes one day to Uber from like Chicago & Rush to Millennium Park. Would have taken 10 minutes if he'd used the redline.

Or 15 minutes if he walked briskly

[ardecila]

I like the renderings... reminds me of something SOM would have done back in their Chicago heyday when they designed Onterie Center, Brunswick Building, etc. Obviously a little less boxy than those, but they seem to suggest some kind of stone cladding on the structural elements. That would put this building head and shoulders above all of its neighbors.

Still, there's only so much this design can do to address the giant blank walls of the podium. They're trying, but it still doesn't look any better than the other giant blank podiums lining Rush and Wabash.

[chicubs111]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I like the renderings... reminds me of something SOM would have done back in their Chicago heyday when they designed Onterie Center, Brunswick Building, etc. Obviously a little less boxy than those, but they seem to suggest some kind of stone cladding on the structural elements. That would put this building head and shoulders above all of its neighbors.

Still, there's only so much this design can do to address the giant blank walls of the podium. They're trying, but it still doesn't look any better than the other giant blank podiums lining Rush and Wabash.

Ok...so what blank walls are we talking about?..from the rendering it looks like it meets the street level pretty nicely ..are you talking about blank walls higher up on the podium? It seemed like the incorporated the podium similiar to Mila ..masking it of sorts?

[Notyrview]

Originally Posted by ithakas

Even with the much nicer design details and the sparing of the Giordano building, I'm not into this. Build it somewhere else, kill the podium extension, and make it straight down from the tower.

Yea i just don't get it. it's like this massively overwrought structural expression that you'd expect to end with a bold and aggressive spire but instead peters out with a gaudy late '80s postmodern flourish.

[pilsenarch]

Yes, the design has become significantly more intriguing! Still disturbed by the top, but I am very much appreciating the structure, it's expression, and most intriguing of all, the intent of what appears to be very clear space between the structure and the tower's main volume on both the north and south sides... does anyone know?

[marothisu]

I did not like this at all by the first and only render. The new ones - yeah look pretty interesting. Much better than expected.

[chicubs111]

On a separate note..does anyone know the mystery building on the top left in this sample???

[BuildThemTaller]

Originally Posted by chicubs111

I take back everything that was said..build it!... a lesson for us to not judge from just 1 picture

I was hopeful that additional renders would make me appreciate this building more. Boy was I delighted to see this. One could critique the spindle at the top, but this gets so much right. It saves the Giordano's building, breaks up the monotony of beige in the area, provides active street presence, and doesn't have the worst podium. Also, it's tall. That x-bracing, if they do it in stone, could be gorgeous. It's a evocative of the nearby Hancock tower without being over the top.

I'm impressed and agree that we shouldn't judge form one bad render.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by chicubs111

On a separate note..does anyone know the mystery building on the top left in this sample???

Park Tower, but the scaling is off. It's 844 feet high but looks 1000+ in that photo.

[chicubs111]

^ahh thanks...was hoping there was somethign else coming down the pipeline..i def didnt see Park tower from that model..lol..

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by chicubs111

^ahh thanks...was hoping there was somethign else coming down the pipeline..i def didnt see Park tower from that model..lol..

The picture of the model is looking east, so - Chicago between Rush and Michigan - well technically corner of Rush and Tower Ct, but yeah

[aaron38]

Originally Posted by rlw777

Images from DNAinfo's @DavidLMatthews on twitter

This isn't bad. The pedestrian scale here is good, and the Giordano's gives scale on the other side with the bulk of the tower mid block.
I'm more sad about the loss of the 7 story limestone building than the smaller houses. If those were up on Belmont, then I could entertain talk about their replacement being "out of scale with the neighborhood" and such. But not here.

It is a nice little sidewalk café there, and a couple nice mature trees. But if this really is the biggest, densest downtown area between the coasts, then the city shouldn't be blocked from growing because of two little houses, no matter how nice their masonry is. I'll trade their loss for that chain link fence and boarded up blight around the corner on Wabash.

I still recall being at a Palatine development meeting in 2004, listening to the old people in a 5 story condo building refusing to allow a couple houses across the street from being torn down for an 8 story building because "they liked to watch the squirrels play in the yard". I told them too bad, same goes here I think.

[maru2501]

^yeah that is better than I thought it would be at street level. Deck appears to be concealed, although it is still a podium